Just a bit about myself. I'm 55 and my Dr wants to take Atorvastin 20mg a day.
There wasn't much discussion about this except for you "are now 12.5% on the Qrisk scale" I have been taking these for about 2 weeks and have stomach pain and keep getting colds.
I don't know if these are side effects but not sure I need to be on these tablets anyway.
Maybe if I lose a couple of stone, I could just sort this 12.5% issue?
I'd be grateful for any advice. Convinced this stomach ache is related to this drug in some way?
Thanks
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Curiousstat
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a few thoughts. It seems to be the general opinion in the medical community that if you are at risk (and I don’t know anything about you so there probably is something) then putting you on statins makes you less likely to have a cardiovascular event. Statistically.
And indeed I was reading an article a few months ago where a cardiologist gave his opinion that everyone over 65 should be on statins, regardless.
Now, if you are able to adjust your diet and lifestyle such that your blood tests come out clear, then that may be the answer. Remember, you’d have to stick fairly rigidly to your changed diet and habits.
There is a lot of information on the BHF website on good diet and exercise routine.
If you believe you can lose a 'couple of stone' you will be doing one of the lifestyle measures recommended to reduce your heart health risk, the others including diet, exercise, alcohol and smoking. So I suggest you do that anyway, irrespective of whether you end up taking statins or not. But as for statins, getting a cold is not one of the common side effects , and it's winter when the cold virus is active and it may just be co-incidental that you have now got a cold. However as for stomach pains gastric upsets can occur when you take statins, so if they are affecting your quality of life I suggest you speak with your GP to try another statin of which there are several. But if you decide to stop taking statins be aware that any lifestyle measures you adopt in place of statins, must be done for life, for if you slip back to old ways, so will your cholesterol profile to where is was before.
It depends on the reason you were given statins in the first place.Was it just to reduce cholesterol and you have no other heart health issues?
Or was it given after you have had another heart problem , have had a heart attack or heart surgery, or because you have coronary artery disease ?
If your statin is given for later, that's Preventative Care recommended after a cardiac health issue it's better to try to take it because it is prescribed to help reduce the increase of arterial plaque and stabilise the plaque you may already have , it's not just to reduce your blood cholesterol.
Atorvastatin can often cause patients early side effects more than other statins.
If that is happening to you , ring your GP , give them a message telling them you are getting these side effects on Atorvastatin and ask if you can change to Rosuvastatin and if they will organise a prescription for you to pick up.
Mist will make the swap without the hassle of going into the surgery or having to wait for an elusive appointment.
If you have just high cholesterol and no other health issues , you could choose to continue using the Statin to bring down your cholesterol as you get used to a new diet , then choose to use the healthy diet and exercise to lose weight and control your cholesterol without statins after you are in healthy range.
Some people also take plant sterols.
You should still get cholesterol checked again 3-6 months after stopping a Statin.
If you find your results are rising again into abnormal range despite losing weight or changing your diet it's likely that you need the Statin to help manage cholesterol in your case.
Although natural cholesterol reduction methods do not stabilise arterial plaque if you have it or reduce its build up as effectively as a Statin so if you have a heart condition or greater risk of a heart attack or stroke it's recommended to take the Statin even if you eat a healthy diet and have a normal BMI.
you might want to get a calcium score done. If zero you likely do not have to take the statin. I know several people who have gone that route with their doctor's permission
I was on long term 80mg daily, i have diverticula as well, my tummy pain got worse on atoravastatin. Talk to go, see if he can put you on an alternative.
If you are overweight then losing some will help but a lot of people find even that hard,but can you walk more etc,if on Atorvastin make sure you get a blood test after 3 months to nake sure ok and not affecting anything take care and good luck
Have you looked at the QRisk3 calculator? It is a tool that you can use to access your own risk of a heart attack/stroke. Unless I have missed it, you haven’t actually said what your cholesterol levels are.
Note: clinicians can only advise patients that statins are needed on the evidence in front of them. As I have been told many times, the decision on whether or not to take statins is one for me to take. You can reduce your QRisk3 score but bear in mind that it increases with age which, as yet, none of us can control!
There is also a recent study cited in the BMJ that suggests that the QRisk3 score for older patients may be overstated based on patient data from the UK BioBank. No doubt QRisk4 is being worked on as I post.
I was put on 20mg of statin back in June precaution at time all and bisoprdol and soluble aspirin along side.
I keep fit gym, walk a lot, have changed my diet over lattter years mainly due to be able to retire.
I developed a pain in right arm no and some joint paint around my thumbs.
