Question If You No Longer Take Statins.

DavidGrahamJones

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A friend of mine from about a mile away went into hospital with a stroke. He tells me it was diagnosed as a statin seizure. An honest hospital.
Scary, I'd forgotten about the brain fog and now I've read several doctors saying that it's related to memory problems and I have serious memory problems.
 

Daphne917

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Yes I did and no it didn't. My nurse strongly suggested that I buy and take CoQ10 while I was taking statins. She thought it quite important. Within weeks I was off my legs and in an armchair for a month while the effect of the statins wore off. She doesn't give up easily though since we went through this performance three more times before I was registered as intolerant of statins.
I have to have the statins argument with my DN every time I see her despite it being on my notes that I had to come off them because they caused dizziness and they raised my hba1c from 48 to 54. I'm sure she thinks that one day I'll be daft enough to go back onto them!!
 

kentish maid

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i also had dizziness specially at night so I have come off them.
 

Daphne917

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i also had dizziness specially at night so I have come off them.
I was finding that I had dizzy spells at any time of the day with little warning and, with a journey to work of an hour each way across the uneven roads of the Somerset levels, I decided, with my GPs consent, that it was safer for me not to take them!
 

JohnEGreen

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I stopped taking them for quite a while then I got diagnosed with AAA and was advised to take them so now I am taking them again much against my better judgement. When I have my next appointment with Cardio-Vascular consultant am going to discuss with him the advisability of continuing with them.
 

Enclave

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I stopped taking them for quite a while then I got diagnosed with AAA and was advised to take them so now I am taking them again much against my better judgement. When I have my next appointment with Cardio-Vascular consultant am going to discuss with him the advisability of continuing with them.
I have a friend who has just been found to have Abdominal aortic aneurysm, she is also now taking statin.. but not sure if her ill health & pain is due to the statin or the AAA now !!!!!!!
 

Bluetit1802

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I have a friend who has just been found to have Abdominal aortic aneurysm, she is also now taking statin.. but not sure if her ill health & pain is due to the statin or the AAA now !!!!!!!

It's quite unusual for a female to have AAA. That is why the screening scans aren't available to women without an exceptional reason. I don't know the reasoning behind this, but it's what the NHS powers that be think. Hubby self referred for one when he was 65 but I wasn't allowed to.
 
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JohnEGreen

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It has been shown that if you suffer a rupture of an AAA then having been taking statins does improve your chance of survival for the most part AAAs do not exhibit particular symptoms or signs though they can affect your general health strangely enough it was used to be thought that Diabetes could cause a AAA but recent studies have shown that in many cases diabetes can slow the growth of an AAA.

With me the growth of the aneurysm was monitored and when it was considered that the risk of rupture was greater than the risk of leaving it a stent was grafted in I do feel generally better since the operation.

Mine was @ about 5.7 cm after six cm and above you are no longer able to drive until it is fixed.

If you have close relative/s who have had one then you can request a scan below the age of 65 male or female. In fact I have been told to advise my relatives ie son daughter grand son to do just that.
 
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Enclave

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It's quite unusual for a female to have AAA. That is why the screening scans aren't available to women without an exceptional reason. I don't know the reasoning behind this, but it's what the NHS powers that be think. Hubby self referred for one when he was 65 but I wasn't allowed to.
It took three years of pain for her medics to find it ... they put her pain down to the broken leg she had some years back !!
 

JohnEGreen

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When you think that all that is required is a simple ultra sound scan that takes just minutes you would think it would be a routine check generally available, how many lives could be saved.

As if one ruptures your chances are not that good only about 10% make it to hospital out of those only about 3% survive.

And there are loads of people waking about with one who do not have a clue.
 
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Bluetit1802

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When you think that all that is required is a simple ultra sound scan that takes just minutes you would think it would be a routine check generally available, how many lives could be saved.

As if one ruptures your chances are not that good only about 10% make it to hospital out of those only about 3% survive.

And there are loads of people waking about with one who do not have a clue.

Couldn't agree more. My dad had a ruptured aorta. He wasn't ill but was a victim of this silent killer. First he knew was a nasty pain in his side. The GP immediately sent for an ambulance. He made it to hospital, had an emergency op and never came out of intensive care. That was back in the 80s.
 

