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Type 2 Statins

Cat166

Member
Messages
13
Location
Glasgow
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diabetes
Is anybody else on these along with their glicazide? I’m terrified of the weight gain as I’ve already gained a stone since starting my gliclazide

My nurse called me today to say that she wants me to start on them and that most diabetes type 2 are on them. I was unaware of this

Thanks
 
Does she mean that she wishes most type 2's are on them! lol
 
Oh dear!

Did your nurse say why you need them? Have you a problem with your cholesterol? Have you had a heart attack or a stroke?

When I was diagnosed in early 2014 I was told that "we put all diabetics on statins". What a load of nonsense. For your peace of mind, you need to get hold of your cholesterol blood test results. You need the HDL, the LDL and the triglycerides. You can ask for a print out of the test results. You are entitled to these. The receptionist should be able to help with this.
 
coby said:
Does she mean that she wishes most type 2's are on them! lol
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Don’t know she said that even if my cholesterol reading was 4 she would still recommend them
 


She said that my cholesterol results came back as 5 and that’s why she’s recommending I start them. I don’t like the sound of it but I haven’t had a heart attack or anything. I am 55 and I was just diagnosed in May this year
 
I was told the recommendation is that all diabetics over the age of 40 should take statins.
I was told this is because we are more at risk of heart disease and statins have been shown to reduce this risk.
However, this is based on research with a group of sedentary, overweight people. There is no research showing statins provide any benefit to someone of a healthy weight who exercises regularly.
 
Yes that’s basically what she told me. Weight wise just very slightly overweight but I used to be very active however since being diagnosed I haven’t been as active as I would like to be
 
Hmm, not sure most T2D are on statins. Where is the nurse getting the statistics?
I was told to go on them, as my cholesterol was slightly above normal. Not a lot, just slightly. I told them no. I'm now around 2kg overweight, don't smoke, don't really drink and my blood pressure is going down nicely. No thanks!
 
Nice one! I don’t know whether I want to take them now. Think I’ll wait a while and see my next cholesterol reading
 
 
Oh wow thank you. I’m gonna look them up
 
They keep pushing them at me and I keep refusing, even though the only indicator that's out of range is dropping. I presume they want me on statins partly to claim the credit...!

I'd like to see some evidence that "most T2s are on statins". I suspect it's more that they are following a treatment protocol that assumes (eg) all T2s are overweight and will stay overweight; all T2s have poor control and will never achieve it; all T2s will therefore be at risk of coronary artery disease amongst other things; therefore all T2s should be on statins. This not being true doesn't affect their need to follow their phoney-baloney protocol.
 
These were pushed on me even with low cholesterol, I had watched a video called the great cholesterol myth or something like that on YouTube, this was very enlightening and decided to refuse statins, this was difficult as every time I saw a doctor, they kept on at me to take them, no way Jose!

Well, I had a mini stroke, and heart bypass in the past year lol, I’m taking them now as the stroke consultant said by taking them I’m 10 times less likely to stroke again, I thought, I’ll go with that.

I received the same advice you just have on here, just saying…
 
Jeez that’s worrying me now
 
Cat166 said:
Jeez that’s worrying me now
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Not trying to worry you, Sorry. Just my experience, I’m pretty sure I’m the exception that proves the rule.
 
Statins can up blood sugars, and even cause diabetes to come on in some people. If your cholesterol is pretty much fine (get the ratio's, not the total), and you haven't had a cardiac event... No need to use them. I was put on them as a matter of course as well, it came in together with my very first box of metformin. For me... The side effects were quite horrid. I have pretty good control of my rheumatism, but it went absolutely NUTS on the stuff. I was in so much pain, sleep became just a myth.

You don't have to take anything you don't want to. And if you do feel safer trying them, check your blood sugars before and after you start them, and keep an eye on other side effects. After all, our brains are made up of cholesterol for a rather large part, so side effects can include mental degradation, aside from the aforementioned joint pain and the like. Bottom line: read the leaflet and know thyself: if something's off, stop them.
 
bulkbiker said:
Surgeries in the UK get financial bonuses for getting people onto statin meds..
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This should be front page news, scandalous

(if it’s true) edit
 
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@Cat166

Please get a copy of your test results. It is important. Ask the receptionist.
Cholesterol is made up of good cholesterol (HDL). This should be as high as possible. Triglycerides, which are the baddies and should be as low as possible, and something called LDL. This is made up of small hard particles and large fluffy particles. The small hard ones are bad. The large fluffy ones are good. Unfortunately in the UK they don't differentiate between these particles in routine tests, so we don't know which ones we have. The total cholesterol is just that, a total of them all. You say your total was 5. That is pretty meaningless without the breakdown. You could have a lot of the good stuff in that total. You need to know - and without this knowledge you cannot decide on whether to take a statin, and neither should your nurse be suggesting them.

Research shows that statins may be beneficial to those who have already had a heart attack or stroke, but not for the rest of us. There is a very long thread on the forum that contains links to this. You would need months to read through it, but I recommend you have a glance and read some of it. It will put your mind at rest. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/cholesterol-and-statins.156985/
 
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