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Very High Cholesterol and the Problems with Statins..

Q007

Q007

Well-Known Member
Messages
466
Location
Wales. UK
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
People who tell lies.
My GP (Dr Doom).
Good Evening to you,

In a routine cholesterol test I scored 8.1 with the LDL (Bad) content scoring 5. My GP reached for the pad to prescribe statins and I refused due to my experience with statins where my wife was concerned. After 3 heart attacks she is on statins and started on vastins version and suffered horrible side effects such as severe joint pains (knees) and a locum GP took a swipe-diagnosis and said it was probably Osteo. She's gone through A-Z of statins, now has a version that has NO joint pains or other chronic side effects.

I'm fully aware that I'm at risk as a T2 with such a high reading of LDL, I get that. I don't want to take any chances but there are so many issues with statins.

Does anyone know a way to reduce my LDL without taking statins? I hear that diet control has little effect of lowering LDL and that stress is a key factor in increasing levels of LDL but what to listen to?

I'd be very grateful for any personal experiences on getting LDL down without statins, thank you indeed

Kind regards,

Q..

PS: Vastins are one of the worst for joint pain especially 'Simvastin' - if you have joint pain and you're on Simvastin then change it and see for yourself what happens.
 
How is your BG control? When I had my first blood test that showed up my Diabetes my Cholesterol was 7.9 and I was given a prescription for statins that I was not happy about so I did some research and talked to others so I didnt take the statins I lowered my BGs by lowering my carbs and I started to take a plant sterol called Lestrin my cholesterol is 5.1 now and my GP is happy with that I dont know what effect the sterols had but I am now only taking 1 pill per day from the last blood test and I will see if it has an effect at my next blood test
CAROL
 
Your cholesterol is very high, there's some advice in the following from the Mayo Clinic on reducing cholesterol:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/reduce ... ol/CL00012

I know your wife has had a tough time finding a statin that doesn't have side-effects and I'm pleased she's found one suitable, however its not to say that you will experience the same, some tolerate statins well with no side-effects where others do, I personally wouldn't be persuaded by other peoples experiences and, if given the option of high cholesterol or taking a statin I would at the very least try them.

Just my thoughts :)
 
noblehead said:
Your cholesterol is very high, there's some advice in the following from the Mayo Clinic on reducing cholesterol:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/reduce ... ol/CL00012

I know your wife has had a tough time finding a statin that doesn't have side-effects and I'm pleased she's found one suitable, however its not to say that you will experience the same, some tolerate statins well with no side-effects where others do, I personally wouldn't be persuaded by other peoples experiences and, if given the option of high cholesterol or taking a statin I would at the very least try them.

Just my thoughts :)
Click to expand...

This always seems to be the case when it comes to statins people are loath to take them because someone who they know had bad side effects from them. The risk of side effects is just the same as with any drug some people do have them but far more people take them without any problems so why not give them a try you could be perfectly fine with them I have been taking them for over three years and never had a any side effects from day 1
 
Maybird said:
The risk of side effects is just the same as with any drug some people do have them but far more people take them without any problems so why not give them a try
Click to expand...

Bold statement-can you provide a source to back that up?
 
I agree with Nigel about the statin.
The portfolio diet that worked well for some people in a trial but as you can see in this NHS discussion of it, it probably isn't that easy to stick to and the average level was a bit lower than yours at the start(6.2mmol/l) It may also include some foods that you don't include in your diet.
http://heartuk.org.uk/images/uploads/he ... _portD.pdf
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/08August/Pa ... terol.aspx


edit to add links on side effects and Statins
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten ... -patients/
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/statin ... ts/MY00205
 
Have you heard of the Wheat Belly diet? That seems to help Cholesterol ( and Diabetes). The author is a cardiologist and the FaceBook page has all the info. It is a low carb , and grain free diet. My hubbie had high Cholesterol of 6.5 but it is now 4.6. Also check thyroid as low thyroid can cause high Cholesterol .
 
Found Lestrin on Amazon £10. I'm going to give it a go before I try statins, thank you very much for all the kind help.
Q..


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
There is a tablet that is ezetimibe that is available to supposedly help people that cant tolerate statins.

However, I saw a research consultant a few months ago and this was his advice to me...

"Give up the ezemitibe, and get atoravastatin and take just 1 a week."
 
Maybird said:
This always seems to be the case when it comes to statins people are loath to take them because someone who they know had bad side effects from them. The risk of side effects is just the same as with any drug some people do have them but far more people take them without any problems so why not give them a try you could be perfectly fine with them I have been taking them for over three years and never had a any side effects from day 1
Click to expand...


Well that's it Maybird, nearly all meds come with a long list of possible side-effects but not everyone suffers from them.

Both my mother and eldest brother both took Simvastatin for high cholesterol, Sim seems to be the first choice for gp's when prescribing statins and gets most of the bad feed-back from those who suffer side-effects, however both my family members tolerated this statin well without any problems. My brother had a Total Cholesterol of 9 when his high cholesterol was picked-up but managed to get it down into the 3's with a statin and some dietary changes.
 
paul-1976 said:
Maybird said:
The risk of side effects is just the same as with any drug some people do have them but far more people take them without any problems so why not give them a try
Click to expand...

Bold statement-can you provide a source to back that up?
Click to expand...

That is what my doctor told me and that it is the same risk with any drug you take as we are all different as to how we can tolerate any drug, luckily it was good for me no side effects at all. She did say that muscle pain if the most serous side effect and if I did get that I must stop taking them immediately and see her

I did read up a lot about statins before I took them...not being one to be influenced by other peoples horror stories... I felt if I could tolerate them with out problem then the good outweighed the bad for me. This was being hailed as a wonder drug that could also prevent some cancers see link



http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/345899 ... eat-cancer
 
Just a note on statins.... GP's should do a blood test after you start taking them. I dont know what the test is.. Only that my gp did it for me after I changed from ezemitibe to atoravastatin...
 
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