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To statin or not to statin ... that is the question!

Debzz_

Well-Known Member
My GP prescribed me Antorvastatin 20mg along with my Metformin last week - I've only seen negative opinions on statins . Does anyone believe that they work ? My cholesterol was 7 .
 
It seems generally accepted (well most of us here) that the overall cholesterol number is meaningless. Do you have the full lipid breakdown?
As you are presumably female it would also appear from various recent studies that a higher cholesterol number leads to longer life unless you have had a cardiac event.
You could do a lot worse than spend 30 minutes watching this
After that then maybe think what is best for you.
A lot of us have found that many GP's are way behind current thinking on these things and simply prescribe because NICE has told them too or they don't have all the info.. (I'm being kind to them there..).
Personally there is no way I'd take them but as with all meds it is up to you.
 
Yes, the total is meaningless without the breakdown. You need your HDL/LDL and triglycerides, then you can work out your ratios if the lab didn't do this for you. Without that information you can't really make a decision on statins (and neither should your doctor for that matter)
 
More confusion then
 
Debzz_ said:
More confusion then
Click to expand...

Did you ask for a print out of your test results, or ask if your surgery puts them on-line? If not, then I suggest you do this. A print out will tell you all you need to know, and test results on-line are brilliant.
 
@bulkbiker put a video up the other day where Salim Yusef (?) said that too much salt was bad for you and too little salt was bad for you and the optimum amount was 3-5 gms per day. There is a WHO graph showing total cholesterol in many people from 168 countries where more people die with low cholesterol and more people die with high cholesterol than die with the optimum total cholesterol of about 5.6.

My point is that anyone who seeks ever lower readings should know when to stop. No salt might kill you as would a very low cholesterol figure. No-one has ever proven the link of cholesterol and CVD anyway.
 
According to the poll on this forum, most users have bad experiences with statins. Some of the complications are severe including memory loss. Statins raise blood sugar, so are not good for diabetics. They also make it more likely you will die of heart disease or cancer, especially for women. So, not advisable to take unless you are male and have had a heart attack.
 
I was one that had very bad experiences with statins and if that wasn't enough they tried four different kinds out on me before they were convinced. I didn't mention it because I didn't want to influence the decision of the OP.

They will have to handcuff me before I will do that again.
 
And please be aware that statins and diabetes are not necessarily a very good combination - they can raise glucose levels. I saw a noticeable drop in my readings after I'd stopped taking my long term dose of statins, a reduction I'd not been able to attain by my fairly strict, longish term LCHF way of eating. I wonder inow whether they were actually part of the cause of my diabetes, so my personal opinion is that unless there's a very good reason for you to really need statins, you're best to keep well away from them.

Robbity

And PS: that poll on the forum makes for some pretty scary reading!
 

That slide is in the Zoe Harcombe video I linked to above. She took the WHO figures on cholesterol and mortality..guess what the higher cholesterol figures showed less mortality.. We have all been scammed by the statin makers and unfortunately a whole load of our HCP's.
 
Debzz_ said:
My GP prescribed me Antorvastatin 20mg along with my Metformin last week - I've only seen negative opinions on statins . Does anyone believe that they work ? My cholesterol was 7 .
Click to expand...

Statins certainly work, my brother had a total cholesterol of 9 and took a statin to lower it, he was prescribed Simvastatin at a high dose of 80mg which was then lowered once his cholesterol reduced (he eventually lowered it to below 4 and came off statins and now controls his cholesterol by exercise and diet).

Regards to Artovastatin, I'm sure that I read it is effective in a lower dose as Simvastatin is at a higher dose, something like a 20mg dose of Artovastatin works the same as a 40mg dose of Simvastatin, didn't save the article but a google search may say whether this is in fact true or not.

My mother also took Simvastatin but don't recall her cholesterol levels, both her and my brother didn't suffer side-effects but some people do, if you do @Debzz_ be sure to mention it to your gp and report it to the MHRA Yellow Card Scheme:

https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/the-yellow-card-scheme/
 
I have 20mg Artostatin - I'm pleased to see one positive reply - so Thankyou .
 
Debzz_ said:
I'm pleased to see one positive reply
Click to expand...

The big assumption here is that high cholesterol is per se a bad thing.
From my reading I would say this may well not be the case. Thus lowering cholesterol may not be good for us.
Did you check out Zoe Harcombe's video?
 
Debzz_ said:
Does anyone believe that they work ? My cholesterol was 7 .
Click to expand...

If there's one thing statins do, it's lower your cholesterol just like it says on the tin (well box really).

Should anyone take them? $64,000 question if ever there was one. I wouldn't even attempt to make a recommendation although I stopped because of the side effects, that was after 17 years of aching muscles, brain fog and appalling sleep problems and my very low levels of CoQ10 may very well be as a result, I'll never know. The side effects are less but not totally gone.

I was lucky in that lowering my carbs to about 40gms a day (exclude the obvious carbs) lowered my BG AND total cholesterol to about 3, it gave me the confidence to stop taking them and after 3 years my total cholesterol has still only risen to 4 (as of last December).

It's a very personal decision so maybe try them and if you experience muscle pain make sure your GP knows about it and if he says try another one, don't be fooled, a statin is a statin although I think dosage has an effect. You will already have noted that some have no problems that they know of at all, while others will have problems with muscle pain, brain fog and sleep, and they are the three side effects that the NHS list.
 
I did read that big pharma sit around a table deciding which illness/disease they could make up so that they could make loads of dosh. Cholesterol was one they came up with and a damned good job they have done!
 
Put me down as anti-statin. I developed Type 2 very shortly after being put on Lipitor. There is more to the story and I admit that I "might" well have developed Type 2 regardless. But my own research has me convinced that statins played a significant role in my diagnosis. I am certain that statins help with reducing "bad" cholesterol levels. But I am FAR less certain that the risk is worth the reward.
 
Debzz_ said:
I have 20mg Artostatin - I'm pleased to see one positive reply - so Thankyou .
Click to expand...

Here's another positive reply @Debzz_ .
I take 20mg of Atorvastatin daily and have been taking it for 14 years, (diagnosed 17 years ago with Type 2) and I have never suffered any bad side effects from the Statin. It has always kept my Cholesterol under 4 - my last result was December 2016 and it was 3.2.
HDL = 1.1
LDL = 1.8
Trigs = 2.2
 
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Debzz_ said:
I have 20mg Artostatin - I'm pleased to see one positive reply - so Thankyou .
Click to expand...
I having been taking Rosuvastatin (Crestor) for three years without any ill effects, and it has pulled my cholesterol levels down to normal.

The statin was not given to me for T2 diabetes, but for a aid in treating A Fib by taking the strain off the heart pumping blood around.

Come to think of it, I ever knew "statins" were "bad" till I came to this forum...
 
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