Diabetes and statins

JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,939
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Thank you I'm 34 and feel like I'm going to have a heart attack any minute ( the joys of anxiety) the statins are at the chemist I'm tempted to go get them now x
Anxiety will do that to you, so yeah, I know the feeling. But really, your cholesterol is not as bad as you think. People with genetic/familial high cholesterol see *double digits*, and you're nowhere near that, okay? And while I was higher in total cholesterol than you are now, going low carb made my cholesterol drop. Give yourself some time to get sorted. You don't have to fix everything overnight, and you won't have to do it alone.
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi. As others have said, your total cholesterol figure is irrelevant and the nurse should know that. It's the various ratios from your lipids results that matter. All statins can cause muscle ache (damage) but some are better than others. It's your choice to take them and if you do start on them, then take the lowest dose and wait for your next blood test to see the effect. I do take them as advised by my cardio consultant mainly to keep him happy(!) and I have no problems with them. I did ask for the dose to be reduced to the minimum necessary to have the right ratios. BTW do ask to be added to your surgery online system including test results. You can then go to your next review knowing your next blood test results and not wasting time exchanging figures but discussing the implications.
 

Amycav85

Active Member
Messages
40
Hi. As others have said, your total cholesterol figure is irrelevant and the nurse should know that. It's the various ratios from your lipids results that matter. All statins can cause muscle ache (damage) but some are better than others. It's your choice to take them and if you do start on them, then take the lowest dose and wait for your next blood test to see the effect. I do take them as advised by my cardio consultant mainly to keep him happy(!) and I have no problems with them. I did ask for the dose to be reduced to the minimum necessary to have the right ratios. BTW do ask to be added to your surgery online system including test results. You can then go to your next review knowing your next blood test results and not wasting time exchanging figures but discussing the implications.
Hi thanks for your reply, she has started me on atorvastatin 40mg I'm not sure if that is a low dose or not. I feel like I need to have a telephone consultation with a gp to go over my levels properly. I have online access but they apparently don't have the function of test results added on there.
 

Resurgam

Expert
Messages
9,850
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
I had lots of aches and pains when taking a statin and it also affected my memory. I took it along with Metformin for a few weeks, and was just wrecked - I did have a severe reaction from what I can gather, and most people don't experience anything like it, but it is a possibility and my leg muscles in particular are not as strong as they should be. I have managed to go back to work, but carrying three heavy knitting machines up and down stairs last week really brought home how much weaker I am these days. I would advise that if you do start to have a reaction, call your doctor at once, and stop taking the tablets if you begin to notice that you are more absent minded than usual. I noticed the changes quite quickly but kept on taking the tablets as they are regarded as benign. I thought I would soon need to go into a care home.
 
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Tony 1711 2

Well-Known Member
Messages
112
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I was started on 40mg of atorvastatin, and once I got my cholesterol under some sort of control, I asked the surgery to reduce to 20mg. Today had another blood test with a view to reduce down to 10mg, also started getting shoulder and upper arm pains so the sooner I can get these statins right down the better.
Don't try to do it all at once, start with one thing such as changing your diet, increase exercise and you will soon get control of your numbers.
 
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Amycav85

Active Member
Messages
40
I had lots of aches and pains when taking a statin and it also affected my memory. I took it along with Metformin for a few weeks, and was just wrecked - I did have a severe reaction from what I can gather, and most people don't experience anything like it, but it is a possibility and my leg muscles in particular are not as strong as they should be. I have managed to go back to work, but carrying three heavy knitting machines up and down stairs last week really brought home how much weaker I am these days. I would advise that if you do start to have a reaction, call your doctor at once, and stop taking the tablets if you begin to notice that you are more absent minded than usual. I noticed the changes quite quickly but kept on taking the tablets as they are regarded as benign. I thought I would soon need to go into a care home.
I'm going to speak to a gp tomorrow as me losing weight and exercising more first never seemed to be an option.
 

