• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Statins

T

terrier

Active Member
Messages
34
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Are most diabetics on statins. My doctor wants me to start but not sure. My father was on them years ago for high cholesterol and had to come off as affected his liver and friend had to come off them as had terrible pain.
 
Type Statins in the search box. There must be a billion threads on the subject. There was even one on page 1 this morning, currently being discussed.
 
terrier said:
Are most diabetics on statins. My doctor wants me to start but not sure. My father was on them years ago for high cholesterol and had to come off as affected his liver and friend had to come off them as had terrible pain.
Click to expand...
Your doctor is probably using your total cholesterol number to guide this recommendation, but what you need to know is your individual lipid results such as HDL and LDL cholesterol, and Trigycerides. It's a good idea to ask for a printout of your blood tests, for your own info and future reference.

I'm not a fan of statins, and would only consider them if my LDL and Trigs were sky high.
 
Hi. As CatLady says, ignore total cholesterol and be guided by HDL/LDL ratio and trigs. Few GPs seem to understand this. GPs are told to prescribe statins at a lower threshold of cholesterol than non-diabetics assuming blood sugar control will be worse (guesswork?). A few people react very badly to statins. My wife did with serious liver pain after a few days. There is enough evidence around to indicate that for some they are not a safe drug. For many they are OK, but it's essential to watch out for the well-known problem symptoms. There are many arguments about the need to reduce cholesterol anyway as the body needs it for repair and it's not the same fat that is deposited in the arteries; this is where the HDL/LDL ratio helps.
 
Back
Top