The posts on here are obvious subjective as everyone is different, I personally put up with my discomfort and to be honest have had a 3 x CABG and mitral valve repair this week actually writing this from my recovery bed on the ward.
My advice talk to the professionals, ask lots of questions even write down any pain, niggles, worries discuss them even if it’s a phone call, they are there to help you and will explain the factors, my surgery assesses your health score percentage and with my issues I had a 26% of dying which came down from 29%, I’m hoping next time I see them that’s going to have improved considerably.
General advice has got more bullish about use of Statins over the last couple of years, IIUC. NICE guidelines as to when they "should" be prescribed is still at 10% (IIUC). Draft NICE guidelines in 2023 changed to recommend that GPs consider prescribing at lower than that threshold.
With regard to losing weight. Being blunt, if you are saying that perhaps you could lose a couple of stone and then wouldn't need them, then you should be working to lose that weight anyway. Not as an either or. Weight is one modifiable risk factor. LDL ("bad cholesterol") levels are a separate essentially independent modifiable risk factor. Address both. Also look at diet from a healthy eating perspective, not just weight control.
with regard to the atorvastatin themselves. I'd say keep taking them and monitor the side effects. Some side effects disappear as we adjust to meds. Some come on only in time. There are other statins available: if the side effects continue to be too bad, you have the right to ask your GP to consider an alternative to see if they work better for you.
Right now you have a lot of things essentially under your control. If you have a heart attack, a lot of things will change and not be under your control. Amongst them needing to take considerably more drugs with more side effects than just the statins. As well as general life impacts.
I have a friend who has been advised twice by her GP to go onto statins. Her TCL was up in the 6.4 + range (I don't know her LDL specific count). She was turning them down because she had got to this stage of her life without needing to take pills. And said she would prefer to adjust her diet (so why not the first time?). I wanted to scream, especially when I thought about the pile of pills I was now having to take each day. Despite previously being fit and healthy with plans to do some bucket list cycle rides amongst other things.
Regarding NICE guidelines and and a more bullish usage of statins, I say follow the money. And then read "A Statin Free Life", readily available on Amazon. I forget the author's name unfortunately 😔
If I had followed a 'Statin Free Life' after I was told I had a total cholesterol of 9+ over 25 years ago, and with evidence of arterial blockage, in spite of the 'lifestyle' measures I had adopted, I would probably be dead by now.
Risk factors do decrease with weight loss and exercise so it's always worth doing those things. Check the leaflet and speak to your Dr about side effects if you are concerned and want to discontinue them
Having read your blurb & the comments it stikes me that if you can easily lose 2 stone then you would be a fool not to do it anyway & then see what alters in other ways? I personally am on avorvastatin and a mixture of other meds but dont have any particular problem with atorvastatin.
I, too, was told by cardio rehab nurse to take 20mg Avorostatin as my QRisk was 43.6% and I had just had a mitral valve replacement (I am 79). I started taking it, but it exacerbated side effect from other heart drugs (dizziness) and on reading the accompanying leaflet it said it could interfere with function/ side effects of other drugs such as digoxin & amiodorane – both of which I'm on. I stopped taking it. Told nurse, she has arranged 24 hour Holter ECG then don't know what…
some statins cause problems the only one I tolerate is Rosuvastatin. 18 months ago I went dairy free and reduced my cholesterol from 7.4 to 5.4 in 6 months.
i swapped to Atrovastatin around Christmas time. They gave me stomach/tummy cramps, headache and sinus issues but after about 3 weeks these side effects subsided and are now gone. But my fingers seem stiff now.
hi, like you I’m two weeks in to the same statin, same dose.
I resisted statins to start with and tried to lower my cholesterol with further lifestyle changes but the figure wouldn’t shift although the ratio of HDL to LDL improved. Think for me it’s a getting older thing.
I haven’t had any side effects that I’m aware of and monitoring will hopefully flag up any side effects that aren’t immediately noticeable. However, I exercise daily and still enjoy a very healthy diet. I wonder, and I don’t know because I’m new to this too, whether eating fatty foods would make someone more likely to stomach issues?
Lots of better advice on here than from this newbie so I wish you very good luck going forward,
Re. fatty foods. I'm not qualified to comment really, but I will say that I find it doubtful that an interaction between statins and fatty foods specifically is likely to be an issue for stomach problems: as in I can't think of a logical reason why that might be. Of course, cutting down on saturated fats in one's diet should be pretty much number one on the list of dietary changes to make to help get LDL levels down.
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Hi
Thanks everyone for your replies…..
What problems has anyone had with statin s
Hi Everyone 
Ectopics suck 😔
