Husband wants to stop his statins

[sue930]

Am new to this site so Hi to all, why am l here, don't have a cholesterol problem as far as l know, but my husband does, he is on simvastatin and already has tried a couple of others, he is so sick of falling alseep and pains in his leg, had a stroke 4 years ago, overweight and is at a diet club( do not want to advertise!!), he is diabetic and BP problems. Have only been married a year and since l am vegetarian(almost) cos l do eat fish, he has no animal fats apart from a small amount of semi skimmed milk(about a pint a week) so our diet consists of veg,fruit,soya,quorn and more veg!!! he's been told to stop eating nuts to lose weight.He also eats no bread,cake pies etc but has 2 Rye crispbreads a day and about once a week boiled or mashed potatoe,he lives on salads basically and for breakfast has 2 shredded wheat or porridge made with hot water, his cholesterol level in March was 7.8 so am a bit worried he wants to stop the statins thro l certainly understand why, his diet does not seem to have helped, can anyone shed some light please.

[fenbadger]

I also think he should have a good talk to doctor about all this, maybe take you along or some written notes. The statin debate wont go away, we've just had 2 learned but conflicting reports about the efficacy of using them. In our case there's not much question as its not a precaution, but necessity. I had queries about them when trying to diagnose Fibromyalgia, and if he's getting pains it's worth investigating other options. There's more than one way of skinning a cat as they say.

He may be naturally high in LDL.

SOME cholesterol is needed and we make our own. The other type is more of a problem, and if he makes a lot of that he may need this help lowering the levels. You don't say how long he's been on this current regime, so give it time to work. It's an area of our lives where there's no quick fix.

Good luck.

[MikePollard]

Your story is all too common and appears with monotonous regularity on this forum.

Bigleg has posted the alternative to the advice doled out that has made us all sick and I would have posted the same.

[Stillticking]

Hi, I can wholly understand why he wants to give up on statins. I have had high BP for years and tried various drugs with little effect.

April 2012 I suffered a heart attack, had a stent fitted and was diagnosed with FH. Statins made my life hell and having tried them all I was put on fenofibrates which are the generation of drugs prior to statins. I do not have any side effects with these drugs and with exercise and going veggie i have reduced mg cholesterol from 7.2 to 4.6.

[Hidden]

I shouldn't really comment on diet clubs as it gives them publicity and any publicity is good publicity they say! However I was a weight watcher for over 40 years and always put the weight back until suddenly the scales were lifted from my eyes: WW is just a con, they don't care about you only selling their products.

I needed to lose weight for reasons other than just vanity and keep it off so researched the various options mentioned here. Far better - I lost loads of weight and never felt hungry. Whether it stays off time will tell but Michael Moseley and his fast diet [5.2] was my first dip into alternative weight loss. Diet doctor was the second. Both of them excellent.

[lillywhites]

hi ive had the same problems with statins google niacin and Dr Hoffa it has worked for me and my family my cardiac and lipid consultant have ok this treatment its a shame more people dont use it or dont know about it take care now

[sparky333]

Eating a low fat diet will put your cholesterol through the roof. Porridge is supposed to be healthy but it's the same as eating white bread blood sugar wise. I control my cholesterol as a diabetic using hemp seed oil capsules (holland and barret) and I find that eating healthy oils like olive oil and eating oily fish like wild salmon and mackerel helps a lot. I was following my docs instructions low fat etc and I never felt so ill - my cholesterol went up to 6.7 - I cut out red meat, ate plenty of fish and went veggie 2 days a week my cholesterol went from 6.7 to 4.6 in 4 weeks.

The statins will make his sugar levels rise which in turn will make his cholesterol rise - I always have an argument with my docs because they want to put me on statins even though my cholesterol is rarely above 5.6 but they just want to treat the symptoms they see using scientific research that was paid for by the drug companies which I feel are based on selling more drugs.

I don't worry about eating a bit of fat any more - and butter is preferable to me than things like veg oil which is extracted using petro chemical processes that are the same as making diesel. Basically oil that has been extracted from rapeseed etc is rancid oil which is then treated to de-odourise it - then put a sticker on it saying it's healthy but it's anything but.

I eat eggs for breakfast, this means that I don't get the hunger pangs till much later int the day that carbs cause.. I cut out my carbs and porridge and it helped me lose weight which had been previously impossible - I could starve myself but i just couldn't get past the 14.5 st barrier... The weight fell off. I'm close to my ideal weight now. Regarding eating starch/potatoes etc... If you eat a jacket potatoe that will put your sugar up very quickly/high - but if you mix it with tuna or baked beans it cuts the glyceamic index by 40 - 60% so a diabetic person will be able to control their sugar by doing this quite effectively - I always mix my carbs with protein for this reason..

And red kidney beans are incredible - they will slash your sugar levels like an axe - often make a bean casserole with different beans in, onions etc and you can eat this with some potato or rice and it won't boost your sugars..

Nuts are great too.. a couple of nuts during the afternoon will hold off your appetite ...

and fibre being very important - I eat rhubarb stewed and lightly sweetened with splenda and served with natural yogurt - I prefer it cold. Rhubard has NO calorific value at all and is very high in fibre which keeps you 'going'... and you can fill up with it when you are hungry but don't want calories.

Hope you find something useful here...

[malcolmp in reply to sparky333]

Sounds like a lot of sensible advice.

[loretta1106]

I'm sorry to hear about your husband's health problems . After my stroke in March, I was given Lipitor as a preventative measure as I have APS and a stroke caused by A fib with a clot from my heart. I do not have high cholesterol. The pains in my legs were horrible and I was tired all the time. They reduced the statin and I was better for awhile but then I had to discontinue them altogether as the pains in my legs got worse. I'm so much better, however, as I said, I don't have high cholesterol. I don't know what kind of statins he's on but there are different kinds that perhaps he can take. This forum is a huge help and you may get ideas to bring to your doctor.

[patch14]

Hello and welcome. Your husband appears to be doing everything he needs to do to get the weight down and along with I hope, some exercise, walking is by far the best for someone who has health problems as anything else needs Drs advice. As to his statins has he had a recent starvation blood test for his cholesterol and BP? Has he the full figures of HDL, LDL, and Triglicirides to compare from before?

My husband is also on BP medication and Statins - he is of the old school really as he has no knowledge of his figures and says that he doesn't need to know as that is what the Dr is for! Annoys me no end!

I can see why your husband wants to stop his statins - with all the side effects he will feel very down about it. Perhaps he could go without them for a few weeks and see if there is a difference in the symptoms. If so then he could go back to the Dr and let him know and perhaps he could be given some other type. My husband has done exactly that and has gone back to reduced dosage. Seems much better.

I wish your husband well.