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Type 1 Cholesterol & Statins?

Ajwbs

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi guys,

It's been a few years since I've posted. I'm Type 1 aged 37, 38 in a few weeks.

I've been nailing my HBa1c since diagnosis (40-43/44 each time). However my cholestrol is high and when the doc tried to put me on statins a few years ago my liver reacted super badly to it - so I had to come off. Apart from the sudden and massive reduction in ability to function on a day to day level, it contributed to a very low feeling for a very long time afterwards.

I've cut out drinking, reduced saturated fats, increased vegetables, roughage, porridge, increased excercise etc. However I just got my latest results for cholestrol and I'm coming in a 6.2mmol, which I know is bad.

Honestly I'm scared. Scared because I know what a high cholestrol can mean to a normal healthy person, even more so for us Type 1s.

I'm worried that the only way to go is to try other statins. Having lived through the last attempt I'm worried about what that could do to my health, business and relationships.

Any advice or support very much welcome.

AD x
 
There are lots of threads about statins here. Hopefully someone else can post some links. In a nutshell, all diabetics regardless of cholesterol levels are supposed to be on statins according to the standard care guidelines. However, there are sceptics (such as myself) who believe that the benefits of statins has been overinflated and the dangers (i.e. side effects) minimised by the companies that sell statins. I was on statins for a couple of months about 12 years ago and I had to stop due to muscle weakness (I remember spending most of a weekend prone and virtually unable to do much just before I figured out it was the statin). I have never felt quite the same since. The link between total cholesterol and cardiovascular disease is weak and the link between saturated fat and cardiovascular disease is also weak. In fact, the higher your cholesterol, the longer you'll live. Stress is not good for your heart, so stressing about your cholesterol levels is probably worse for your heart than your cholesterol levels. I recommend reading some books about it written by sceptics. They have lots of references to scientific papers that refute the saturated fat-cholesterol-heart disease theory and the theory that statins are beneficial. One of the biggest problems with statins is that their safety and efficacy are based on drug trials run and interpreted by the companies that want to sell them, so they tend to be biased.

https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/books-by-dr-malcolm-kendrick/the-great-cholesterol-con/
 
6.2 isn't massively high. Do you have a break down of your results especially trigs and HDL as this ratio is really the important number (current research thinking). BTW I think I came in about 6.2 last time but my trigs and hdl ratio put me clearly into the very good area that the doctor didn't even mention statins. Do a little research and please do not worry about a total cholesterol number with understanding its breakdown.

Have a look at the videos from this post http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/t2-pulling-hair-out-not-sure-what-to-do.113371/#post-1337503
 
Yes, I agree that you need the full breakdown of your lipids. (HDL/LDL/Triglycerides/ratios) The total is actually meaningless without knowing the numbers used in arriving at this total. If you don't know the breakdown I suggest you ask for a print out or enquire as to whether your surgery puts these on-line (as all English surgeries were asked to do before April 2016)
 
I do agree, ask for a full lipid breakdown of your cholesterol if you've don't know your lipid results already, but here are the target cholesterol levels that NICE want people with diabetes to aim for:

Lipids are the cholesterol and triglycerides in your blood. Cholesterol is a type of fat found in all of us. You may be familiar with the term blood cholesterol, but what you may not know is that not all cholesterol is bad. Some of it, HDL (high density lipoprotein), can actually protect against heart disease. Low levels of this protective HDL cholesterol increase your risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol is the bad form of cholesterol in the blood. Triglycerides are another type of fat in the blood. If you have raised cholesterol and raised triglycerides you have an increased risk of CVD.

  • Your total cholesterol level should be below 4.0mmol/l.
  • LDL levels should be less than 2.0mmol/l.
  • HDL levels should be 1.0mmol/l or above in men and 1.2mmol/l or above in women.
  • Triglyceride levels should be 1.7mmol/l or less.
If you do not know your lipid levels, ask your healthcare team to arrange a simple blood test for you.

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Managing-your-diabetes/Testing/

Ajwbs said:
I'm worried that the only way to go is to try other statins.
Click to expand...

I would go back to your Dr's and discuss your options, there are alternatives to statin's but I just forget what they are called atm, maybe the website Heart UK will say what alternatives there is. Good luck.
 
I am very doubtful about cholesterol - it is a highly essential substance, which is made in your body, not pushed into it by high levels in the diet. For women having higher rather than lower cholesterol is associated with living longer. There is a tiny positive association for men, so it is certainly nothing like the death sentence which the medical and pharmaceutical bodies would like us to believe. The connection is even more positive for all causes of death than for strokes and heart attacks.
Having had a very nasty reaction to statins I would prefer to take whatever risk there might be than find myself unable to function in normal day to day living.
 
The figure of 6.2 for total cholesterol is not particularly high. As others have said it's the breakdown that matters. I believe that cholesterol is good for the body full stop. Most of the discussion centres on the lipoproteins that carry cholesterol in the blood stream. It's the low density lipoprotein (LDL) that has been called "bad" and associated with negative outcomes. However, recent research shows that the small dense LDL is most likely the bad guy, rather than LDL per se. Unfortunately, this can only be measured directly by expensive tests. The good news is that it is directly associated with low levels of triglycerides, which you can get free on the NHS. You need to ask your doctor for a fasting blood test. A triglyceride level less than 1.0 means that you have low small dense LDL. Look up Ken Sikaris on the internet for a good presentation.
 
Ajwbs said:
Any advice or support very much welcome.

AD x
Click to expand...

I'm not pushing any particular diet but you'd be surprised how much total cholesterol drops when you cut carbs. It could be my body doesn't work properly because this last year, I increased fats by eating more cheese, nuts and yoghurt, even some cream and my total cholesterol dropped from 5.4 to 4. S that seems to go against what doctors are telling us.

The annoying thing with the whole cholesterol story is that your reading would have had your doctor patting you on the back . . . . in 1997.

The other thing that goes through my mind, having stopped statins 3 years ago after 17 years of muscle pain and BS excuses from my doctor, cholesterol isn't the direct cause of the problem, it's the arteriosclerosis where the cholesterol may start to clump together causing the blockages. If I had my time again, I would have asked for some sort of scan to see how bad the problem is. It's only because of an unnecessary visit to a U.S. hospital that I know my arteries are in pretty good shape for my age.
 
Thanks man - that was a really helpful response and definitely throws a different light on it.
 
Thanks Bluetit - that's a good shout. I have the printout now.
 
Thank you!
 
Some fair points there for sure.
 
Some very fair points.
 
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