Amycav85

Active Member
Messages
40
I was started on 40mg of atorvastatin, and once I got my cholesterol under some sort of control, I asked the surgery to reduce to 20mg. Today had another blood test with a view to reduce down to 10mg, also started getting shoulder and upper arm pains so the sooner I can get these statins right down the better.
Don't try to do it all at once, start with one thing such as changing your diet, increase exercise and you will soon get control of your numbers.
Thank you for your reply. Do you remember what your levels were? I was expecting to be told to lose more weight and exercise more first then see about tablets but that wasn't the case.
 

Tony 1711 2

Well-Known Member
Messages
112
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
If I remember correctly my initial HBA1c was around 80, the "specialist" nurse told me not to bother testing, I ignored her and bought my own meter. The next test results showed I had dropped to 51 so I foolishly stopped testing and guess what my results went back up to 60. So now I test properly, eat fairly low carb and exercise more, had my blood test this morning so waiting on te results, but I have lost 6 kilo since previous check up so hopefully my resilts will also be going in the right direction
 
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Amycav85

Active Member
Messages
40
If I remember correctly my initial HBA1c was around 80, the "specialist" nurse told me not to bother testing, I ignored her and bought my own meter. The next test results showed I had dropped to 51 so I foolishly stopped testing and guess what my results went back up to 60. So now I test properly, eat fairly low carb and exercise more, had my blood test this morning so waiting on te results, but I have lost 6 kilo since previous check up so hopefully my resilts will also be going in the right direction
That's a great weight loss well done! Did you start statins straight away or try diet and exercise first? I'm so confused with all the conflicting information on statins!
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi thanks for your reply, she has started me on atorvastatin 40mg I'm not sure if that is a low dose or not. I feel like I need to have a telephone consultation with a gp to go over my levels properly. I have online access but they apparently don't have the function of test results added on there.
Two things. I'm on 20mg Atorvastatin. Look at your next results and consider asking for the statin to be reduced to 20mg if your results are very good and the 20mg seems to high. What online system does your surgery use? I think your surgery is stringing you a line. There are two popular systems i.e. System Online which I use and EMIS. Both give access to test results if the surgery can be bothered to give you the access. I would lean on them as you have a right to that access unless the GP thinks you have a mental health issue. Talk to your PPG group if needed; I'm on my PPG group and we can discuss issues like that with the Practice Manager
 

Tony 1711 2

Well-Known Member
Messages
112
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I was put on statins followng a triple bypass op, long before I was diagnosed with T2, I found out on here about statins keeping up blood sugar levels which is why I want to reduce as much as possible, but due t the cardiac op I doubt if I will be able to come off them completely. Yes there are differing views on statins and you can't make a blanket statement to cover everyone, speak to your nurse and tell her you know statins can keep your sugars up, if she knows her stuff she will agree and explain the reason for the dose, then remember as you start to get control you can request to reduce the dose
 
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Amycav85

Active Member
Messages
40
Two things. I'm on 20mg Atorvastatin. Look at your next results and consider asking for the statin to be reduced to 20mg if your results are very good and the 20mg seems to high. What online system does your surgery use? I think your surgery is stringing you a line. There are two popular systems i.e. System Online which I use and EMIS. Both give access to test results if the surgery can be bothered to give you the access. I would lean on them as you have a right to that access unless the GP thinks you have a mental health issue. Talk to your PPG group if needed; I'm on my PPG group and we can discuss issues like that with the Practice Manager
I work at a surgery who use systemone which is great but my surgery is emis when I try to view my results it says your surgery does not allow this function which is very poor in my opinion! I'm so confused and conflicted about whether to even start the statins but feel like I won't be able to reverse the figures quickly enough on my own.
 

