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Everyday health

Russell1975

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi friends,
Been T2 for 3 months now, last week I was put on Cholesterol tablets to work aside my normal T2 tablets and HBP tablets.
Have felt terrible for a week now, serve headaches, muscle aches and worst of all I feel tired/uninterested in most things.
Doctor advised me to continue with tablets and ailments are due to body accepting new meds.

Has anyone else experienced similar feelings and how did you return to the normal you?

Any help/advice greatly relieved.

Thank you
 
Well the aches and fatigue and headaches are almost certainly down to the statins. How high is your cholesterol? Chances are you don't actually need the statins anyway, most doctors seem to like to prescribe them as often as they can though.

What T2 tablets are you on? Have you made any dietary changes since becoming T2?
 
Thank you for reply
I'm on Metformin 500mg 3 times T2
Lisinopril 10mg daily HBP
Lipitor 10mg Cholesterol
I've stopped on the Lipitor 2 days ago.
Diet has changed by dropping red meat (once a week) and changed all white breads for wholemeal and also cut down on intake of carbs.
I lost a stone over the 3 months and have felt fine until I started on the cholesterol tablets , so I stopped taking them nearly 72 hours ago but still feel dreadful.
 
Hi. Statins commonly have side effects; sometimes serious (ask my wife!). Check things like your LDL, HDL and Trigs numbers to see your level of cardio risk as the total doesn't mean too much. Unless your risk numbers are high I would discuss stopping the statins with your GP or trying another variety. Simvastatin tends to cause more problems.
 
Hi. I've been on Atorvastatin for almost 13 years and never had any problems with it. My last blood test for cholesterol was on 29th Oct this year, it was: 3.1.
 
Hi Russell. How long have you been on the Lisinopril?
 
I've been on simvastatin for 4 years today (I didn't celebrate)

Yes those things settle but for some, the aches remain.
If the drug works great for someone, they're not likely to post on a forum to say so.

The statin may cause these side affects, but the benefit is huge, it's just not as sexy as a drug that brings your sugars into line and you feel the difference (the kind of effect a lead singer in the band may have).

The statin is more like a bass player. Unless exceptional, you only notice when it misses a beat.
 
Hi Russell, Hmm, could well be the Atorvastatin??? But, there are other Statins that your GP could put you on. I personally take the Atorvastatin because Heart Problems is Heredity on the male side of my family (not me though). Liam.
 
I for one do not believe the benefits of statins are huge. In fact for the majority of people they are unnecessary.

I suggest you read a book I read recently:-

The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy That Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease by Uffe Ravnskov

There's also one entitled Fat and Cholesterol are Good For You by the same author.

Two of you have quoted your total cholesterol figures. My own is in the middle of the 2, but I would prefer mine to be 7.9 rather than 3.1. Just my opinion of course.
 
Hi Zand, does the book say what does cause heart disease - I'd appreciate your abridgement of possible =)
 

No experience Russell but in your shoes I'd be going back to the Dr's and mention these side-effects, they may pass as your body gets use to the drug but with your symptoms I'd be booking an appointment asap (just for reassurance if anything).

If you want to know the target cholesterol levels that they want people with diabetes to aim for have a look at the following:

Blood fats (lipids)
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/Monitoring/Testing/
 
Thank You noblehead for posting the above. My print out from the Hospital Diabetic Clinic on 29th October this year was:
Cholesterol = 3.1.
HDL = 1.1.
LDL = 1.8.
Trips = 2.2.

Again THANKS for that information.
Liam
 
How do you measure that the benefit is huge?
 
Whilst it would seem these symptoms relate directly to your new statin, you have only had them a week, and at this time of year the symptoms you describe could just as easily be a viral thing. There are lots of them around. Just throwing that into the ring.

Looking towards your cholesterol result; you really need to know the break down of that total number, as that is really rather important. Some GPs set a great deal of store on the total cholesterol, and don't always really understand the important of the breakdown themselves.

At 7.9 your total is quite elevated, as I was informed by my GP (my total cholesterol is always high, but the constituents are excellent, without any medication) that a total score of over 8 will almost always start alarm bells ringing, and may bring about a referral to a lipid specialist.

There are a great many online resources for cholesterol education, including on YouTube. I learned a huge amount watching this video, and others presented by Professor Sikaris. He has a very easy going communication style.
He has loads more on there too.

Good luck with it all.
 

Understanding of cholesterol is changing... it's a very interesting topic. So now, for example, fats aren't the enemy (well, not all of them )
 
well high cholesterol and heart disease run in my family. So from my experience the two are linked because pretty much all the people in my family with high cholesterol over time had heart attacks or problems. I prefer to try and keep my cholesterol level down... which reminds me I'm due a check. In regard to taking new drugs... yeh unfortunately they can really knock you about for quite a while. I've been put on a few and taken off a few and whether you just come on it or just come off it, your body doesn't tend to like it. My family members on statins have complained about aches and pains. I'm not sure which ones they're taking though.
 
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