Hi, I'm new here, I'm from Dublin Ireland , age 46 and work as Chef. I have never had any serious health issues until lately I did a full health check and cholesterol was found to be at 7.9 !!!! Have been put on Statin immediately.
Any healthy comments highly appreciated
Thanks
Mike
Cholesterol lowering medication?
Human body produces 80% cholesterol and 20% from food and drinks. The question is why is you body producing extra cholesterol? You need to find an answer for this. Watch out for hidden sugar and free sugar in food and drinks. You can look at low cab high fat foods.
I take it you take your medication before going to bed each evening?
You can control cholesterol, any other blood numbers by food and drinks intake control and regular exercise. You need to read the side effect of your statin medication and fully understand it.
Do you know all the blood test numbers.? Keep a printed record of all you blood tests.
Hi Mike, I did not want to go on any meds, so choose to do the Cholesterol monitor. Will see how this will work first.
RIKKI
Take a look at the post "ADVICE", cholesterol, 7.3, the doctor says no action required?
Different doctors have a very different view. Have a rethink on your medication.
Exercise and food and drinks intake control can help.
Mike, I did not tolerate statins at all, so I took myself off them some nine months ago and concentrated on Plant Sterols supplements instead. My doctor did not object. My cholesterol levels have dropped below 5.0 since then. And side effects! Good luck. Niall
Mike I was on statins from about the age of 41 until 61, I was on a relatively low dose but I had side effects and started to do a bot of research, the most outstanding thing was looking at the statistics produced by the ONS in the UK. They show there is a decline in death by all causes and CHD over the last 30 or more years. The good news is the gradient is downward, the introduction of statins did not make a noticeable difference to deaths due to CVD, so perhaps the lowering of cholesterol is not so important. The main reason for this decline is the reduction in smoking IMHO. I would recommend a diet that removes all man made fats and substances, vegetable fat, vegetable oils, and powdered egg, I am not sure about DSM, are not good for you, Artficial sweeteners are again another additive, which the body doesn't know what to do with it. If you look at rates of CHD among the lowest occurs in Toulouse in the south west of France the diet is high in Animal Fat, Confit de Canard, Magrais de Canard, Fois Gras, Casoullet comes from nearby castle Nordray(excuse the spelling) and contains Toulouse Sausage and duck.
Hi Mike.
Apologies in advance for the long reply, but I recognise your situation...
That's exactly how I started. I turned 50 and asked for an MOT (so to speak) and my total cholesterol was at 12 so the surgery actually rang me. They put me on 40mg Simvastatin. It took about a month for my hair to start falling out in clumps (a problem as I'm reasonably vain about my appearance!), within the following month I noticed my balance got very bad and I developed vertigo. Bad enough to get physically sick (vomiting).
Obviously I went to the GP who prescribed drugs and they almost diagnosed me with meniere's disease (which would restrict driving as it would be noted by the DVLC) and in no time I was on four, count 'em, FOUR prescriptions. Leg cramps had been mentioned at the initial statin consultation so I wasn't surprised by them but they were quite horrible, especially at night.
I also got headaches and eventually I could see the muscles in my left leg puckering when the cramps occurred. I think I was on them for 6 or 7 months when I finally had enough. It had not only lowered my cholesterol but also my life force.
I had lots of tests done and discovered I had carotid blockage, which produces a bruit (it's like I can feel my pulse in my head, most unpleasant, but it gets worse when I consume certain things). I got so tired I really almost couldn't function, and I have a pretty active lifestyle, so it was not good.
After a year or two I got concerned again and tried at least six other statins since after discovering that several (many many) of my family members up the tree had died of heart attacks, including both my parents, my father a year younger than I am now. I have what you call familial hypercholesterolemia, I believe. Anyway, every statin had its own brand of unpleasantness, one or two produced side effects almost immediately, including pravastatin, which had me on a walking stick within two days. The more I tried the quicker the side effects happened. I have come to the conclusion that I am simply intolerant to statins. I also tried CoQ10 but it also made me very tired. I even tried natural red yeast rice but it is a statin with side effects like all the others. I have not tried niacin but it's pretty much unavailable here anyway.
I realised after two years of investigating, reading everything I could find and consultations with GPs and even a cholesterol specialist (a professor, who researched intolerance statins - yet my story did not interest him), these 'professionals' are really just fodder for the drugs companies, they know nothing about nutrition.
I've found that alcohol and sugar (including most simple carbs and complex carbs like pasta) seem to be things to avoid or at least keep at a minimum. Lots of people exclude bread but I haven't got around to giving that up yet.
Your readings are about where mine are now with dietary changes, so I went from over 12 to around 8.
I still drink alcohol, but have cut down considerably and always notice the bruit gets worse if I overindulge in some special occasion or other.
If I were in your shoes I would do research, Malcolm Kendrick's book about statins is good, I listened to the Audible version, and maybe the book 'Never Be Sick Again' by Raymond Francis, do some exercise most days (I got a Bellicon rebounder, which is so easy to store and quiet you can even watch telly while you bounce), change some things about your diet, and forget about the drugs. You cannot really even have an intelligent open-minded conversation with most GPs as they are just programmed by the pharmaceuticals.
Now I take some supplements like magnesium, flax oil capsules (a combination of omega 3,6 and 9) , garlic. I take Serrapeptase (the enzyme of silk worms which consumes non living tissue) to try and combat the carotid blockage.
In my diet I use flax seed, get good fats like flax oil, avocado, nuts, oily fish (wild salmon, anchovies, sardines, mackerel) and make sure I get vitamin D and vitamin C. I can control this stuff and choose good quality items.
I even tried Omacor (pharmaceutical omega 3) but it's synthetic and gave me headaches.
I work in a pharmacy and have spoken with several pharmacists about things. It turns out that all pharmaceuticals are synthetic because natural substances cannot be patented.
You'll get there but you will have to take control of your own health, which is a good idea anyway as you get older.
Again, sorry for the length of this but it will cut you to the chase, don't waste your time and energy with the medical route, read up and educate yourself and make your own decisions. Everyone is different and reacts differently to things but you can't go wrong with a healthy diet and exercise.
Cat
Update:
You can actually BUY niacin. I've been using 3 grams per day now for over a year and my cholesterol is down around 5 with no side effects.
Avoid alcohol.
May be soon the person who put the post will write a response. Yes, doctors give medication and more medication rather then looking at problems and stopping medication. My strong belief after five years of life style change, watch out for sugar in food and drinks, go for regular exercise for a healthy life. This is the first I have not gone for my 6monthly blood test, waiting for 12 months!!!
My GP wants me on statin, so far after three months on it, I have not gone for statin.
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