BS: Statins: Your Experience

Subject: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 11:27 AM

Take one? Which? How's it working for ya?

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Stringsinger
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 11:32 AM

I'm on a mild one, Simva-Statin and it apparently helps in bringing down negative cholesterol. It raises the good density lipids.

This has to be said, however. Statins on their own won't do it. Proper eating habits and exercise is essential along with statin use.

Reliance on any medication to complete a physical health regimen to the exclusion of
good eating and exercise is not going to do the job.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 11:40 AM

Atorvastatin.... I had a transient-ischaemic attack (small stroke) in 1986..... been taking pills since for control of hypertension but they only decided I should take aspirin and a statin two years ago..... It has lowered my cholestrol level but it wasn't high anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: MikeL2
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 11:54 AM

hi

I have been on statins now for many years. After a blood test for a traffic accident I was dicovered to have a cholesterol level of almost 11.0.
In the first place the medics tried to treat it with diet and exercise but after six months there was no improvement. The doctor said that my high cholesterol must be genetic. I called my sister who then went for a test and she was almost as high as me. So it looks as if the doc is right.

So I went on to statins and have proceeded over many years from 5mg to 40mg today.

I have also proceeded through several different brands; the latest two have been Simvastatin and Atorvastatin.

Very recently my doctor took me off Atorvastatin and put me back on Simvastatin ( having taken me off it earlier because my reading was going up). After 3 months back on Simvastin I was over the target and put back on to Atorvastatin. My level is now under target.

During all this time I have suffered no noticeable side-effects on any of the brands or dosage levels that I have been on.

Other than having to remember to take them I have not really noticed that I have been taking them.

Incidently my wife has recently been diagnosed with high choloesterol and she has been put straight on 40 mg of Simvastin. Last week she had a check and only today we have been for her to have another test as the first one was found to be high. Unlike me my wife had not suffered from cholesterol until she was 69.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: bobad
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 12:00 PM

I take 5mg. Crestor (rosuvastatin calcium)per day. My LDL was mildly elevated, triglycerides normal and my HDL relatively high making my ratio close to normal. My LDL level remained unchanged by maintaining a low fat diet.

As a matter of interest, my doctor's brother is an invasive cardiologist and chief of cardiology at a university teaching hospital. He takes 10 mg. Crestor per day without (so he says) even knowing what his cholesterol level is as, he says, you can't have too low an LDL level.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 12:01 PM

Like Stringsinger I indulge in Simovastatin--a generic for Zocor--at low dosage. It seems to work as well as the Brand. I check for liver function semi-annually...so far no problems. Diet and exercise are also necessary as String pointed out. If I miss a daily walk or the gym, Mrs. Sunset Coast is on me like brown on rice.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: EBarnacle
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 12:13 PM

I have been on Lipitor for more than a decade. All of my levels are now where they should be and my cardiac health is significantly improved. A few weeks ago, I completed a day of rowing as a safety boat without even feeling tired.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 01:00 PM

My issue is high triglyceride levels. I take 600 mg Gemfibrozil, generic for Tricor, daily and have done so for about 10 years. I also take fish oil daily to elevate good cholesterol. So far, so good, so long as I stick to the regimen.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Anne Lister
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 01:13 PM

Simvastatin ...levels have been fine since I started on it and no side effects.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 01:46 PM

Hmmm, I'm taking it. My Doctor says that I don't have high cholesterol. But that it is a little higher than she would like because of diabetes and blood pressure.

It is a 10 dollars for 90 days generic prescription, so it can't hurt, I guess.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 01:50 PM

Great info, and yes we are on low-fat, high-fiber, right-sugars, and exercise, plus fish oil. I don't need advice, exactly-- mostly a sampling of brands, dosages, and side effects if any. So-- all the details above are PERFECT as far as "what do I want to know."

Tomorrow I request statins.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: olddude
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 01:53 PM

Fish oil, works great

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 02:02 PM

Simvastatin the doc said if I had it and a few other drugs, I wouldn't die in the neat future. I'm not dead yet.

one of my pothead friends said, do any of these drugs give you any pleasure?

I said, that's not the deal. all that happens - is (with abit of luck) you don't die. you don't take the drugs - you're dead.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 02:11 PM

lovostatin, 10 MG, no side effects that I know of. small pill, easy to take.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 03:57 PM

Lipitor. I am always asked if I have any muscle aches (side effect) and I always say too many to speak of.

I can even eat KFC with no harm now. Good stuff, Lipitor that is.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 04:23 PM

I'm with Donuel.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: kendall
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 08:31 PM

Gemfibrozil and simvastatin work for me.
I don't know about fish oil, fish don't live very long you know.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Jeri
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 08:53 PM

Simvastatin. My diet has very little to do with my blood cholesterol --tried hard as I could to virtually eliminate cholesterol & saturated fats, and my blood levels went UP. I still try to watch my diet. The genetic hypercholesteremia isn't typical.

