Statins

I was advised some time ago that anyone over 40 with diabetes for more than 10 years is recommended to take statins.
I was also told this advice is based on risk from research done with a group of sedentary patients and no research has been done with active people like myself.
So, I decided not to follow the recommendation.

The jury is certainly out on 'statins' I was also advised to take them, but my cholesterol levels were not right, so I started, so far so good.

However there are a number of companies out there that manufacturers statins so if you start getting any side effects then return to your doctor and get them changed.

Type 1 for 29 years and have never taken statins, it was mentioned to me by my Gp a few years ago, but I declined. I had a heart scan whilst I was hospital recently (I had MRSA) and my heart is healthy and not damaged

helensaramay said:

I was advised some time ago that anyone over 40 with diabetes for more than 10 years is recommended to take statins.
I was also told this advice is based on risk from research done with a group of sedentary patients and no research has been done with active people like myself.
So, I decided not to follow the recommendation.

Click to expand...

I have always been active and my cholesterol does get checked. Any changes or problems, especially with my heart ( my mum died of heart failure) then I would seriously consider medication.

T1 20+ years, I was put on statins as a matter of course at diag, I didn't know any better at the time. Now I'm wondering if I should be taking them but at the same time scared not to be on them, my cholesterol levels are 'nice and low' but I have a few joint and muscular aches and pains which I always put down to age - something I intend to discuss at my next clinic.

I Take Statins Not because I am over 70 and not because I am Diabetic and have been for over 20 yrs but because I have had two Strokes. The doctor prescribed Crestor 20mg once a day I first Cut them in half and did not tell my doctor and had 3 Exams over 6 months to check that they were working Doc says everything was fine and to keep taking the Tablets I the cut them into quarters ie 5 mg and had similar results so I have been taking 5mgfor over 10 years I see a heart Doc, every 3 Months after I have seen my Diabetes Doc and both are Happy with my Control of Blood Sugar and my heart.

Regards to comments on here including mine we are all different and whilst you may learn what others do you are an individual with your own health to consider so make your mind up for yourself

I was prescribed satins long before I was diabetic I have had no obvious side affects but it's the ones you can't see or feel that you need to be wary of I think I stopped taking them even though my GP and cardiovascular surgeon advise them I had stents grafted for AAA's so I suppose I should be wary of clots and by that I am not refering to the doctors.

Though recently I found out that the guy who first discovered them did not take them until a few years ago when he found he had high cholesterol so now he takes them but only three times in a week I may do the same.

I am type 1 of 37 years and am repeatedly offered statins but my take on this is that as an active woman with great HDL/trig ratio (no other risk factors beyond the sugary/sticky arteries!) and no cardiovascular disease known, I probably will not benefit and may get side effects... (20% has been quoted so its a significant risk).
So ask your GP more questions e.g.
How many patients would you need to treat with statins to see a benefit or to see undesirable side effects?
What is my risk profile? (family history, blood pressure, hdl/rig ratio, weight, smoking status, age etc.)
Will I live any longer as a result of taking these pills? (surprisingly unless you do have existing CVD it would seem NOT!).

Nina8786 said:

I’ve just been informed by my GP that anyone who has diabetes for 10years or more should start taking statins,

Click to expand...

I've had type for 21 years, I have been statin free for the last 4 or 5 years of those 21 years. My total cholesterol is 4. I would suggest that he is totally wrong to suggest people should take a drug to lower their cholesterol just because they're diabetic, that's absurd!. Diabetics don't necessarily have high cholesterol, some do, others don't.

If you have high cholesterol you should investigate who set those targets, I think you'll find it's a bunch of guys who have a conflict of interests, they get paid by the pharmaceutical industry.

Then there is the issue of the empirical evidence or lack of it. Does high cholesterol lead to heart disease? My 91 year old MIL seems to be doing OK with higher than average cholesterol. Not that anecdotal evidence is any good, but it seems the proper evidence is locked away from prying eyes.

Next question to ask him is what does he suggest to people who experience muscle pain as a result of taking statins, which if he wants to know was known about as far back as 1990 when Merck Pharmaceutical applied for a patent to cover a statin with added Co-enzyme Q10. The thing that statins also lower and the cause of the muscle pain, even the manufacturer knew that.

