Mrs. Chen sat across from me, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. The routine check-up for her son, eight-year-old Leo, had flagged something unexpected. #childcholesterollevels #childhoodobesityandcholesterol #familialhypercholesterolemia #highcholesterolinchildren #kidshearthealth #lipidpanelchildren #pediatrichighcholesterol
Mrs. Chen sat across from me, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. The routine check-up for her son, eight-year-old Leo, had flagged something unexpected. #childcholesterollevels #childhoodobesityandcholesterol #familialhypercholesterolemia #highcholesterolinchildren #kidshearthealth #lipidpanelchildren #pediatrichighcholesterol
I just had my annual meeting with my lipid specialist. My cholesterol is fine.
We're moving from praluent to repatha for my PCKS9 inhibitor, but that's due to the insurance company, not because I'm doing badly.
#cholesterol #FamilialHypercholesterolemia #LipidSpecialist #PCSK9Inhibitor
It's finally come to this...
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Today is the day I shoot myself....
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...
With my PCSK9 inhibitor, a drug I shoot myself with every two weeks to keep my cholesterol in check. 
You, too, can... Wait... 
Never mind, my condition is genetic.
I had a praluent delivery scheduled for delivery on Friday last week, but UPS delayed it until Monday of this week.
Praluent needs refrigeration.
By the time it got here, it wasn't refrigerated anymore. The ice packs it was packed with had melted long before it got here.
I send a message to my pharmacy on Monday evening. They contacted me by phone today.
A replacement is going to be shipped.
#PCSK9Inhibitor #praluent #FamilialHypercholesterolemia #medicine #pharmacy #UPS #fuckup #refrigeration
OMG! I shot myself!
"How did you do that?"
I put it against my left arm and squeezed the trigger.
"Are you okay?"
Yes. It stung a bit, and I bled a tiny bit.
"Wait? What did you shoot yourself with."
My PCSK9 inhibitor.
"What does it do?"
It inhibits the PCSK9.
"Oh..."
It looks like I'm going to be off #kava for a while.
"But why? ☹️ "
Because of the damn fat. I did get my cholesterol checked in December. It was too high. This is my opinion. I had two primary care physicians that told me my cholesterol was "fine." I did not believe them.
I saw my lipid specialist this morning, and he agreed with me that my cholesterol was too high. The only obvious thing to stop taking is the kava.
So from now on, no more kava.
THC, here I come! 
#hypercholesterolemia #FamilialHypercholesterolemia #cholesterol #lipids #thc
OMG! I shot myself!
"What happened?"
I shot myself with my alirocumab.
"Your ali-what?"
My praluent.
"Your what?"
My PCSK9 inhibitor.
"What does it do?"
As the name says, it inhibits the PCSK9.
"What's the PCSK9?"
Hell if I know. A protein, I guess.
"What's a protein?"
Did you fail biology class?
"Yes."
Well...
#PCSK9inhibitor #alirocumab #praluent #FamilialHypercholesterolemia #hypercholesterolemia #protein #biology
"For the first time, gene-editing provides hints for lowering cholesterol"
Wow! I hope this research pans out, because it would mean that I could get a "once and done" therapy rather than the cocktail of three drugs that I take right now to keep my cholesterol in check.
The patients in this study were people with familial hypercholesterolemia, exactly the disease I have. They edited a gene in the liver to bring the cholesterol down.
Medicine advances.
#hypercholesterolemia #FamilialHypercholesterolemia #cholesterol #CRISPR #GeneEditing
Dr Priya Sammani ( MBBS ,DFM )
Your Autistic Life FR/EN/ES