Stopped Statin

[Thormyn]

I was on Atorvastatin for about 2 years, never checked on side effects. My doctor was holy to me. One day I went on Google to search out why I am loosing so much hair and it getting thinner and thinner. Lo and behold it looked like my brand of statin could be the culprit. I asked my doctor for an alternative and she gave me Teva-Simvastatin instead. I took it for about a year but generally, there was no difference. About a week ago I went on Google again to do some more research and found out about new studies confirming Statin is bad. It listed a bunch of side effects and I realized that I lived with some of them without knowing that Statin might cause them like dizziness and muscle pains. I have stopped taking the statin for the past 5 days and I did have some withdrawal side effects like no energy and constantly tired, no headaches though. Today I feel much better. I also changed my diet to a lot of fruits and vegetables. I bought Krill oil and I am biking and walking almost every day. Hopefully, I stay healthy. I know if I go to my doctor she won't be happy about this but I will wait another 2 or 3 weeks and see how I feel. I will get some baby aspirins just in case!

[Bet117]

Hi Thormyn!

Please take care of yourself.

I have "walked the walk".

My endocrinologist put me on

Atorvastatin 10 mg in April of 2017. My cholesterol was elevated but not awful.

I suffered for 8 months with horrid pain at my right rear rib. Upset stomach at times. Sadly, not a huge change in my cholesterol and I am a vegetarian

Two weeks after I convinced him to take me off of this, I saw my GP who discovered skeletal muscular swelling.

I have been off all statin drugs and my cholesterol has dropped 90 points since December.

Check out: Drugs.com is an excellent site to look up your meds..it provides you with side effects, low, moderate and severe interactions as well.

Zeta is the only cholesterol med which is not statin based.

Please don't suffer as I did..

Take a look.

Let me know how you are doing...I care!

Bet

[Thormyn in reply to Bet117]

Thank you so much Bet, I don't know who to trust anymore. Google has become my best friend for information and it's encouraging to hear the success stories of people who went off statin. It is hard to always stick with a healthy diet but I was never a big meat eater either. Hope you continue doing well, best wishes, Christine! ( and thanks for the website, I'll check it out )

[Tasv33r]

Hi thormyn, I was on astorvastan for 2 years and stopped taken them some 4 months ago because I’m not going to put up with the side effects no more, I went to get blood test results and guess what they are back to normal, cholesterol, sugar, and blood pressure all satisfactory, so you could say I’ve beaten diabetes, I meet my doctor next week so I’ll see if I can get off the list.side effects last about 8 weeks that is when it leaves your system, good luck.

[Thormyn in reply to Tasv33r]

Thanks for your reply. That is encouraging to hear because I still don't know if I made the right decision. I will stick to exercise, swimming, biking, walking and more natural unrefined foods and hope for the best. All the best to you!

[Bet117 in reply to Tasv33r]

Tasv33r,

Excellent! I am so happy to hear your news!

I also found that my whole system changed once totally off the statin. My cholesterol went up immediately and then down!

They told me two weeks for the statin to be out of my system, but for me it had to be more. Guess everyone is different!

None the less, you are feeling better..that is key!

Please let me know how you are doing. In your corner, always!

Bet

[sos007 Ambassador]

50% of heart attacks and strokes occur to people with normal to optimal levels of cholesterol. If your doctor has you on statins to prevent such an event, then he/she is doing you a disservice.

The right protection from heart disease is to reduce the tendency for your blood to clot too easily. You can determine your platelet aggregation tendency by measuring fibrinogen and homocysteine.

The former should be 2.9 g/l or less (but more than 2.2), and the latter should be below 7 umol/l.

Greens such as arugula, broccoli, kale and spinach are high in folic acid as are legumes such as beans. Oranges are also good.

In addition, you should take a Folic Acid supplement as well as B6 and B12 which work in convert with Folic acid.

Natural ways to reduce cholesterol include 3,000 mg of vitamin C daily, taken in 3 x 1,000 mg doses after each meal (contrary to popular myth, Vitamin C in large doses does NOT cause kidney stones or any other negative side-effects); as well as 500 mg to 1,000 mg of Niacin. The Niacin causes a harmless flush that will last 40 minutes (it dilates the capillaries underneath your skin). To reduce the intensity and duration of the flush, take the Niacin on a full stomach and drink a glass of cold water. Split the dosage - 2 x 500 mg. One after breakfast and one after dinner.

Other natural ways to lower cholesterol involve eating a diet high in fibre including legumes - beans, lentils, chick peas, and green peas.

Limit animal proteins and dairy as they have a tendency to constipate you among other issues.

Good luck!

[sandybrown in reply to sos007]

I am afraid in UK, NHS may not offer some of these blood tests!!!!!

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to sandybrown]

I'm sure they can be done privately for those able and willing to pay.