Statins/ Vitamin K2/ Blood Calcium

[andyR57]

Would appreciate peoples views and expertise on Statins/ Vitamin K2 and calcium in the blood.

I am pre-diabetic and as a consequence my GP is determined to get me on Statins. After a lot of pressure a few months ago I agreed but within days my readings had risen a fair bit – even for low carb meals and so after a week I came off them much to the annoyance of my GP. The issue is my total cholesterol is 4.8 but my HDL is a low 0.7 my LDL 2.5 but my Triglycerides a ridiculous 8.0. I do need to get the Trig's down and I have reduced carbs and made lifestyle changes which I hope will have a good impact.

Apart from statins increasing my glucose levels I have also resisted statins because I understood they increase blood calcium levels and I understood this to be a bad thing and that taking vitamin K2 was effective in decreasing calcium levels in the blood which was good. HOWEVER, I have just watched a video on Youtube that advocates statins do increase calcium in the blood BUT this is a good thing since it calcifies unstable plaque and actually makes in safer thereby reducing potential heart attacks.

I am now totally confused which is correct and whether statins are not the evil I assumed.

Comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[HSSS]

I did‘t think statins effected triglycerides and an ldl of 2.5 is well wishing guidance for type 2. Is the dr only looking at totals? Even that isn’t too bad. Have you run the QRISK3 calculator? I “think” advice is a risk over 10% warrants statins. Can’t see even that convincing me as I continue to refuse them.

 

[Outlier]

What happens to the calcified unstable plaque? What happens with unstable plaque if it isn't calcified?

I'm assuming you haven't been tested to see if there is any buildup of plaque in your arteries. Preventive medicine is important, but it's for you to judge whether you are happy with that particular offer - after all, we could each be taking buckets of drugs to prevent lots of diseases we were never going to get anyway. It's your decision what you do or don't do.

 

[andyR57]

What happens to the calcified unstable plaque? What happens with unstable plaque if it isn't calcified?

I'm assuming you haven't been tested to see if there is any buildup of plaque in your arteries. Preventive medicine is important, but it's for you to judge whether you are happy with that particular offer - after all, we could each be taking buckets of drugs to prevent lots of diseases we were never going to get anyway. It's your decision what you do or don't do.

The gist of the video was that calcified plague is less likely to rupture than softer un-calcified plaque because it is covered in a hard shell of calcium, I have done a QRISK3 and have a 15% chance due to having kidney issues - so I guess that justifies statins although I am still more motivated to reduce my numbers by low carbs and exercise etc.

 

[Oldvatr]

Hardened arteries are another name for calcified arteries. They lose their pliability and thus you lose control of blood pressure, and gain reduced circulation. Calcified plaque is hard and brittle so more likely to break away because it is fragile and will not bend with the artery it is attached to.

you really do not want to encourage calcium in the arteries.

K2 is an adjunct to D3 the two go together to open the door to calcium so it gets to the bone and strengthens the bone, As we age our bones lose calcium so supplementing with D3 and K2 is a good idea. One without the other does not work,.

 

[jjraak]

Would appreciate peoples views and expertise on Statins/ Vitamin K2 and calcium in the blood.

I am pre-diabetic and as a consequence my GP is determined to get me on Statins. After a lot of pressure a few months ago I agreed but within days my readings had risen a fair bit – even for low carb meals and so after a week I came off them much to the annoyance of my GP. The issue is my total cholesterol is 4.8 but my HDL is a low 0.7 my LDL 2.5 but my Triglycerides a ridiculous 8.0. I do need to get the Trig's down and I have reduced carbs and made lifestyle changes which I hope will have a good impact.

Apart from statins increasing my glucose levels I have also resisted statins because I understood they increase blood calcium levels and I understood this to be a bad thing and that taking vitamin K2 was effective in decreasing calcium levels in the blood which was good. HOWEVER, I have just watched a video on Youtube that advocates statins do increase calcium in the blood BUT this is a good thing since it calcifies unstable plaque and actually makes in safer thereby reducing potential heart attacks.

I am now totally confused which is correct and whether statins are not the evil I assumed.

Comments would be greatly appreciated.

I also had high trigs (6+ )
Which I discovered after DX, had been high since 8 years earlier.

I never took, though keep being offered statins.



I took an active interest in my blood tests after DX , which is why I backtracked my bloods over every test available that I had taken.

Upshot was from 2010, where I had slight scare requiring blood tests, through to 2018 being DX'd as T2D...my blood lipids stayed poor despite my diet being more focused on low carb low fat as per guidance

After 6 months of LCHF, all my lips were back in good range, many in optimal as was my trigs at 1.2.



Just a little personal insight to show LCHF worked to lower my trigs

It also got my HBA1c down from 58 to 40 over that same period .

Good luck finding similar success on the trigs front.

 

[Mrs HJG]

Read this today - may be of interest @andyR57 https://diatribe.org/triglycerides-and-diabetes?omhide=true

 

[jjraak]

Read this today - may be of interest @andyR57 https://diatribe.org/triglycerides-and-diabetes?omhide=true

Interesting.

Cheers for posting .

 

[Oldvatr]

For anyone thinking of taking statins, this paper may help you decide

Small Dense LDL: Scientific Background, Clinical Relevance, and Recent Evidence Still a Risk Even with ‘Normal’ LDL-C Levels

Residual cardiovascular disease event risk, following statin use and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) reduction, remains an important and common medical conundrum. Identifying patients with significant residual risk, despite statin drug use, ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov