DR ELLIE CANNON: Is my GP on the level about cholesterol?

[sandybrown]

Here is an interesting Q&A:

Q. I recently had a cholesterol test and it showed a reading of seven, which my GP considered to be within acceptable limits. I questioned this, saying that I thought anything over five was considered high. I am 63, slightly overweight, have normal blood pressure and stopped smoking 11 years ago. But my father suffered a series of strokes, so I am concerned. Is my doctor right?

Read the answer ,very interesting.

There is another one on statin in the copy of Today's Mail on Sunday

dailymail.co.uk/health/arti...

[Pam296]

Hi Sandybrown. I am the same age as you but with high BP and am slightly overweight. My cholesterol is 5.1 but the 'bad' cholesterol is high at 3.2. My GP is insistent that I should take statins, which I can't say I'm happy about. It does seem to vary as to who you see.

[sandybrown in reply to Pam296]

Thank you. After 4 weeks of statin I took a decision not to continue any more this was 4 years ago. My life style change and regular exercise keeps me in good health at the moment. I take blood test once a year. Only time will tell.

[Pam296 in reply to sandybrown]

I will give them a try but will do everything I can to help myself. I've seen so many people suffer with side effects and I really don't want to go down that road.

[sluggerpk in reply to Pam296]

What changes did you do to get yours down? How did you begin doing the changes?

[Pam296 in reply to sluggerpk]

Trying to be more active, even if it is only a 30 minute walk a day. Have cut out biscuits and cake and upped the good fats such as oily fish and nuts. I hope it works!

[sluggerpk in reply to Pam296]

Thank you very much.

[Hidden in reply to Pam296]

hi Pam296

Please see my post under statin muscle damage

Taking them has been my biggest mistake in life

statins have ruined my life

I am of course aware that 80% of people are not affected by statins at all

And of the remaining 20% who do suffer muscle problems, 19% will find that their symptoms fade away after stopping the statins

However, the remaining 1%, including me, continue to have muscle problems years after stopping them

I stopped a 12 week course of 5 mgs rosuvastatin in April 17 and my muscle problems not only have not gone away, but continue to get worse

Statins are the most prescribed meds in the world, probably 500 million are on them

so 1% of 500 million is an awful lot of people

What I would give to never have taken this poison!!!!!

All the best Pam

Alps Holiday

[Pam296 in reply to Hidden]

So sorry for your issues. I am really not happy about taking them at all.

[DJSherer in reply to Hidden]

I'm exactly the same, I stopped taking Simvastatin about two years ago I still have problems with the muscles in my legs. With diet I got my cholesterol down to 5.4.

Does anyone know what lasting damage is done to the muscles? My doctor can't give me an answer.

[sandybrown in reply to DJSherer]

as we age human body give a lot of problems. It is difficult to say if it is the side effect of medication. Gentle exercise to relax can help.

[Hidden in reply to DJSherer]

Hi DjSherer

SOrry to hear that you too are affected

If you want my detailed reply describing the muscle problems faced by myself and many, many ex statin users, please email me on

[e-mail]

Regards

Alps Holiday - Michael

[kasibarndoor in reply to Pam296]

I would recommend that instead of focusing on LDL or HDL levels that you look more at ratios and Triglyceride levels. You should consider posting your test results together with their limits shown on the test results.

[Pam296 in reply to kasibarndoor]

Thank you. I'm new to this!

[sandybrown in reply to Pam296]

Now days blood test results are available with all the test that has been carried on the blood sample on a A4 paper print out. By giving all the result numbers, people here can offer you some answers.

You can ask your GP or Doctor for risk analysis.

[Markl60 in reply to Pam296]

There is no such thing as bad cholesterol and LDL is certainly not a good indicator of heart disease risk. If you want to take notice of your cholesterol readings then your Total to HDL ratio or your HDL Triglyceride ratio is far better as a risk indicator. If you divide your Total cholesterol by your HDL and it is below 3.5 then I would stop worrying about your Cholesterol levels and focus on other more important health markers

[sandybrown in reply to Markl60]

The best health indicator is height to waist ration. Very simple, no calculation is necessary!!

Get a length of string, cut it to the height length. Now fold the string in to half. Go around the waist.

Now the question is:

Does it fit the waist? Yes, OK

Do not fit the waist? No, bad news!!, life style change and regular exercise can help.

does it fit the waist? there is excess!. Good news