Today i had an appointment with the nurse regarding a pre diabetes chat as I was on the borderline with score of 42. She was encouraging me to take a statin as my cholesterol was 5.2 to help prevent stroke and heart attack but I thought Apixaban would help prevent stroke. I wasn’t keen so she has made an appt with the Dr tomorrow to chat with me, I am not overweight at 5ft 4ins and 8 st 11 lbs. I have around 2 episodes of AF every year and am on Apixaban and bisoprolol as PIP when needed as I have a slow heart rate around 48 bpm.
I am so worried about taking another medicine especially statins. Today I read they are processed by the liver and I know the same happens with Apixaban, is this not a lot of work for the liver to do. I know this has nothing to do with AF but would like to know do many of you take statins and are you happy taking them? Thank you in advance for any replies they are much appreciated as I find this forum so helpful, kind regards, Heather
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gemsmum
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Don't get me started gemsmum. I refuse statins with similar prospects. Had twenty years on them and gave up eventually and my GP respects my decision. Since "our Tone" changed doctors pay structure they have targets for these things I understand.
My friend who is a GP (not mine) told me if I didn't take statins I would die. I asked what would happen if I did take them and his comment was " You will still die-- it is inevitable. "
The apixaban WILL help protect you from stroke. Nothing is infallible!
There used to be a joke years ago around the Annadin advert. "Nothing acts faster than Annadin. So take nothing then. "
When I told the cardiologist that I was no longer taking Warfarin due to its side effects he said 'Do you want to die, it only takes one second for a blood clot to form ' Others who stopped taking it were asked the same question.
When I had earlier told my GP he said that I was the third patient that week to have stopped it. He said that they were all ladies who had complained about , bruising, bleeding and hair loss. This was in 2012 when doctors were not prescribing NOACs as readily as now due to the cost.
Some people get on well with statins, but having seen what they do to others I'd personally never take them. We must each of us make our own choices of what to do in your circumstance. I'm not medically trained, but I didn't think 5.2 was high.
I am not a fan of statins, last year my GP mentioned that perhaps I should take them as my cholestoral reading was borderline. I had already discussed this with my heart failure nurse (have HF and AF) and she was against me taking them unless my readings were high. I am in permanent AF so have enough heart meds to take so I declined them.
You sound as if you are well in controll of your AF so I would be inclined to say no. I know some people get on with statins but quite a lot seem to suffer side effects, aches and pains being one of them, my husband had high blood pressure and he was put on a blood pressure tablet and a statin, I do not think his reading was above normal GP just stuck him on them. He now suffers from a lot of aches and pains and tiredness and I am sure they are the cause. I keep nagging him to go back to GP, he never gets round to it!!!! Will get there eventually I hope.
Then I would want to know whether the treatment is effective - and whether a change in the blood pressure medication would help. Alternatively, try stopping the statin - or upping the amount of CoQ10 - but either way he has lots to discuss with a doctor!
There was a mini pill being touted as a preventive around 2011 that contained aspirin, statin and a BP med. The professor I was seeing at Imperial College had run a trial on it but I have not heard of it recently
The body needs cholesterol for many functions, most of all the brain. My doctor showed me the blood reference sheet where the ranges for various tests are shown. There were no ranges for the ones that indicate you should take a cholesterol med. This is in Canada. 5.2 is not high. There are new recommendations out now. I seem to remember anything under 10 is ok. You can search for this to see if my memory is accurate. Sometimes it is not. Some studies show that just as many people on cholesterol meds have heart attacks as those not on them. The possible side effects are likely not worth the risk.
A few years ago l read a book called “the great cholesterol con” by Dr Malcolm Kendrick, which convinced me that cholesterol is not the problem that drug companies would have us believe! My GP doesn’t like my refusal to take statins, but has accepted that it is my choice.
Thanks for replies it will be interesting to see what my GP recommends today as it was the nurse wanted me to start them, my Dr has never before mentioned me starting them.
Read The Great Cholester Myth by Sinatra and Bowden (a cardiologist and a nutritionist.) Will put all in perspective for you.
