Can't Win!

[Seahorse]

Yesterday my kids were at their consultant. 14 year old son has been taking statins now for about 3 months. Having gone from being advised to severely restrict fats in his diet last year to reduce his cholesterol which I refused to do as I didn't think that was practical for a teenager I have been made to feel like a bad parent as he has grown a lot in the last 6 months but put on no weight at all. His consultant thinks I am not feeding him enough when actually he more or less eats what he wants when he wants. He is sports mad and very active. They now want to see us more often to monitor his weight!

[suki65]

Hi i was on statins on and off for 2 years they messed my body up ,i have found eating for between 7-8 hours a day anything i like but the rest of the time have sugar free drinks i didnt find it hard at all but my levels in just 1 month came down from 7.5 to 6.2 the doctor is amazed it is worth a try .

[Hidden in reply to suki65]

I've found Statins to be poisonous for me. Both Simvastatin and Rusuvostatin [Crestor] have caused muscle pains and weakness as well as dizziness and I have vowed never to return to any type of statin but to manage my cholesterol by dieting and exercise - which is more painful now than before statins. My leg muscles are so much more painful after a long walk than before and I'm wondering when and if they will ever recover. Doctors should offer alternatives to statins. I've had to use the web to work on lowering my cholesterol.

[Wyvon in reply to Hidden]

One natural alternative that I have found works for me is Kyolic (dried garlic) tablets from my local independent health food shop. They do not make your breath or body odour smell, they have no side effects and - for me - they do work. In my first year of taking them, my total cholesterol reduced from 7.2 to 5.2 and continued down after that. That was a long time ago but, as I have FH, once I was through the menopause, my levels crept up again. I eventually went on statins but, when the cholesterol levels again started to increase, I reintroduced the kyolic and now I take both and my levels stay at a very acceptable level. Worth a try maybe?

[Hidden in reply to Wyvon]

We must read the same articles! I eat a clove of garlic daily as part of my diet. I find that eating half a lemon deals with the odour. Thanks for responding.

[Silversurfer4739]

Sounds to me like your son has just had the well known "spurt "that 14 year old boys all have!

some put about 6 " in height on in no time,it is the beginning of becoming a man..

I have had boys knocking at my door to see if my son is in...

I have known these boys most of their lives,.. yet.they seem to have changed "overnight"

I have to stare at them to recognise them!

[Aliwally]

Makes me wonder if your consultant knows enough about normal growth in teenagers. Good for you for ignoring the advice about fat, how can you make any teenager eat or not eat what they don't want to anyway?

I think you are dealing with all this amazingly well , you had that hard decision about starting your son on statins.

[Hidden]

obviously a consultant who doesn't have any boys of his own!

[sparky333]

as a diabetic I was told to go on a low fat diet to reduce my cholesterol (I rejected advice to go on statins - because statins increase your blood sugar levels and I want to control my blood sugars with diet and exercise). And the effect was immediate - my cholesterol went up! to 6.7 - I was flabbergasted because the cause of my hi cholesterol (my diabetes) was well under control. So, your body needs fats so if the only fat you're getting is coming from your meat your body has to absorb all those bad fats - so as I was on a low fat diet - I increased my fat intake! Eating oilly fish, olive oil and good stuff like that. I maintained my reduced the source of my bad fats ie: red meat/hard cheese etc. Reduced my meat intake generally and started having veggie days. and guess what happened? You got it - my cholesterol went from 6.7 to 4.6 in just over.... 4 weeks.

[patch14 in reply to sparky333]

Brilliant! It's difficult to know what to do when you have such a young taker of statins. The advice for those patients who have higher than accepted cholesterol as opposed to FH sufferers can be the same and I would have thought that with children the advice should be more carefully considered.

[Penel]

Well done for standing up to the consultant, under such difficult conditions.

When our son went through a very skinny stage, we bought him some protein drinks and he used them when he felt like it. I don't know that we really needed to, and he's still as skinny as a rake.

[patch14]

I assume that your son has FH. and that he has been advised to take statins. My grandson is 14 and is, thank goodness, fit and healthy but he too is growing like a weed!!!!! The best advice I can give you is something that I learnt years ago from a friend of mine. Calcium. The growth of bone and sinew in a teenage boy can be almost on a daily basis. Keep his calcium up with dairy, low fat if advised, oily fish (if he likes it) and any other calcium rich foods that he enjoys. Make sure his protein levels are good too, with added fresh fruit and veg. He may want to eat five to six meals a day. They do!!! Make sure they are healthy ones. My grandson likes toast and jam, or marmite when he comes in from school and a cup of milk. Hope that helps and best wishes.

[Aliwally]

FH is not a chronic disease , it is caused by a genetic mutation.

[Wyvon]

May I suggest that you call the HEART UK helpline Seahorse as they have experts who can advise you on this serious topic.

[Hidden]

Try using rapeseed oil in his diet and giving him oats wherever possible. I put them in mince and casseroles and on top of crumbles, in cakes etc. He won't know the difference and you might find, like me, that his cholesterol will go down.

Syrahrose

[Hidden]

I hardly think that olive oil and rapeseed oil could be called artificial, and you don't have to eat much of it. Just enough to counter the bad fats that you eat. Like sparky333, by increasing my intake of good fat (in my case rapeseed oil) I too lowered my cholesterol from 6.8 to 4.8.

[sandybrown]

All,

We need to make a U turn on our thinking on natural oils!. There is a process in manufacturing oils, in most case the seeds are dried and then pressed to make oil, butter, butter is very good for us.

Coconut oil, gingili oil, olive oil, and many more have goodness in them. Fish oil is also good but expensive.

[Hidden]

Well of course cholesterol plays a vital role in how all of our cells work, but most of us on this site have been advised to lower our cholesterol before we have a stroke! My level is now acceptable according to my doctor.

You can buy British cold pressed rapeseed oil in supermarkets. It has 10 times the omega 3 of olive oil, and has half the saturated fat of olive oil. It is also a rich source of vitamin E which is a natural antioxidant and contains plant sterols which help to lower cholesterol.