Dramatic reduction in cholesterol

[Nomoney2018]

Hi. Just after advice as I am confused. I have heart failure and in April despite being on rosuvastatin 20mg for years a blood test showed a total cholesterol of 7.2 the GP increased my statin which caused side effects so in June I stopped the statin a blood test on 9th Aug showed total cholesterol of 7.9 so was referred to a lipid clinic they decided to put me on cholesterol injections but before I go on them they wanted me to start the 20mg statin again before I start the injection. I had to have a further blood test. Have been back on the statin for 10 days and my result this time was 4.5. I don't understand how my level dropped so low so quickly 10 days to move from 7.9 to 4.5. Lipid clinic have advised I don't start cholesterol injections till this is confirmed. My question is has anyone else dropped their level so quickly. Thanks. 😁

[DavidG1971]

I was always told statins took weeks to take effect. When I asked for a blood test after a couple of weeks - they said it wasn’t worth it.

[Nomoney2018 in reply to DavidG1971]

I thought it was very quick to have such a dramatic change. Have been told not to start the injections untill they can get another blood test done in 4 weeks. They have requested a starvation blood test .😁

[Adaboo]

Statins are supposed to take weeks to change your cholesterol so it not because of taking it for 10 days! Hope they are not going to give you anything else till they have sorted this out though. 🤞

[Nomoney2018 in reply to Adaboo]

No they have told me not to start the injections untill they do another blood test. To go from 7.9 to 4.5 in such a short space of time needs confirmation. 😀

[Adaboo in reply to Nomoney2018]

Were they giving you injections because the statins weren’t working?

[Nomoney2018 in reply to Adaboo]

Yes in April while taking statins a test showed 7.2 they then tried to increase the dose of statin but it gave me horrible side effects so was referred to a lipid clinic who suggested these Injections.

[Hidden in reply to Nomoney2018]

I am surprised that they did not try you on a different statin. There are plenty of them.

[Nomoney2018 in reply to Hidden]

I have tried atorvastatin but had side effects.

[Hidden in reply to Nomoney2018]

Types of statin

There are 5 types of statin available on prescription in the UK:

atorvastatin (Lipitor)

fluvastatin (Lescol)

pravastatin (Lipostat)

rosuvastatin (Crestor)

simvastatin (Zocor)

[Nomoney2018 in reply to Hidden]

I don't know apparently the atorvastatin and rosuvastatin are stronger. I'm not sure how it works. I have only been on these 2.

[Hidden in reply to Nomoney2018]

What side effects did you encounter?

[Nomoney2018 in reply to Hidden]

Pain in my feet and my muscles so changed my meds.

[Adaboo in reply to Nomoney2018]

You might get more answers on cholesterol support forum on here.

[Maisie2014]

Sounds like they were reading the wrong results. All this computerisation is not as good as the old paperwork. Instead of going back to the original results to compare they have to take another test. Bring back the old case notes 📝 lol 😆. Price of progress I suppose. Results used to be misfiled in the wrong notes but there’s no way of checking if someone enters incorrect information on the computer.

[bee2]

Maybe coming off them and back on kick started something?

[Jack2019]

lipid numbers are dynamic, constantly changing, Cholesterol is very responsive to what's happening in your body. You could take several readings over a month and get many different results. It is highly dependent on the diet. I think it's terrible that a doctor will prescribe a statin based on a single blood test, when you could have high cholesterol that day because you are fighting an infection or your dealing with stress etc. They don't seem interested in digging deeper. When I had my HA it was only four months after radiation treatment for cancer, of course my cholesterol was high, thankfully, as it was doing it's part in healing my cells. My cholesterol was really high, they told me it's familial, it's not, my triglycerides were low, hdl in normal range at the same blood result, My LDL was always in the normal range until I got cancer earlier in that year. The only thing they focused on was that ldl number that one day, and were very dismissive, there's nothing I can do they told me take a statin or else. I didn't and a year out my ldl is back to normal. There is always a reason your ldl rises out of your normal range, seems to me that should be job one is to figure out whats going on. also i had to ask to have my ldl rechecked, no followup from the medical community, take the pill, see you when your body starts falling apart because they never helped you with what the real problem was.

[Nomoney2018 in reply to Jack2019]

That is all so true. I had 2 high readings in April while on statins 7.2 and 7.9 in August then saw lipid clinic who said I could have FH so thought injections would be good for me. However after 3 weeks and 10 days back on the statin my blood test was 4.5. They have now said that given such a huge drop I should continue on the tablet and have another blood test in 4 weeks time. 🙂