Tony 1711 2

Well-Known Member
Messages
112
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Read the posts on low carb, it's not that hard to make the change, and if your surgery will not allow you to view your test results change surgeries, it is so imoortant to be able to monitor your numbers and interpret them as a whole
 
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Amycav85

Active Member
Messages
40
Read the posts on low carb, it's not that hard to make the change, and if your surgery will not allow you to view your test results change surgeries, it is so imoortant to be able to monitor your numbers and interpret them as a whole
I agree it's very important to be able to see your own results, it's so frustrating not being able to see them as I fret not knowing the numbers and the receptionists will never tell me either!
 

Paul520785

Well-Known Member
Messages
95
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi - I understand the reservations on statins-
I was prescribed statins and took them for about 5 months when I started being woken up in the night by cramp in my legs - both sides so I could not walk round to ease the pain. Gp changed type 3 times without any improvement so I said I wanted to stop taking them. GP said OK and that cramp should stop after 3 days at the most. Two and a half months later only woke up once and a month after that cramps stopped!
Told GP to remove them from my list - got a lecture on the fact that the GP says must be followed which annoyed me so I unfortunately told him rudely where to stick them!
I have not taken Statins now for about 15 years.
My consultant occasionally says " I assume I cannot persuade you to take statins and there is little point because your cholesterol is about the same as 20 years ago and is at a normal level."
In my cynical opinion they are mainly a money maker for drug companies and should only be used where a medical professional makes a good case with reasons for their use.
.
You must research and then make your own mind up then accept you may get some side effects which can be painful and cause damage.
.
Paul T1 for over 60 years (still here so must have been doing something right for a long time!)
 

Amycav85

Active Member
Messages
40
Hi - I understand the reservations on statins-
I was prescribed statins and took them for about 5 months when I started being woken up in the night by cramp in my legs - both sides so I could not walk round to ease the pain. Gp changed type 3 times without any improvement so I said I wanted to stop taking them. GP said OK and that cramp should stop after 3 days at the most. Two and a half months later only woke up once and a month after that cramps stopped!
Told GP to remove them from my list - got a lecture on the fact that the GP says must be followed which annoyed me so I unfortunately told him rudely where to stick them!
I have not taken Statins now for about 15 years.
My consultant occasionally says " I assume I cannot persuade you to take statins and there is little point because your cholesterol is about the same as 20 years ago and is at a normal level."
In my cynical opinion they are mainly a money maker for drug companies and should only be used where a medical professional makes a good case with reasons for their use.
.
You must research and then make your own mind up then accept you may get some side effects which can be painful and cause damage.
.
Paul T1 for over 60 years (still here so must have been doing something right for a long time!)
Thank you for your reply. I'm going to speak to a gp tomorrow for a second opinion as the first gp I spoke to said I didn't need to go on then but the nurse today said I do. I would also think they would start me at a lower dose than 40mg and titrate as needed but I'm not a Dr
 

Tophat1900

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,407
Type of diabetes
Type 3c
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Uncooked bacon
I agree it's very important to be able to see your own results, it's so frustrating not being able to see them as I fret not knowing the numbers and the receptionists will never tell me either!

You really need to get a print out of your results and not go by what is said over the phone. Mistakes get made that way, for all you know they might not even be your results. Or a wrong reading was quoted. Who knows, nothing beats seeing them in black and white.
 

Daphne917

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,320
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Yes there are differing views on statins and you can't make a blanket statement to cover everyone, speak to your nurse and tell her you know statins can keep your sugars up, if she knows her stuff she will agree and explain the reason for the dose, then remember as you start to get control you can request to reduce the dose
Unfortunately that’s not necessarily true. I was prescribed statins because ‘every diabetic should take them’ which I naively did and my hba1c rose from 48 to 54. I told my nurse that I’d read there was a correlation between an increase in BS and statins she told me not to believe everything I read in the Daily Mail - her face was a picture when I said I got it from the manufacturers website! I came off them, with my doctor’s consent, due to other side effects and my hba1c has been in normal levels since. I now refuse to take them and my current GP has put ‘statin intolerant’ on my records as we don’t want to take the risk of it happening again. @Amycav85 all I can advise is research before taking them - it is up to you whether you take them or not but at least you can make an informed decision.