Statins reduce Coenzyme Q10 also, and your body's cells needs it to produce energy. I was on the statin for a few years and just kept feeling weaker. I read up on CoQ 10, and it was incredible how much of an effect it had on me when I started taking supplements, but do your own investigation. I believe it's in fish oil. (?)

Other than the energy problem which was easily solved, all it does for me is reduce my cholesterol, and it's VERY effective at that.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Art Thieme
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 10:10 PM

Simvastatin - the generic sub for Zocor. Have taken a statin for over 25 years. Cannot walk now----or exercise much either. But I'm here and pushing 70. My father died at 48 of a sudden heart attack knowing nothing about cholesterol. If they had had cholesterol then, they probably would've fried it!

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: MikeL2
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 06:02 AM

hi Art

Yes Simvastin is the generic for Zocor. And over here in the UK Atorvastatin is the name for Lipitor.

Like you I have been on statins for over 25 years but I am well over 70 and am pleased to say that I am fit and well. Just got back after a 2 1/2 hour walk in the countryside on a beautiful English Autumn day.

My father died at 47 and they never knew about statins then eitherr.

In today's Daily Express the front page claims that statins have reduced heart attacks and strokes in the UK by 30%.

Fried statins......pass the gravy...lol

cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: fat B****rd
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 06:22 AM

Simvastin for a few years and Lipitol now.Moderate muscle pain as a possible side effect but, like the other statinites, I'd rather be slightly achy and alive than the pain free alternative.....

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Mr Red
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 06:45 AM

Proper eating habits and exercise is essential

my doc brought out the amazing statistic that all the exercise and careful diet will only bring down Cholesterol by 10% or 20% if you go vegan.

This may be caveat-ed by referring to the age of person being told this.
My Cholesterol was pretty much acceptable 3 years ago and slowly crept up over that time. I have been insisting on blood tests every 6 months because there are other things that creep up on you without you noticing like Prostate problems. They do Cholesterol as standard.

and statins can (and do if other things happen like coughs & colds) cause dia dhio dyrea - oh hell - the shits.

I was told by a Folkie that there are a small number of people who's blood sugar can rocket and hence long term the risk of diabetes (thankyou FF spellchecker).

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: wysiwyg
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 07:02 AM

ROFLMAO Mr. Red!!!

I'll print THAT one for the doc!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Cats
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 08:34 AM

My familiy all have familial cholesterol and I could spend the rest of my life just eating lettuce and would still have high levels. I take 40mg Simvastatin bit also Enzyme Q10 as a supplement. No side effects at all and it has brought my levels right down.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: kendall
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 01:56 PM

I take COQ10 for joint pain and just learned that it is good for cholesterol too.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 02:22 PM

Years ago I had a customer who had morbid high blood pressure. He would get a spontaneous nosebleed with just the slightest amount of stress. He was forced to give up his retail business, and became a handyman doing odd jobs. On his 48th birthday he became the longest lived male from his father's side for generations, including a brother. I moved out the the area and lost track of him a few years later.

Art, not to pry (much), but do you attribute your immobility to statins? Is there no exercise that would help you? Perhaps a recumbent stationary bicycle.

I've been on statins for 14 years, and still feel way better than before the heart attack I had then--I was told the effective life of my bypass was 7-10 years, so I'm on 'golden time' now, and I hope never to need the touch-up. In two weeks I'll be a healthy 71. Yikes!

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Gurney
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 02:27 PM

Statins suppress testosterone in some people, so it is rumoured, and my experience tends to suggest that it is so.
Far from a 'clinical trial,' though.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: beardedbruce
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 02:42 PM

Been on statins for almost 30 years- also beta blockers et al. Some reactions to individual types, but a simple switch to another took care of that. I'm not dead ( again) yet, so they must be ok...

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: wysiwyg
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 05:52 PM

Conversation with doc went well, and I'm starting on Simvastatin. Thanks to YOU all I ALSO picked up that supplement, so I will start them at the SAME time, not be trying to play catch-up.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 01:36 AM

Sooo....wysilgig?

cheap?

On an HMO?

UK bound

Neither...a pharmycist....nor a doctor....nor a mortician .... so there is not vested interest in your immediate condition....however....

Consider Moore's law and the CPU....

Consider 40 years .... and the developments since your statin's patent.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Slag
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 03:08 AM

NO! No statins. I take a beta blocker as a preventative for migraine. It doesn't help that much. My BP goes up with migraine pain but is otherwise normal. I told the doctor that since I have migraines so frequently that I might as well consider it as having hypertension but he said no, that's not the case.

