Discontinued statins?

[JohnWesterdale]

How many people experience discomfort from statins, enough to discontinue against medical advice? I stopped due to losing memory ( CRS has resolved after) and having a flat affect. I didn't die, but was I alive? I heard too many times " let's find the right statin for you", cringe worthy. Now we know better what to look for, in medical research, but not clinical practice . Thanks Dr Lustig.

[Taviterry]

Hi John, we've discussed this many times, including the other day: healthunlocked.com/bhf/post... And see some of the "related posts" at top right.

Which reminds me: there was a "wellness" article in today's Sunday Times which very briefly included the writer's cholesterol readings. Nor for the first time, I wondered if I really needed to take statins, as it seems to me that I had plenty of "good" cholesterol and a reasonable amount of "bad".

For other reasons these past 20 months I've adjusted my diet several times and taken prescribed medication and various supplements, so I'll be interested to see what my next test shows.

[SmokeAKipper]

I’m taking ezetimide . Being on statins since 2019 I’m aware of its. Negative affects.

[DWizza]

I believe I had issues with 80mg artovastatin and 40 mg pravastatin, now on 10mg rosuvastatin and doing fine , very much alive and living a very full and active life following an Nstemi heart attack quadruple bypass July 2023 and not cringing at finding the right statin 👍🏻.

[Tessy20]

Hi John. My hubby suffered brain fog after trying 2 different statins, stopped him being able to do crosswords. Prescribed after a 3 x CBG and is T2 diabetic. I eventually went with him to see lipids consultant at local hospital (referred by GP as he refused to take them) and told her they made him like a zombie. My theory is his cholesterol was relatively low to start with and as most statins reduce cholesterol being produced by the liver it was reducing level of cholesterol getting to his brain which it needs to function.

Like SmokeAKipper, he was changed to Ezetimibe which works differently, liver still produces cholesterol but gets absorbed via the bowel somehow (not exactly sure how). Did cause loose bowel habit to start with but settled down.

Downside for GPs is Ezetimibe is more expensive, so they will always try everyone on cheaper statins first, which most tolerate (or think they have to put up with side effects of), so worth pushing for different option

Hopefully you’ll get it sorted, the statins you’ve had clearly don’t suit you.

[sandandkev]

Atorvastin affected my liver and although pharmacist said don't worry,I stopped them as don't want anything I take affecting my organs! Put me on ezetimibe and that made me so tired so stopped them and just told them that my quality of life means more to me than statins! I am taking rosuvastatin now,due blood test next month but if liver affected in anyway will stop

[PaliGap in reply to sandandkev]

That's interesting. May I ask how it was affecting your liver? Was it revealed in a blood test?

[sandandkev in reply to PaliGap]

Yes and knew statins had lots side effects,so didn’t want to continue with them- next blood test showed liver back to normal

[Slky in reply to sandandkev]

Hi, have you gotten any heartburn or chest discomfort off statins? I was on atorvastatin for 3 months but side affects were awful , iv now been on Rosuvastatin for 3 weeks and iv had awful headaches so now on every other day but this heartburn has started , I don't think I can carry on like this 😪

[JohnWesterdale in reply to Slky]

No heartburn or digestive issues, but on 10+mg I sought couch too much. Even at 5 mg, I could not learn. What else did statins turn off? Wife advised of my flat affect. Much better since curtailing crestor. With higher trig, low HDL and elevated APOB, am learning about fibrates.

[Lowerfield_no_more]

I have taken a statin for over 25 years and recently have added a top up from ezetimibe to lower my natural very high lipid count. I believe statins have kept me alive, given the hard evidence I have. I am lucky in that I have no side side effects from any of the six daily meds I take. However I recognise that some people do get adverse effects from medication, with statin side effects being well publicised. But for statins, there are alternatives to try, assuming you actually need to manage your lipids in the first place, and if they in turn produce side effects then the individual has a simple decision to take, put up with the side effects or stop the meds with a possibility of increasing heart health risk. But just because someone suggests alternatives statins along the way that is certainly not cringeworthy. If it is a health professional, they are doing their job to help the individual in front of them find the best outcome in their professional opinion, or if a layman like on here they are doing their best to help. But there is no need to get bitter about receiving such advice, it is unfortunately how life works out for some of us when things don't work out as we feel they should.

[JohnWesterdale in reply to Lowerfield_no_more]

What I had a problem with is my Drs response. When I said I was having brain issues, he didn't seem to mind. There are substantial challenges to the LDL-only focus in medical research... And much higher levels of muscle or mind issues than indicated in trials. So the trials were either tilted or biased. Confidence breaker tilted by pursuit for blockbusters which are gauged by financial performance, more than clinical... Smaller pieces of cholesterol are now seen as atherogenic, and more important than LDL only. Clinical practice has to step up. LPa and ApoA/B seem a step in a different direction. FH seems relevant.

[Wooodsie]

Hi John, why do you mention Dr Lustig? I googled him, but couldn't see anything about statins?

[JohnWesterdale in reply to Wooodsie]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experience. Am being offered more Cholesterol modifying options, Pralulent or repatha. Certainly hesitant to embrace. Learning lots about sugar metabolism from Dr Lustig and scientific results of food ingestion ( as much as "we" know). Dr L makes a lot of sense. Getting fasting sugar down to under 100 seems is a good thing to do for many reasons. Was able to drop total from 220 to 205 , ldl down but HDL won't budge at 33. Right now, food is my medicine, well.. and olmesartan and brilinta with Omega3, citrus bergamot, psyllium husk, aspirin for good measure.

[Hidden in reply to Wooodsie]

Google Dr Robert Lustig he's head of endocrinology at one of the largest teaching hospitals in the USA.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=aIOPC...(Not working as expected?)

[Mags2156]

Hi,I was on atorvastatin then pravastatin, both gave me bad cramps in my legs, I'm now on Ezetimibe and I've not had the same problem, it's a bit of trial and error with statins.

[antifolate]

Hi John. I found out in the early part of this century that I had very high cholesterol levels. In my experience problems with most statins were severe muscular pains which did not manifest themselves for a long time. Only one did have immediate severe side effects. In 2016 I had severe heart failure and continued taking the statin I had been taking for about 3 years. My heart meds were changed many times due due side effects but eventually they seemed to be optimised. About 2 years ago I started to decline steadily despite my heart apparently being much improved. A cardiologist suggested a sequence of stopping individual medications for a week. Fortunately the statin was first on the list. The Improvement was dramatic and immediate. I am glad that I took the statins as they certainly reduced my cholesterol over many years. I was lucky that I found some that seemed to work for me for significant periods I am now on Nilemdo and so far I don't seem to have side effects.

[JohnWesterdale]

Anyone taking fibrates gemfibrozil or fenofibrate? Said to reduce triglycerides and improve HDL some. Those are my markers of note. Seems triglycerides increase tendency to form plaque deposited, HDL removes ( stuff) from blood. My ratio of 5:1 is twice what Dr Lustig advises.