Hi there

[bm1986]

Hi there. I have just been recently diagnosed with High Cholesterol, which looks to be hereditary, and have recently been prescribed Atorvastatin which I started in May 1st. Any help and guidance would be greatly appreciated

[Paladin0414]

Statins. Atorvastatin; Simvastatin; Pravastatin. Over the last few years since I had a TIA, I have been on these in turn and had to stop taking them due to the build up of pain experienced in my back, thighs, legs up to the point where I could not walk more than 250m without severe lower leg pain in both legs. In all cases, stop taking the statin, pain disappears within a few days... completely. I am now on a statin holiday and will visit my GP in a months time to discuss using a 'Level 4' statin (whatever that is but apparently it is the most expensive), that is tolerated by people like me who are crippled in due course by the other variants. In my experience statins are total bad news but if you do start taking them and suffer from body pain (anywhere) in the future, look no further than the statin as the culprit.

[bm1986]

Offt. I do apologise. I hope you understand that this all new to me since I only learned of my condition less than a month ago. I was only posting a generic, first time comment looking for friendly, helpful advice in relation to other’s experience of high cholesterol and atorvastatin, not attitude.

Thank you

[Hidden in reply to bm1986]

There's always one......

[Patricia7048]

Atorvastatin is called the gorilla of statins because it is so strong. I could not even tolerate the lowest dose. I, too, think statins are bad news. If you can change diet or lifestyle instead, it would be far better for your body.

[Patricia7048]

See Killing for Profit below , then decide

[sos007 Ambassador]

I have already accomplished what you're trying to accomplish. Doctors often make assessments about genetically caused elevated cholesterol without definitive knowledge.

Statin medications are a band-aid solution. They have many undesirable side effects including muscle deterioration and pain (your heart is a muscle), elevated blood sugar and potentially long-term - dementia and Alzheimers.

You should first try and get your cholesterol levels within the normal range by making permanent changes to your diet and lifestyle. A whole-foods, plant-based diet which is essentially the Mediterranean Diet should be adopted along with a commitment to walking 30-60 minutes daily. Most importantly you should understand that sugar and simple carbohydrates not only cause higher than optimal cholesterol levels, but cause the cascading effects that lead to atherosclerosis.

If after adopting these healthy habits your cholesterol is still above optimal levels, then you can seriously consider statin medications.

Read one of my posts here:

healthunlocked.com/choleste...

Read about my journey here to good health following bypass surgery here:

healthunlocked.com/user/sos007

P.S. I don't take any medications any more, only vitamin supplements. Most importantly, high doses of vitamin C. Read this: practicingmedicinewithoutal...

Watch this video: youtu.be/aIc6iF5k9v4(Not working as expected?)

You possess the power to improve your health, you just have to exercise that ability.

Good luck.

[sandybrown]

Hi, you need to give more information, total cholesterol and other lipid numbers for people to comment.!

You can do your own risk analysis JBS3 in the Internet.

Did you doctor offer you life style change after doing a risk analysis?

Before any medication we can look at changing our life style and see if it can help us, regular exercise, watching out for free sugar and hidden sugar in food and drinks can also help.

You doctor need to explain to you why is your body producing high cholesterol on demand?

Prescribed Atorvastatin, what is the dosage?

[Marz]

Did your GP also prescribe CoQ10 ? This is also blocked by a statin and yet is the spark plug for your cells - creating energy within. Could be the link to muscle aches and loss.

VitK2 uses the same pathway so is also blocked/lowered. K2 helps to disperse calcium from arteries and soft tissue sending it into bones and teeth. Hence why Statins can cause atherosclerisis.

Have you ruled out Low Thyroid ? - can be a Hypo symptom. Also VitD level ?? VitD will be low on a statin causing a host of conditions. Homocysteine level ? So many other things to check first before rushing to a Statin prescription - but hey that's easier for the GP - box ticked and well rewarded for little effort.

vitamindcouncil.org

grassrootshealth.net

drmalcolmkendrick.org

thyroiduk.org

[Mascha1900]

The more I research the issue of cholesterol, the more I am beginning to realize that ‘high cholesterol’ is NOT an illness that needs to be treated! Or to put it somewhat differently, heart disease is not caused by high cholesterol. There are plenty of studies that bear this out. The whole ‘cholesterol thing’ was started in the fifties by a scientist called Ancel Keys, who wrote an article called the Seven Countries Study, in which he ‘proved’ that high cholesterol and heart disease are related. However, in this study he conveniently left out France, where cholesterol levels are on average very high, but heart disease rates are low. So the whole premise that heart disease and cholesterol are related was built on bad science: someone setting out to prove a certain assumption and tweaking the data to fit this assumption, whereas of course it should really always be the other way round. However, by that time politics and industry had picked this up, and the financial interests had become too great to let go of this ‘science’. And the rest is history!

So long story short: cholesterol is not the enemy!! There are indications that the actual cause of heart disease is quite different and that it may have something to do with certain bacteria that infect the cardiovascular wall. What is certain is that heart disease is caused by inflammation rather than high cholesterol. There is also plenty of research that shows that people with high cholesterol actually live longer - especially in the elderly high cholesterol is a marker of good health.

If cholesterol is consistently very high, there may be a reason for this, but even then lowering cholesterol is not the answer; that would be like getting rid of the firemen when there is a fire!

And regarding statins: statins are actually a mycotoxin, which means ‘poisonous mushroom’ or fungus. What they do is block the production of certain nutrients produced by the liver, at an early stage. This means that not just the production of cholesterol is blocked but also, among others, the production of an enzyme called CoQ10 which is essential to your muscles and also the heart. That is why so many people on statins experience muscle problems.

Finally, my apologies for this very long-winded answer! I hope I have been able to explain why high cholesterol is not dangerous in itself, but statins are.