Enclave

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A broken leg!!!! Unbelievable.
Yes .. but sadly true !! she is waiting for an op now .. but in the 3years of waiting her health is not as good as it was.. this is why they are delaying her op apparently !!!!!
 

Indy51

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Couldn't agree more. My dad had a ruptured aorta. He wasn't ill but was a victim of this silent killer. First he knew was a nasty pain in his side. The GP immediately sent for an ambulance. He made it to hospital, had an emergency op and never came out of intensive care. That was back in the 80s.
I guess I'm in two minds about it - my mother's was found via a routine ultrasound for something else. She was rushed/pushed into immediate surgery then treated like a malingerer by nursing staff because she kept telling them something didn't feel right. Can't remember how long it was after the operation, but the graft failed and she bled out internally, despite being rushed back to surgery. I can't help but think she might have been better off never knowing about it since she died the same death anyway :(
 
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prancer53

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Was prescribed statins & blood pressure tabs aged 52 after 44/5 years of type 1 diabetes. Was surprised about the blood pressure because even though I had had diabetes for a long time I had always had normal blood pressure, even when twice pregnant,--likewise cholesterol results. Anyway I did as I was told but within a week I felt depressed and physically weak. Doc told me to take 1/2 tab daily but as I teach PE & dance and needed to be strong in order to be able to demonstrate to students I came off statins completely. Apparently my readings have always been good so I didn't really need them! Another doc advised me to see my gp because my blood pressure was low, not high--gp doubled the amount of medication though and my blood pressure became so low that it nearly killed me!! Gp told me that I must suffer from white coat sydrome because she always found my bp was high. I purchased a bp monitor and found my results were low to medium. This is the prob with paying docs to prescribe certain meds for certain types of chronic conditions in addition to drugs that are necessary. I am 63 in a couple of weeks & have now had type 1 going on 55 years (no complications--must be doing something right)!, Bp still good as are statin results (dsn lectures me intermably on annual visits re statins--she thinks I ought to take them anyway, because I am diabetic, even though I recite results of incomplete research on statins she cannot seem to be able to take the details on board). Gp now thinks I have become type 2 & comes out with such twaddle.......................haven t seen her for years though--long may it continue!!!
 

Canadian_cousin

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I took a statin for 17 years and experienced a lot of leg muscle pain for all of those years. Despite this I religiously did as I was told and even tolerated the GPs stupid statements like "it's your age" (45 at the time), "it's your weight" (so how come the pain started when I started taking the tablets?) and my favourite "you exercise too much". It was because of the muscle pain that I started taking cocodomol, a questionable solution to the pain, but it made life easier.

It took a lot of research, carefully trying to avoid conspiracy theories and looking for the truth although anecdotally I was bumping into more and more people who were having problems. I finally dumped statins when my total cholesterol dropped to 3.5 after reducing my carbs. Total cholesterol is now 5.4 and although the powers that be might not like it, tough.

The fact that Merck Pharmaceutical were well aware of the muscle pain problem and knew that it was the prevention of the uptake of Co-enzyme Q10 being the cause way back in 1990 just made me angry, but at least it validated what I'd already discovered.

Now to the point, I still get muscle pain, not as bad, but it's still there. By coincidence I had some blood and urine tests a few months back (not GP, through my Nutritional Therapist) which showed that I lacked CoQ10.

Does anyone else still experience muscle pain and does anybody else know what their CoQ10 levels are? I wonder if the low CoQ10 is related to taking statins even though I have now stopped?
Just a couple of responses to some of the things you mentioned: coenzyme Q 10 is recommend it to people to continue after going off statins as therapy for the damage that statins may have done to you. And I can't remember the source but I have read that two or three places. There are several other vitamins that are recommended for this as well. Brunette area may know as she is very knowledgable about things like vitamin K2, and others. I also saw books on Amazon specifically talking about going off statins and the therapy to do afterwards.