I think the high colesterol has more to do with genetics than anything else. I have a couple of eggs almost every morning, eat butter, cheese and meat (though not a lot of red) any time I feel like it and my cholesterol is about 180. I have a friend who takes Lipitor and watches every bite she eats. She is thin as a rail and her cholesterol is around 400! I guess I'm one of the lucky ones in that regard but I completely own the farm with a couple of other conditions so it has a way of equalling out, I suppose.

PS I hate the beta blockers as they have some very lousy side effects. If you've been on them, you know what I mean.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: ragdall
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 06:55 AM

Susan,
My husband was prescribed pravastatin for cholesterol. It destroyed much of his muscle. He became so weak that he couldn't turn over in bed by himself. After he quit using it he was able to regain some strength, but he isn't back to his condition prior to using that medication and it doesn't appear likely that he ever will be.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Mo the caller
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 07:18 AM

I know several people who've been put on statins, developed serious muscle pains, gone to the doctor but it took far to long to realised that the drugs were causing it. By which time the problem was debilitating and longlasting.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: MikeL2
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 09:11 AM

hi Mo

I am surprised that the doctor(s) in question didn't leap on this immediately. My doctor warned me many years ago when I first started on statins that there were side effects that included muscle pain problems.

As it happens I didn't have any but at my first review of the performance of the drug I was asked if I suffered any pains.

regards

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 10:23 AM

From my research there are two possible side effects involving muscle-- achiness and another, more serious one: muscle wasting. As these drugs were phased into our "normal" culture, not all of these were well understood but doc's kept prescribing, aided by the "enthusiasm" of drug salespeople (distributors as aggressive as proselytizing Mormons).

So I can picture how a given doc might hear the drug claims more loudly than the patient reports-- I went thru that myself (hypertension) with calcium channel blockers and then other meds.... and am still getting my life back, now-- 15 years from the start of those and about 6 from the stoppage of them with a doc who DID listen and who prescribed totally differently.

He proved that "listening" orientation just last month by believing the strange tale I told of the alpha blocker's unusual effects about which I was calmly but persistently clear.


So I am here to tell you, one and all: an empowered patient CAN deal with today's crazy systems and the ways they interlock to suck off our money and the insurance money. A clear head seems to be the requisite.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Alan Day
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 05:59 PM

I am on 40 mg Simvastatin which I was told was for low cholesterol.My Sister also has High cholesterol and she eats no dairy produce or meat which points to the fact that it must be in our family.
Interesting reading about the possible muscle side effects.
Interesting thread.
Al

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Stringsinger
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 06:09 PM

"I think the high colesterol has more to do with genetics than anything else. I have a couple of eggs almost every morning, eat butter, cheese and meat (though not a lot of red) any time I feel like it and my cholesterol is about 180."

Slag, 180 is too high. Your cholesterol has to do with eggs, butter and cheese.

Also, doctors do not agree on how much statins should be used or whether or not eating habits affect LDL and HDL.

One thing for sure, watch what you eat if you want to bring it down. And exercise.

The real issue is the ratio between HDL and LDL, not just the cholesterol overall level.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Slag
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 06:30 PM

Yeah, I know the Doc said I was pushing it. Ok! More oatmeal this Winter, OK? But you all understand, don't you, that you cannot live without cholesterol. It is essential to muscle development and other functions. I seem to remember a statement that the human body will not produce enough on its own except under a very specific diet of vegetation. There are precursors in certain veggies and that is about all I remember on the subject. I'll just gnaw a this here soup bone and see how this thread developes! ;]

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Jeri
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 07:08 PM

First off, and AGAIN, diet may not help lower cholesterol. The only way to know is to try.

You don't need to eat cholesterol. Your liver makes it. You DO need to eat fat, but not the bad kinds. Fortunately, I LIKE olive oil.
Of course, if you're like me, you have to cheat once in a while.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 10:29 PM

At our house, we NEVER think of it as cheating, reward, etc., but as PLANNED. We plan for occasional indulgence. We prepay for it-- we put in the time exercising knowing that it will result in the need for recovery calories that can, fairly, occasionally, be somewhat concentrated. (Did you know that McDonald's has a snack-size McFlurry two people can split? No one ever seems to ask for the snack size, but they have it....)

Recovery calories (normally half a banana and a glass of milk, or a small bowl of cereal added to the day's plan) are the ones that replenish muscle energy stores expended in the exercise. If we eat THEM within an hour of the exercise, it goes to muscle and prevents that "so hungry I could eat a small city" feeling many exercisers are mortified to encounter. Recovery calories head off not only sluggishness and hunger, caused by depleted muskles, but binging later.


We focus on mini-meals. So our tummies have shrunk naturally without surgery to shrink them, and that ALSO means that when we DO have something of a higher caloric concentration-- which means either more fat or more sugar-- we only have ROOM for a very small portion.