At the end of the day, taking statins is a very personal thing, I know some people who take them with no side effects, lucky them. If you feel that your cholesterol needs to be lowered, try them, checking out all the available evidence is an onerous task, but I finally had the courage because my Total cholesterol dropped to below 4 after lower my carb intake and not increasing my fat intake.

I took statins for about 10 years. Got to the stage every joint and muscle arched in my body. I was like an old man but only in my 40’s. I read about the horrible side effects of statins and stopped taking them immediately. Within 2 weeks all the aches and pains had gone. My doctor tried me on several different types of statins but they all had the same side effects. I’ve never taken them since for about 6 years now. I feel absolutely great. No aches or pains and by cholesterol is only slightly high at 6.0 but quality of life has hugely improved. I run about 40km a month so the ticker is doing fine too.

Your GP is talking nonsense and there is no basis for his comment. You only need to take statins if your lipids ratios call for it and even then you need to determine your overall risk and check that you don't encounter muscle pains

I don't take statins but one must recognise if you have a lot of unstable plaques and inflammation in one's arteries a low dose statin my be a solution.
Statins are not used entirely to correct LDL abnormalities.

Low carb high fats will help but we may need other weapons in our armoury.
D.

Nina8786 said:

I’ve just been informed by my GP that anyone who has diabetes for 10years or more should start taking statins, I was wondering if anyone was on them and if you have any advice? Thankyou

Click to expand...

I've been on them for three years now took me a couple of tablets to find the right one for me I had a couple of tablets that gave me pains in my kidneys . I'm on atorvastatin at the moment and have had no problems.

The National Diabetes Audit found that 10% of diabetics have had a cardio vascular event (heart attack, myocardial infarction etc) in the past year. So we're a high risk group, in fact it's the thing that's most likely to kill us. So it's all about risk management, which is why you GP suggested you go onto statins.

Lot's of healthy debate on this forum about peoples' choice to take statins or not. It's down to you and your doctors recommendations, ultimately.

SamJB said:

The National Diabetes Audit found that 10% of diabetics have had a cardio vascular event

Click to expand...

I would imagine that is "poorly controlled" diabetics with sky high HbA1c or those on high doses of medication. For someone with decent control or "in remission" I can guess those risk factors would be greatly (completely?) reduced.
You see having "Type 2" doesn't immediately put anyone at greater risk whereas having poorly controlled Type 2 probably does but these factors are rarely if ever mentioned by HCP's.

bulkbiker said:

I would imagine that is "poorly controlled" diabetics with sky high HbA1c or those on high doses of medication. For someone with decent control or "in remission" I can guess those risk factors would be greatly (completely?) reduced.
You see having "Type 2" doesn't immediately put anyone at greater risk whereas having poorly controlled Type 2 probbaly does but these factors are rarely if ever mentioned by HCP's.

Click to expand...

Absolutely, it's all about good control! A quarter of T2s have an HbA1c in the 40s or lower and less than 10% of T1s, putting the vast majority in the high risk group of CVD complications.

SamJB said:

Absolutely, it's all about good control! A quarter of T2s have an HbA1c in the 40s or lower and less than 10% of T1s, putting the vast majority in the high risk group of CVD complications.

Click to expand...

And with the dietary advice given out by PHE and the NHS generally I'm surprised it is as many as 25%...

T1 for 46 years, was first put on Simvastatin 10 years ago, which made all my fingers/wrist joints really painful, so was taken off them for 2 years and have now been on Atorvastatins for the past 5 years, joints still a little achy at times, but much better than the previous type.

Edited to add my chloresterol was slightly high at 6.4, GP said diabetics need to be under 5 as we have a higher risk of heart attacks, my levels are now 4.8

Nina8786 said:

I’ve just been informed by my GP that anyone who has diabetes for 10years or more should start taking statins, I was wondering if anyone was on them and if you have any advice? Thankyou

Click to expand...

I'm not 40 yet, but due to my raised bp and high cholesterol levels, I was put on a low dose statin. It was also due to a family history of stroke and heart attack. I've had no side effects. My gp did say that those with type 2 are routinely put on statins because their sticky blood makes it harder to clear cholesterol.