Poll - side effects from statins?

[Osidge]

I take my statin at night along with my bp medications. Like you, I have had no issues with statins and have been taking them since I took part in the Anglo Scandinavian Coronary Outcomes Trial (ASCOT).

Regards

Doug

 

[lessci]

Hang on a minute, here's another alternative:

Healthy eating, drinking and daily activity...

Cost to the NHS? Probably £30bn annual saving.

Cost to the 'patient'? Probably £,1000 annual saving.

Not if you have familial hypercholestoralimia my grandad died at the 62 from strokes and heart attacks caused by it despite following what he called his white diet, steamed fish, plain potatoes, cauliflower and red jelly, the diet prescribed by the hospital. My dad is approaching 70and has been on statins for over 25 years. No diabetes, high blood pressure controlled with med, but he is a generally fit heathy and active man. I've already had 7 more years with him, and hope for many more

 

[deeds24]

I was prescribed simvastatin prior to my t2 diagnosis which was 3 years ago. My cholesterol was 8.7 at the time and as my mum died of a heart attack when she had just turned 47 my doc was worried. My medication was then changed to 80mg daily of Atorvistatin, my cholesterol is sitting at around 6 so not too bad. However I'm in constant pain, my legs ache all the time and I've lost count of the number of nights I've been unable to sleep because of the pain. I've been back to my doctor several times but he still insists that I stay on them. I'm waiting on a MRI scan to check for other causes of the pain but it's taking so long I just feel like giving up!

 

[Osidge]

If the pain issue is caused by statins, and given your high level even with a statin and your family history, you may be able to have this new drug prescribed. Given its cost and the wait for NICE guidance, it is likely that only a consultant would be likely tube able to prescribe it at the moment.

http://www.pharmatimes.com/mobile/1...in_europe_at_huge_discount_to_us_tag.aspx?r=1

Regards

Doug

 

[catherinecherub]

I was prescribed simvastatin prior to my t2 diagnosis which was 3 years ago. My cholesterol was 8.7 at the time and as my mum died of a heart attack when she had just turned 47 my doc was worried. My medication was then changed to 80mg daily of Atorvistatin, my cholesterol is sitting at around 6 so not too bad. However I'm in constant pain, my legs ache all the time and I've lost count of the number of nights I've been unable to sleep because of the pain. I've been back to my doctor several times but he still insists that I stay on them. I'm waiting on a MRI scan to check for other causes of the pain but it's taking so long I just feel like giving up!

Hi @deeds24,

Ask your G.P. for a Creatine Blood Test.
The results will tell you if the statins are causing the problems.

When is it requested?
Measurement of CK is requested in people who have sustained severe muscle trauma, particularly from crush injuries, burns or electrocution, and are likely to develop rhabdomyolysis.

CK may also be requested in those who develop symptoms or signs of rhabdomyolysis

• after being immobile for a long time on a hard surface, for example during an operation or after a stroke, drugs or alcohol
• following very severe exercise
• after a fit
• during a severe infection
• while taking certain medicines, for example a statin to lower cholesterol

http://labtestsonline.org.uk/understanding/analytes/ck/tab/test

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000473.htm

 

[lizdeluz]

I wasn't aware of any effects from Simvastatin, good or bad, so I took myself off them. They are still on my prescription, I just never request them.
Reading others' experience on this forum, I thought my best bet was to control my diet and I started to adopt LCHF. This won't cure my T1, but it does help: satiety from eating saturated fat, absence of hunger/cravings, loss of weight, better mobility, more energy.

 

[Osidge]

@lizdeluz I wish you well on your dietary choices. Please do not forget that the effects of dietary choices vary with the individual. It might be wise to have regular tests in your cholesterol to ensure that it is at a level it should be. You might also want to let your prescribing physician know that you are no longer taking your prescribed medication. It could effect future prescribing.

Regards

Doug

 

[lizdeluz]

Many thanks for your reply @Osidge, I agree with you, Doug. I think it probably is very unwise to make a unilateral decision as I did. I'm seeing my GP tomorrow to ask if I can discuss my current levels of everything including blood pressure, blood sugar, lipids profile and other things. I will also say that I'm not taking statins: I stopped several years ago, and have had several prescription reviews, but I will ask whether I should still be taking the Simvastatin.