You need to track down Dr. Ken Sikaris, a chemical pathologist who is chief pathologist at one of the huge hospitals in I believe Melbourne or Victoria. He did fascinating presentations at the low-carb down under conference on what to worry about with your cholesterol when you are on an LC HF diet. Your overall cholesterol numbers are not as important as the numbers for your triglycerides and the small dense. LDL particles that can't be reabsorbed into the liver and end up being deposited in your arteries. Those are the dangerous ones. . Often going off statins increases your H DL and therefore raises your overall numbers, But it shouldn't worry you. Someone on one of the threads I saw here recently posted a link by him called "when to worry about your cholesterol." And for the life of me I can't remember what's for it I saw it on. Probably in one of the fasting links. I believe it was a connection to YouTube so you can find it there.he was extremely knowledgable and convincing.
 
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Canadian_cousin

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Just a couple of responses to some of the things you mentioned: coenzyme Q 10 is recommend it to people to continue after going off statins as therapy for the damage that statins may have done to you. And I can't remember the source but I have read that two or three places. There are several other vitamins that are recommended for this as well. Brunette area may know as she is very knowledgable about things like vitamin K2, and others. I also saw books on Amazon specifically talking about going off statins and the therapy to do afterwards.

You need to track down Dr. Ken Sikaris, a chemical pathologist who is chief pathologist at one of the huge hospitals in I believe Melbourne or Victoria. He did fascinating presentations at the low-carb down under conference on what to worry about with your cholesterol when you are on an LC HF diet. Your overall cholesterol numbers are not as important as the numbers for your triglycerides and the small dense. LDL particles that can't be reabsorbed into the liver and end up being deposited in your arteries. Those are the dangerous ones. . Often going off statins increases your H DL and therefore raises your overall numbers, But it shouldn't worry you. Someone on one of the threads I saw here recently posted a link by him called "when to worry about your cholesterol." And for the life of me I can't remember what's for it I saw it on. Probably in one of the fasting links. I believe it was a connection to YouTube so you can find it there.he was extremely knowledgable and convincing.
Sorry, I use the dictation function on my phone, and didn't catch how it butchered Brunnerias name. There are some other very informed people who also might set you reading new material. Good luck
 
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DavidGrahamJones

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I am 63 in a couple of weeks & have now had type 1 going on 55 years (no complications--must be doing something right)!, Bp still good as are statin results (dsn lectures me intermably on annual visits re statins--she thinks I ought to take them anyway, because I am diabetic, even though I recite results of incomplete research on statins she cannot seem to be able to take the details on board).

Well done on doing something right. The statin question is a very personal thing and it was only because my total cholesterol dropped to about 3 (I realise total isn't the be all and end all, it's a start position) and the British Heart Foundation found that the incidence of Cardio Vascular Disease increases as people's total cholesterol goes over 5.4 AND below 5.4.

There is no question about the muscle pain experienced by some people, me for one. If you read this patent, perhaps give your nurse a copy, I sometimes think that some medical people think we're just making it up which as you can imagine irritates me like anything.

http://www.functionalmedicineuniversity.com/statin-CoQ10.pdf.

It basically says that in 1990 Merck Pharmaceutical knew that statins prevented the uptake of CoQ10 which led to muscle pain, they even refer to "preventing impending muscular myopathy" in that patent application.
 
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MikePea

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I took statins for about 15 years.For the life of me I still don't know why. When I relocated to another area my new medic stopped the statins. That was about ten years ago. Last year I was informed that I had type 2, along with prostate problems added to a 20 year Ankylosing Spondylitus for which I still take painkillers. I regularly take midnight strolls around the house to try to relieve the muscle cramps
I was put on Metformin 2x500 gms. But on advice from this site I added a LCD. and regular testing for BG. and exercise programme. This lost me nearly 3 stone in weight. From 13 stone plus down to 10 stone 8 pounds. I can now see parts I had forgotten I had.
My latest tests have convinced the current Medics that I am cured. No more Metformin. I can carry on as though nothing had happened. ( I don't have too much faith in some medical opinions.)
I do feel grateful to members of this site for convincing me that I would achieve greater success by LCD, exercise and regular bg testing. A "DIY plan " :rolleyes:
 
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JohnEGreen

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It's funny how things change many years ago when still in the RAF I was diagnosed with high cholesterol/high lipids the doctor gave me a diet sheet not pills and that solved the problem at that time.

That is why I knew when diagnosed with diabetes a diet change would help more than any tablet the doctor may prescribe.

Wish the same were true of myasthenia gravis.