After much discussion with my doctor I decided against taking any more drugs especially when I read that one patient used the term 'his liver was statined out' and he couldn't take them any more! The brain consists of a high proportion of cholesterol and I do not want to compromise that! 😮
A cholesterol level of 5.2 is fine - don't let a GP convince you otherwise. Statins interfere with the proper functioning of your liver and cause all sorts of issues affecting quality of life. I know - my wife was on a statin for several years and suffered all sorts of health issues (severe aches and pains, sleep problems, digestive problems amongst others) which resolved within days (yes, literally days) of discontinuing the statin. Had she remained on the statin, at least some of those issues may not have been reversible. There is also the link between statins and diabetes to consider.
If you can get your weight down by 7 llbs (by exercise and diet changes) - you will still be well inside your BMI range, your chloresterol levels will ease and the diabetes possibilities will fade into the background. You will not have to take pills for the rest of your life.
I have cholesterol of about 6 last time it was measured 2 years ago. I think they wanted it below 4.8 at the time. HOWEVER I eat loads of fish (oily and otherwise), and also take a daily omegae 3 capsule or a cod liver oil and I had a much greater ratio of good cholesterol (hdl) to bad (ldl ) cholesterol than the docs target so the GP thought overall I was in a good place.
I am surprised that nearly every reply here comes out against taking statins. There is a lot of disinformation about doctors getting paid for putting you on statins. It is medically recommended that patients with a score above a certain risk score for developing heart disease should be on a statin for prevention. That is why GPs put you on statins as they are told it is negligent not to advise patients with a certain cardiac risk score to take therm. It is good medicine & NICE recommended. This score includes many factors, cholesterol levels, age, gender, other diseases eg. diabetes. Statins decrease the formation of cholesterol plaques inside the arteries and thus prevent those arteries becoming blocked, which may lead to a stroke if the artery is in the brain. Other arteries becoming blocked cause major problems in the eye, kidney and limbs. Statins are a great benefit as you get older. Some people get some side effects, but these can be treated by changing the type of statin (some are fat soluble, some are water soluble) Ask your doctor to do this if you have bad side effects, but please take statins as they are literally a life saver.
Been on Atorvastatin for about 30 years - first started on Simvastatin but had a side effect. I have serious heart and blood problems and I am taking a low dose to help prevent stroke and/or heart attack. I have every faith in my GP and in the Consultants who advised me.
Been to Dr today for a chat, he said I was in the 25% risk of having cardiovascular problems if I didn’t take statins, he showed me a presentation on the computer. When I told him taking statins sometimes caused diabetes problems and I was borderline pre diabetes, he agreed but said diabetes was easier to treat than stroke or heart attack. He has left it up to me and and as I have another blood test in November for taking Apixaban I will get them to test for cholesterol and diabetes and decide then hoping that my results will be better. He also said he had started statins in February and was having no side effects!! Thank you all for the replies, kind regards, Heather
I with the ‘anti’ brigade - ask for a breakdown of your HDL/LDL and Triglycerides. Don’t be bullied into taking something you are uncomfortable with. I saw a nutrionist who advised me on changing my eating plans to reduce cholesterol because I was getting the same aggro from Mg GP surgery - more from the nurses than the GPs who agreed with me, eventually, when we had ‘the chat’ which they are obliged to do otherwise they lose funding so - yes pay DOES come into it - that I didn’t need them and they could be detrimental for my overall wellbeing. The best that can be said for statins is that there is evidence that they can reduce inflammation.
I reduced my total cholesterol from 7.2 to 5.5 and everyone was more than happy with that - my neurologist thought my ratio LDL/HDL was excellent and tells me to make sure I eat enough fat - the good ones of course!
Nutritionist prescribed a food supplement called Cholesterase which had absolutely no adverse affects and I only took for 2months.
Research yourself and ensure you are informed but also trust your own reactions - the only regrets I have is allowing myself to be talked into taking meds against my instincts.
The role of cholesterol is debatable at best - certainly not proven - I posted a link this morning on another thread to what I felt to be a pretty balanced overview.
My wife's cholesterol was up a bit at her last check up. The doctor pointed to a leaflet on his wall and said that our advice now is to tell the patient the possible benefits and possible risks and let them make their own decision. I knew that he was taking a statin as far back as 2008 and had said that he had no side effects from it. I asked him if he was still taking the same one. He said without giving a reason that he was no longer taking them.
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