Thus, we have solved "it tastes too good to stop," by cultivating instead: "I'm too full to spoil this taste by eating another bite of it."

Very often that one-more-bite urge is our bodies' way of asking for fruit or veg we missed that day, and we misinterpret it to take another bite of eclair, or burger. Ooops! :~) Live and learn! Carry Ziplocs and take half of that eclair home for the freezer. Then enjoy the heck out of it on a hot summer day when you've worked up a good sweat. It will be just the right size bite.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Fortunato
Date: 29 Oct 10 - 12:14 PM

LIke Jack the Sailor, I take Lovostatin, Mevacor, and have done for 15 years or more. No side effects. With fairly regular exercise and a fish and olive oil base diet and fish oil supplements. My total cholesterol is around 135. Down from 175 to 200 years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: MikeL2
Date: 29 Oct 10 - 02:58 PM

hi

I notice that the US people have a different scale for reading and measuring cholesterol levels to what we have in the UK.

our scale is defined as - :

    * Your total cholesterol should be 5mmol/L or less and your total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio should be 4.5 or less.
    * You should aim to have an LDL cholesterol level (while fasting) of 3mmol/L or less, while your HDL cholesterol level should ideally be 1.2mmol/L or higher.
    * The level of triglycerides in your blood when fasting should ideally be 1.5mmol/L or less.

How does this relate to the US scale??

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 29 Oct 10 - 03:55 PM

Has anyone read 'The Great Cholesterol Con' by Dr Malcolm Kendrick?It's very well researched and full of scientific data, quoting research papers from extremely reputable sources. It concludes that there is NO scientific evidence for a link between cholesterol and heart disease etc, and the terms 'good' and 'bad' cholesterol are not founded on any solid basis of proof. He also points out that Statins are a multi-billion pound industry, making huge profits for the major drug companies. I think anyone seriously considering the whole 'Cholesterol Problem' should at least read this book, as it may help in understanding the science behind it all. One can then make an informed decision about what to do, what to take etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Jack Campin
Date: 29 Oct 10 - 04:28 PM

From a quick google, I don't see any sign that Kendrick has been able to persuade anybody else whatever in the medical profession.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Marilyn
Date: 30 Oct 10 - 01:13 PM

Mo the Caller mentioned above that a few of her friends have had problems with Statins. I'm one of them.

I don't want to be a party pooper and most people on here seem to be very much in favour of taking Statins but it doesn't do any harm for people to be aware that ALL drugs have side effects and some of them can be pretty nasty.

Statins didn't suit me at all and I have had permanent and irreversible damage caused by them. Believe me, in my case the side effects were so bad that it was absolutely necessary that I stop taking them. And before anyone jumps on me and says 'ah, but you don't have the family history of early death from heart disease' - oh yes I do and I had a heart attack myself at the age of 45 (before the menopause too which should have protected me).

I am now taking LycoMato (not sure of spelling). I don't know whether it works or not but there are no side effects that I can detect and I don't think it will do any harm even if it doesn't do any good.

I have done a great deal of research into the whole cholesterol issue and am now convinced that, for a significant minority of people, Statins are positively harmful.

I am also convinced that eating animals fats doesn't raise your cholesterol levels significantly (it might be bad in other ways but that's not what we're talking about here).

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Oct 10 - 01:24 PM

Thanks, Marilyn. Given your situation that was an amazingly level-headed post, full of useful information.

All the best as you move forward, and thanks so much for the post,

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: GUEST,Silas
Date: 30 Oct 10 - 01:33 PM

i take lipitor 800mg. Gives me chronic leg muscle cramps at night.Just had dose reducedto 400mg - seems better.

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: Stringsinger
Date: 30 Oct 10 - 06:02 PM

Animal products such as meat and dairy will raise cholesterol levels.

Also, lack of exercise.

Food can be as a drug, a toxic substance.

MacDonald's? Susan, really!

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Oct 10 - 10:11 PM

Oh yes, it IS possible to make healthy choices at ANY fast food restaurant. On the run, in a pinch, it is always better to eat than to starve the metabolism or disturb the eating schedule, esPECIALLY on the mini-meal plan I described upthread.

My aquatics fitness class once had a demo in the sauna, on how to eat healthy on McD food. With McD to see and EAT. But you cannot imagine how tiny the portions were, and how they filled in the holes left by the produce also consumed. The choices have only improved since then.

My credentials? I'm still kicking at 300 pounds plus, and have not gained even half a clothing size in over 6 years. (Lost some, too, but that was not the goal.)


No side effects from ,y Simvastatin. Liver function test due in a month I think-- I forget.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Statins: Your Experience
From: bobad
Date: 30 Oct 10 - 10:26 PM

Make sure he does a CK level. This is an enzyme, an elevated level of which is indicative of muscle breakdown known as rhabdomyolysis - a rare side effect of statin drugs.