Worried about going back on statins

[lizziep]

I had been on statins for 12 years and asked to stop taking them as I felt so I'll with muscle aches etc. The doctors agreed for me to stop and to have a blood test after 6 months but warned the muscle aches could be irreversible. I can't say I feel much better and after having the blood test last week I have been called back to the doctors to talk about my levels. My problem is do I go back on the statins and risk feeling worse? Are statins right for me? I am a 61 year old woman with a family history of heart problems. However I have read lots about statins making no difference for post menopausal women.

[lizziep]

Thank you for your good advise.

[Mascha1900]

I wouldn't go back on them ever. It will only make your muscle issues worse. And you're right: statistically statins seem to provide no benefits for postmenopausal women, while they do entail risks such as an increased risk of diabetes, breast cancer, etc. In any case, lowering cholesterol is a bad idea for this group- women with higher cholesterol live longer!

If you're not doing so already, I would recommend taking CoQ10 or rather Ubiquinol (the concentrated form) for the muscle pains: start out with 300 or 400 mg daily. You can increase this up to 2,000 mg without problems (unless you're using blood thinners). The only problem is, it is rather expensive...

[Time_2_get_serious]

Hi, i asked my gp's receptionist for a print out and was told there is a charge for this, didnt ask how much as i assumed it's free?

[sandybrown in reply to Time_2_get_serious]

May be soon, we have to pay for the use of the toilet, par a car and drink cold water at a GP surgery!

[sandybrown in reply to sandybrown]

In my GP practice, the receptionist are unable to do a print job on the computer, therefore I am always told request for cholesterol blood test print out and the practice nurse will print the results and can collect it two to three days and up to now it has been free.

[Sparky3333]

Hi lizzie,

I went off statins a month ago, after being on them for 10 years. I have ongoing heart problems, stents ect. I have studied the "cholesterol myth" extensively..statins make no difference at all to stopping heart attacks- strokes.

Actually they create more heart attacks as they drain the heart muscle. This has to be one of the biggest medical cons of all time, many many top level doctors are now speaking out against it and the drug companies that push it, and it makes me really angry that 100s of thousands of people are permanently damaged due to the misinformation the drug compnaies put out. They KNOW statins cause muscle damage, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer, ect, yet they contimue to push the misguided myth that cholesterol causes heart attacks. We NEED high levels of cholesterol to function properly. I for one after all my research (and i am a scientist) don,t give a damn what my cholesterol is now.

I still have crippling muscle pain 5 weeks after stopping. Statins are not right for anyone, especially as you mentioned older women. There was a 10 year study done called The Nurses study, that found there was a much greater all over mortality risk for women taking statins. I hope you are taking high dose of COQ10, it replaces and helps reverse the muscle damage. There is also a group i belong to "Stopped our statins' they are a wealth of information on what to do, take ect. Good luck to you, do not go back on statins, look up other natural ways to protect your heart,

[lizziep]

Thank you all.

I went for the appointment and was told my cholesterol level had gone up to 8.6. I asked what the split was and was told 5.1 bad !! 3.5 good .

I asked all the questions I could and brought up all my points, really fell on deaf ears. Dr said I needed to go on them but recommended a lower dose of 20mg (I had been 40mg) she said if I didn't go on them now as I got older the problem would increase. I took the prescription but haven't started them yet. Don't think I will.

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to lizziep]

Read my post:

healthunlocked.com/choleste...

healthunlocked.com/choleste...

Good luck!

[Nannyval in reply to lizziep]

I hD the same problem been off them and got my cholestrol down myself read the book The Great Cholestrol Con I been taking statins since they first came on the market it always stayed very high now it's lower than its ever been eating that right food is the answer and good information on this site good luck

[AlexandriaUK]

Hi to be honest mine was 8.4 and came down to 5.4 after one month on 10 mg of atorvastatin, I had tried for 3 years to get it down with diet no joy, are you on simvastatin, I did try that for the first couple of months but gave me bad leg pains, this one I'm fine on, but I did have vit D test and it was extremely low 7, so taking vit D high dose and had blood test yesterday after 3 months, will see how cholesterol is when I get results as he did all including LFTs and kidneys and calcium etc.

[sandybrown]

What is the answer to the question: " Are statins right for me?"

My answer is for a woman 60 years of age the doctor should know better on statin ( a big NO) and offer more information and explanation!!!

[Time_2_get_serious]

Ok thanks, will ask next time as was in a hurry and plus couldnt be bothered arguing with my doctors receptionist....again! 😂 they really annoy me as im sure they make rules up as they go along!

[Sparky3333]

Hi Folks, just to keep you all up to date, I just got the results of all my blood tests back, everything is normal except my cholesterol is a little bit high, I told the Dr "good, I'm glad its high," However, I still have very bad muscle pain and weakness in all of my right leg, can barely walk 5 feet. The Dr said given my history he would not recommend i take statins ever again. Nice to actually have a Dr validate that its a statin problem.

He is going to recommend physio for the leg, hope that and all the other things i'm on will reverse this leg problem. Im usually a very active 55 year old, atm feel like a crippled 90 year old.

[Hidden in reply to Sparky3333]

Hi sparky3333

Sorry to hear you had statin related muscle problems, the same as me

I stopped a 12 week course of rosuvastatin back in April 17 due to muscle aches

However, despite stopping over 3 years ago, the aches haven't gone away, but have progressed

How are you doing now?

Thanks

Alps

[lizziep]

I hope the physio helps Sparky. Thanks for all your replies. I am going to book an appointment with a different doctor and see if I can get a second opinion then I'll make a decision.

[Nannyval]

The doctor who put me on them is paid by 5 pharmactical company's

[Maggiethecat]

Hi Londinium. Good advice. Can GPs prescribe Ubiquinol? If not, what is the cost?

[ITYFIALMCTT in reply to Maggiethecat]

No idea if a GP can/would prescribe ubiquinol but it's available from a number of sources tho' you'd need to price-check and see if any of the companies has a discount code. E.g., healthmonthly.co.uk/product...

[Maggiethecat in reply to ITYFIALMCTT]

Jeeze, it's expensive. Thanks anyway.

[Berthold]

Well let us try to turn the situation around. Ask your doctor to find the medical reason why you had a reaction to the statins. After listening then tell him it was a real reaction and you want the doctor to document and report the reaction to the authorities as they have an obligation to report adverse reactions! They can do a muscle biopsy and prove it has damaged you! Then when and if he the doc says you must take statins again ask doc if you can get the drug company to prove to you that they are safe for you. Now if they cannot do this simple thing then ask them if they cannot do this why would they be even be putting me in this danger again and I thought the Hippocratic was to do no harm. The risk reduction of statins are about 1%.but they inflate it tp 36% using relative risk.

youtube.com/watch?v=psnkNqL...(Not working as expected?)

youtube DrDavid Diamond 2018 he refused and was told he would be dead in 10 years but has survived to make the video.

I being a bit cheeky but I do they same in a polite manner of course.

try this

stayinghealthytoday.com/gar...

good luck