 

[ButtterflyLady]

I was prescribed simvastatin prior to my t2 diagnosis which was 3 years ago. My cholesterol was 8.7 at the time and as my mum died of a heart attack when she had just turned 47 my doc was worried. My medication was then changed to 80mg daily of Atorvistatin, my cholesterol is sitting at around 6 so not too bad. However I'm in constant pain, my legs ache all the time and I've lost count of the number of nights I've been unable to sleep because of the pain. I've been back to my doctor several times but he still insists that I stay on them. I'm waiting on a MRI scan to check for other causes of the pain but it's taking so long I just feel like giving up!

The total cholesterol number is fairly meaningless, you need to know your individual numbers for HDL and LDL cholesterol and Triglycerides. Only then can you make an informed decision about whether or not you need statins, and after discussing it with your doctor. Your symptoms sound like those reported by a number of people here who were taking statins. Doctors are keen on statins because they have been proven to reduce cardiac deaths.... at the rate of about 4 per 1,000 people. Other ways to reduce cardiac risk include being in the normal weight range, regular moderate exercise, normal blood pressure range, and having good diabetic control.

 

[graj0]

However I'm in constant pain, my legs ache all the time and I've lost count of the number of nights I've been unable to sleep because of the pain. I've been back to my doctor several times but he still insists that I stay on them. I'm waiting on a MRI scan to check for other causes of the pain but it's taking so long I just feel like giving up!

Amazing, get your doctor to look at the 1990 patent applied for by Merck Pharmaceutical to include CoQ10 in a statin which in their words was to prevent impending leg muscle pain. I can't guarantee that the pain isn't caused by something else, but I would have thought statins were the number one possibility. Here's the URL: http://www.functionalmedicineuniversity.com/statin-CoQ10.pdf. It makes interesting reading, especially when they start talking about how low CoQ10 affects the heart.

 

[lizdeluz]

@lizdeluz I wish you well on your dietary choices. Please do not forget that the effects of dietary choices vary with the individual. It might be wise to have regular tests in your cholesterol to ensure that it is at a level it should be. You might also want to let your prescribing physician know that you are no longer taking your prescribed medication. It could effect future prescribing.

Regards

Doug

I saw my GP this morning and confessed ignoring Simvastatin for several years. He said that current expert advice is to recommend a statin to older T1s, (I'm 61), and that he would now prescribe a daily 20mg Atorvastatin, but that it was my choice as he thought my lipids and HbA1c were ok I said that I would think about it, but I'd be grateful in this instance if some kind person would tell me what to think!
5.5 Total cholesterol
1.0 Trigs
1.9 HDL
3.1 LDL
3.6 Non HDL
2.9 Cholesterol: HDL ratio.

 

[Brunneria]

I saw my GP this morning and confessed ignoring Simvastatin for several years. He said that current expert advice is to recommend a statin to older T1s, (I'm 61), and that he would now prescribe a daily 20mg Atorvastatin, but that it was my choice as he thought my lipids and HbA1c were ok I said that I would think about it, but I'd be grateful in this instance if some kind person would tell me what to think!
5.5 Total cholesterol
1.0 Trigs
1.9 HDL
3.1 LDL
3.6 Non HDL
2.9 Cholesterol: HDL ratio.

I think your cholesterol looks fantastic! I wouldn't take a statin on principle, but if you took one, you would mess up something that looks pretty optimal, to me - but then i don't hold with the idea that the 'lower the better' especially in ladies of a certain age. Higher chol is protective in older women!

 

[ButtterflyLady]

I saw my GP this morning and confessed ignoring Simvastatin for several years. He said that current expert advice is to recommend a statin to older T1s, (I'm 61), and that he would now prescribe a daily 20mg Atorvastatin, but that it was my choice as he thought my lipids and HbA1c were ok I said that I would think about it, but I'd be grateful in this instance if some kind person would tell me what to think!
5.5 Total cholesterol
1.0 Trigs
1.9 HDL
3.1 LDL
3.6 Non HDL
2.9 Cholesterol: HDL ratio.

He thinks your lipids are ok... then that would be the end of the matter if it were me. (I also think they are ok).

I think "expert advice" to recommend a statin to someone with ok/good lipid levels is crazy. I wonder if the advice says that GPs should consider the lipid levels and recommend a statin if they are not good.

