I agreed to try Atorvastatin despite having horrendous side effects from Simvastatin. I think I may have had a brain burb when I agreed, as my cholesterol levels were in the normal range anyway, and the GP was pushing it as a "precaution".
Within a very short time of starting them, my BG's went higher and higher despite no other changes, and muscle pain kicked in as well as brain fog to the point of me wondering if I had very premature senility !
I stopped them and told my GP that I no longer wanted to take any more statins, and was told that by ding so, my chances of heart disease etc would increase by 24%. (I researched this afterwards - it's rubbish ). Even if that were true, and it's not, I would take that chance rather than live a life with the side effects which diminish quality of life, and open a whole new can of worms regarding long term complications due to high BG's.
To play the devil's advocate though, this was MY experience, and other people do need statins, and get on well with one form if not another. Some have the whole list of side effects (and a few more to boot !), others tolerable ones, and some none at all. It is your right to make an informed choice, mine was not to take them against my GP's advice, but I am 100% convinced following my own research, that I didn't need them.
Oh, and because I am of an inquisitive nature, I trialled plant sterols (tablets, not Benecol and the like ) to see if they made any change at all to my cholesterol levels. The result was that they lowered my LDL and increased the HDL , so were effective on me with no side effects apart from cost ! This was purely experimental as I'm interested in alternative medicine,and I have now discontinued them . If they work for everyone, I really can't say, but suspect not. Like everything else in this war against diabetes, it's trial and error, and very personal.
Must change my signature now to as I forgot to remove the plant sterols post experiment!
Signy