Statins? To take or not to take.

Seems more peiple refuse to take them, than take them..What do you guys think?

[sandybrown]

You need to offer full details of the blood test numbers for, blood pressure, blood sugar and blood cholesterol lipids for the members to comment.

[Tbae]

If you cannot lower your cholesterol any other way take them.

It reduces your risk and is tried and tested by millions and over a very long time.

I upped my dose from 10 to 20mg very recently and if I wanted to substantially reduce my risk for my age, 75, I should be taking 40mg.Should have been taking higher dose for years.

I do every day running and everyday strength,15 hours and 35km per week.

👏👏🌟

[Hidden]

Blood sugar average is 90-120.

Bp- average 128/84. Sometimes 140/88.

Cholesterol way too high.

[Hidden]

Just looking for the overall opinion on those with high cholesterol. whether they choose to take them or use other alternative measures.

[juzme]

I personally would not take them. Healthy lifestyle is usually the alternative. Eating properly and exercising. Thats how my cholesterol lowered but I know we're all different.

[midgetdisco]

I stopped taking them. I was started on a 20mg dose of Simvastatin and i was in agony through the night with pains in my legs and hips. The dose was halved and the overnight pain diminished but I was getting continuous aches throughout my body. I put those down to getting older (I'm 54). After reading peoples comments on here I tried coming off the statins and after a week or so all the aches had gone completely. I've now changed my diet and do 1 1/2 hours walking 5 days a week plus have plant stenol supplements. I've lost weight and my cholesterol level hadn't raised much on my last blood test.

If the side effects of statins hadn't affected me I would still be on them.

[Markl60]

Why anyone would believe that cholesterol is causing their ill health is beyond me. Even more astounding is that plenty of people visit a doctor and fail to ask 'what is causing this and how can I change it'. Instead they blindly accept a pill. At least take the lifestyle change route first and then reassess but please realise what lifestyle change means. Small tweaks like losing a few pounds mat be helpful but we really have to stop eating the awful western diet of processed, sugar/carb laden foods. Exercise daily, it does not have to be radical, a vigorous walk for 20 mins will do

[Coastwalker in reply to Markl60]

So agree with you Mark160, also many do not know that Low thyroid has an inverse effect on high cholesterol so Drs should be first checking thyroid bloods if someone presents with high level cholesterol bloods. Drs years ago aparently knew there was a connection between high cholesterol and low thyroid, (hypothyroidism)

[Marz in reply to Coastwalker]

Sadly - as we know - it is the Low in range T3 that links to raised LDL - and that is RARELY tested in the NHS. More dosh to be made from Statins than the humble Thyroid meds ..😎

[timotur]

Niacin helped me lower my C from about 240 to 184 about 10 years ago. It was low dose, about 100mg nightly. Also, ate oatmeal and flaxseed which probably helped some. Oddly, my LDL jumped 20 points when I recently switched to a plant/fish diet, so I’m upping the Niacin dose to 250mg, and also taking inositol... see what happens.

[Markl60]

You could check out this thread which hopefully will grow as we all contribute to it

healthunlocked.com/choleste...

[Markl60]

Dr Perlmutter on Statins move forward to 33 mins on the video interview

youtube.com/watch?v=KRXl_N0...(Not working as expected?)