 

[Osidge]

This might be helpful:

http://m.netdoctor.co.uk/diabetes/treatments/statins_and_diabetes_001904.htm

Regards

Doug

 

[graj0]

I'd be grateful in this instance if some kind person would tell me what to think!
5.5 Total cholesterol

Unfortunately nobody should tell you what to think on this one. I spent years trying to get a grip of what the truth is and there were several truths that made me very cautious about taking a statin, but I carried on because of medical advise.
In the end the decision was simple, my leg muscles hurt a lot, so much so that I wasn't able to walk any reasonable distance like to the local shops which are less than 1/2 mile away. I stopped and my cholesterol rose to 5.4, where it is now.
There is an excellent graph produced by the British Heart Foundation which shows the total cholesterol levels of people with cardio vascular disease. It shows that over 5.4 there starts to be an increase in the number of people with CVD, strangely it shows the same thing below 5.4 as well. Almost suggesting that 5.4 is some sort of optimum. I've been trying to find it and it has been on this forum. I'll edit this message with the graph when I find it.

Found it - http://biohackyourself.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Mortality-v-Chol1.pdf.
I hope you can read it, the details are a bit small. If the graph is anything to go by 5.5 isn't bad.

I recently saw this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=312&v=yX1vBA9bLNk, it made me feel a lot happier about my decision to stop taking statins, although it was my personal experience that was the driving factor and should be for everyone because we are all so different. The part I found most interesting is how the stats are presented to say things like "statins reduce the risk of CVD by 33%", when you look at the calculation, which he describes so simply, you will be shocked at what it actually means. Basically it's say that if you had 100 people not taking a statin and 3 died from CVD, a similar group of 100 people, but taking a statin, and only 2 die. One less per three or a 33% reduction. Clever!

 

[LucySW]

I saw my GP this morning and confessed ignoring Simvastatin for several years. He said that current expert advice is to recommend a statin to older T1s, (I'm 61), and that he would now prescribe a daily 20mg Atorvastatin, but that it was my choice as he thought my lipids and HbA1c were ok I said that I would think about it, but I'd be grateful in this instance if some kind person would tell me what to think .

Liz,

I can't go and find it now, but somewhere in Ravnskov he finds that high cholesterol (which you don't have BTW) becomes increasingly correlated with good health and low mortality as we age. But also, he finds that women should never take statins because no extended mortality benefit shown for women ever.

So - given that of course we're just lay people with no med knowledge - other things being equal, I wouldn't take any.

Lucy

 

[LucySW]

Higher chol is protective in older women!

Yes, it is! (And why don't GPs know that ?????)

Lucy

 

[lizdeluz]

Thank you for all your help with this issue!
I've thought about it and I'll go on thinking about it, but for now, I'm going to deselect the statin and work with the diet instead.

 

[seadragon]

I wouldn't take a statin since the more I read abut all this, the less high cholesterol seems to be in any way causal for heart disease and in fact seems merely a correlation and even then not in all populations. Looking at reviews of the scientific data it looks like it was cherry picked to provide support for a hypotheses and anything that didn't fit was discarded (when they should have looked at why it didn't fit and what other correlations there may be).
To me it seems that treating what they term high cholesterol when it is just as likely actually a symptom of something else which may or may not cause heart disease is plain useless. (Inflammation (from whatever cause) is implicated which can cause raised cholesterol as it tries to repair the damage). Treating a symptom is not going to affect the actual cause. Just seems like a red herring where they feel they should be doing 'something'.
Besides I'd rather live 30 days less (and that is about all the lifespan improvement statins have been shown to give) in a fit healthy state with no muscle pain and feeling good so I can continue to live a good life with exercise ( which is way more effective than taking a statin in protecting from heart disease) no brain fog, no damage to muscles, no risk of the lack of coQ10 affecting heart muscle etc etc. It's a no brainer.
Indeed as mentioned above higher cholesterol appears to be heart protective (if anything although may still be just correlation) especially in older people and women.
Besides which a known side effect is raised blood sugar - the last thing you want if you're a diabetic. Just seems to me they are giving a pill to supposedly protect against something it is not really proven to have any effect against but the statin pill is proven to make the disease (diabetes) which supposedly puts you at higher risk of heart disease, worse ( and then they give you more medication for that and hey presto you are a progressively worsening diabetic (when there is no need to be). Worse you are a diabetic with lowered quality of life due to muscle pain and then they scare people into continuing with the statins. A completely avoidable downward spiral.
There are many reviews of the relevant scientific literature available on the internet and are worth a read if you are willing to plough through them and draw your own conclusions.

 

[Pipey]

I had to stop taking Simvistatin because it was causing terrible pain in all my joints.