Starting Statins for my 7 year old???

[mayrose]

My youngest daughter inherited FH from me and has so far had 5 fasting bloods done. Her most recent showed LDL levels to be 6.5. We are seeing the consultants next for our routine family appointment and will be discussing if Statins and if this is now the next step. However I would just like to know if anyone can suggest anything else we can still try prior to a possible Statin treatment. She currently drinks 1 cholesterol lowering yoghurt a day and of course we try and follow a low sat fat diet as best we can. Just some more advice would be helpful please. Thanks

[MikePollard]

Frank Cooper has FH and blogs here. He has videos on youtube you might find of interest.

youtube.com/watch?v=zKe60-y...(Not working as expected?)

[Seahorse]

Hi mayrose. Both my kids, son 14, daughter 10 have inherited FH from me. I give both my kids a plant sterol yoghurt drink everyday and it has reduced their cholesterol by about 10-15% I think. Don't think anything else dietary will make a huge amount of difference. I have held off statins for them too although my son has now been prescribed pravastatin but not started it yet. I don't want my daughter to go on them yet but that is just my personal choice and goes against her consultants recommendation. Hard, hard decision to make.

[sandybrown]

Hello,

Cholesterol lowering drinks in tiny plastic bottle and yoghurt may or may not work. I am 67 and it did not work for me. Different GPs have different views. Would it be possible for you to ask for specialist referral? you may get a bettern understanding from a consultant.

Private checks with BUPA is another possiblity, there there is the cost element.

The following levels are generally regarded as desirable:

•Total cholesterol (TC) - 5.0 mmol/L or less. However, about 2 in 3 adults in the UK have a TC level of 5.0 mmol/L or above.

•Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol after an overnight fast: 3.0 mmol/L or less.

•High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol: 1.2 mmol/L or more.

•TC/HDL ratio: 4.5 or less. That is, your total cholesterol divided by your HDL cholesterol. This reflects the fact that for any given TC level, the more HDL, the better.

Did yuo get details of your daughter's blood test values?

Good luck.

[sandybrown]

Hello,

Please take a look at this..

dailymail.co.uk/health/arti...

[Aliwally in reply to sandybrown]

Hi Bala,

Sorry to be cynical, but is this an advert for Benecol. Actually, I am going to try some!

[mayrose]

Thanks all of you for your feedback. We are already under a lipid doctor who we see together along with a paediatrician. As you can see from her latest LDL level at 6.5 this is very high. Her HDL had improved a little since her last test which is good so the changes we are making with diet and yoghurt drink are making a bit of improvement. I've noticed a few other suggestions online eg Bile Acid Sequestrant and also Ezetimibe. Not sure if anyone can give any feedback on these? I think we will just go armed with questions etc on our next clinic visit. I do keep being reminded that I got through my childhood without Statin. Like you said Seahorse, hard hard decision!!

[suki65]

Hi mayrose

check this out on youtube STATINS CAN INHIBIT MUSCLE REPAIR

BY

DR. BRYAN P WALSH

please try not to give anyone in your family statins from myself who is 48 and wished i would have just left things alone .

try intermittent fasting if its possible with your children i eat between 11am and 7pm and take opti omega fish oils my levels in 2 months came down from 7.9 to 6.2 my doc was so pleased

you can choose times that suit i do an 8hour eating slot but you could try a 10 hour slot first and see if this helps .

if you do have anyone take statins ask about coq10 which is for bones and if they wont prescribe buy them they are needed if you need any more info ask anyone

statins do work for some people but the side effects are not funny one bit and then you have to take more medication to right what damage it is doing .

[mayrose]

Thanks Suki65. I've taken notes from all the suggestions and will be discussing all of it in clinic. My bloods have just been done and my LDL 2.5 i believe. I've been taking Statins for 10 years now. I don't appear to be suffering from any muscular or liver side effects. However I do seem to be very forgetful alot (i'm 33) and tend not to worry too much about this but I have been reading that this can also be a side effect of Statin??

Its just so hard when we know little of the long term side effects of these drugs and their usage in such young children yet if my child was to start taking them i really believe that they would improve her LDL quickly. Thinking of her walking around with this like so many of us do and knowing there is a drug we could at least try despite what side effects she may or may not get is a constant thought in my head right now!! Health care professionals aren't always right, we know that, however as a family we have to also take everything they say on board and believe that they wouldn't be making these suggestions lightly. Maybe they will suggest we keep exploring all avenues and put the talk of statins on the back burner just now?

[suki65 in reply to mayrose]

Yes mayrose i have suffered forgetfulness im 48 but that is not me .

[Aliwally]

It's hard enough making decisions for ourselves about statins, let alone making the decision on behalf of a child.

Wasn't the pre statin treatment for children something called Questran....I once heard it described as something that tastes like the bottom of a parrot's cage! I think it was a bile acid sequestrant, I take the modern equivalent, cholestagel.

Medics would probably say that anything like that is not powerful enough to lower LDL by much in FH.

Now that more children are being treated isn't it about time there were some "official " type guidelines somewhere, especially as paediatricians seem to differ so much in their opinion on the "right" age to start.

[Aliwally]

Both Seahorse and Mayrose have children with FH. Seahorse is lucky enough to live in Scotland where there is funding for genetic testing.

Frank is a living example of having FH without heart disease...the question is why, when some people with this condition get heart attacks in their 20's.