New to this statins game

[Burstcouch]

Just returned from GP, after My 3rd successive high cholesterol, it's been decided to start simvastatin. Am not that keen, but given my diet is good, I run half marathon and am 60 years of age, don't know what else I can do, so it's bad genes for me. Any positive tips or encouragement would be good. I do have low thryoxine but am on tablets for that.

[Mike4550]

I recently changed diet because of pre-diabetes and elevated cholesterol. Am also on Atorvastatin. The weight is coming off but a few weeks till my next visit to the vampires! Despite all the stuff about side effects and statins have had none.

[sleeksheep in reply to Mike4550]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

I will cherry pick some articles from the above as what suits me does not impact everyone.

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In patients with one or more diabetes risk factors, an 28% increase in rosuvastatin-associated NODM (new-onset diabetes mellitus ) was noted, while no increase in diabetes mellitus was noted in those without a diabetes risk factor.

The risk of statin-associated new-onset diabetes mellitus (NODM) is dose dependent and is increased in patients with pretreatment fasting plasma glucose above 100 mg/dl (prediabetic state).

Overall, the conversion rate to NODM generally exceeded 10% over nearly 5 years among atorvastatin-treated subjects with fasting glucose >100 mg/dl

High dose of atorvastatin (80 mg/day) did not increase the incidence of NODM in patients with 0–1 risk factors (fasting plasma glucose >100 mg/dl, fasting triglycerides >150 mg/dl, body mass index >30 kg/m2 and hypertension), BUT did increase by 24% for patients with 2–4 risk factors .

In a number of trials, statins have been shown to impair glucose uptake by cells involved in the regulation of glucose metabolism (adipocytes, skeletal myocytes) by inducing cholesterol-dependent conformational changes in glucose transporters (GLUT) proteins.

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IMO if you are a prediabetic with more than one risk factor you are taking a risk with statins but in my case it took 15 years before this became apparent ( unfortunately ! )

[Mike4550 in reply to sleeksheep]

I did research this somewhat initially. It appeared that if someone was pre-diabetic and made no lifestyle changes taking statins would tip them into "full" diabetes 6 - 12 months earlier. With lifestyle changes this is unlikely to happen even with statins. It also has to be remembered the incident of diabetes increases with age so although you may reverse things at 50 you may still be diabetic at 70!

[Burstcouch in reply to sleeksheep]

Hi, I am not prediabetic, My weight is normal, and I am fit for my age, running 10k's and half marathons

[Burstcouch in reply to Mike4550]

Thanks that's reassurring

[Emma2017]

Hi Burstcough, how high is high?

I was in hospital for something else and got my pulse checked as normal. The nurse ran out and I thought she must be busy. All of a sudden she was back with a dr and an ecg machine. Next thing I knew I was in an ambulance on my way to a different hospital. Haha long story short I was there for 2 nights and then got discharged with meds including statins because of high cholesterol which btw caused some awful side effects. Anyway had to come back for a full 3D heart scan. I saw a specialist for the results and he said my arteries were 100% clear and I could stop all unnecessary meds they had put me on for my heart. So he said you seem to have enough on but at least you don’t have to come back here. It does show though that even though your cholesterol could be high it does not always mean statins they just put you on as routine. My cholesterol was just below 7. Sometimes if your diet is good there might still be ways to improve it by looking which foods could be cholesterol lowering.

[Burstcouch in reply to Emma2017]

Will do, thanks

[sos007 Ambassador]

Elevated LDL-C does not provide the best CVD risk assessment. Instead get a NMR-Lipoprofile Test which measures LDL-P (particle number). If LDL-P is in the low-risk category then the LDL-C value does not matter.

Read this medical study:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

With respect to your diet - a self-assessment of a diet is not always accurate. Here is the optimal diet to stop the inflammatory condition in your body that is resulting in elevated cholesterol values:

No processed foods - that includes salad dressings and ketchup among other things. About 80% of processed foods contain sugar in one form or another and often contain Omega-6 oils which if out of proportion to Omega-3 oils (olive oil, fish oil) can cause endothelial damage.

No fried foods.

No sugar, no soft drinks or diet drinks, no fruit juices, no desserts;

Limit alcohol to 3 drinks per week.

No simple carbohydrates such as - white rice, white potatoes, white flour products such as bread, pizza and pasta; no potato chips, crackers or other packaged snack foods;

Air popped popcorn is acceptable as it is a whole-grain;

The optimal diet has a foundation of legumes (chick peas, beans, lentils, green peas), along with vegetables, and cruciferous greens such as: arugula, broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts;

2 oz daily of nuts and seeds,

2 servings of fruits daily - optimally blueberries, blackberries, and apples.

cold water fish such as wild caught salmon, trout, and arctic char, 2-3 meals per week.

Animal protein such as chicken and red meat should be limited to once per week or once every other week. When consumed it should be sourced from organic environments such as free-run farms for chickens and grass-fed, open grazing cattle farms.

When eating animal protein you should consume no more than 3 oz per day - so one meal only.

Eggs - much debate still - I eat 4 boiled eggs per week.

Cheese - best is high in vitamin K2 - Aged versions of Gouda, Swiss Emmental, Jarlesberg; Plus sheep and goat cheeses. Small quantities daily.

Yogurt - only plain Greek - you can add fresh fruit, but don't buy it with fruit already in it as it will contain sugar or equivalents.

If you are athletic, exercise causes inflammation, internally, to various parts of the body. To address inflammation, the body synthesizes cholesterol as a repair tool.

The optimal repair tool is collagen, but for the body to synthesize collagen it needs vitamin-C.

The RDA for vitamin-C of100 mg, is only sufficient to avoid scurvy - it is not the 'optimal' amount of vitamin C to help the body maximize immunity, and synthesize sufficient collagen.

Read this: livclear.ca/optimizing-bloo...

I take 2 x 1000 mg of liposomal vitamin C daily from the above company. I live in Canada so you need to check out this website to find a distributor near your home:

livonlabs.com/products/inte...

Look up the work of Linus Pauling on vitamin C.

You can learn more about vitamin C here: livclear.ca/liposomal-vitam...

and here: livclear.ca/the-daily-need-...

Good luck!

P.S. I had a triple bypass in March 2015, followed by 2 angioplasty procedures in April and May resulting in 4 stents. I changed my diet and lifestyle and by October 2016, I reached my optimal body weight and stopped ALL pharmaceutical medications, including statins. Statins caused damage to my muscles and I could not tolerate the pain - this is what motivated me to make the aggressive changes. I am a male age 57.

[Burstcouch in reply to sos007]

Thanks for the information, truly inspirational approach.

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to Burstcouch]

My pleasure. I wish you good health!

[Hidden]

Hi burstcouch

sos007 makes complete sense

Good diet, preferably vegan which has no cholesterol, plant sterols, niacin, exercise, proper weight etc shoud do the trick

Please don't touch statins, as about 20% of people who try them get muscle problems.

And of those, in about 95% the muscle problems should resolve when they are stopped

However, in the remaining 5% there is irreversible muscle damage

Not worth the risk

Thank you

Alps Holiday

[Burstcouch in reply to Hidden]

Sure don't want muscle problems, I run 3 times a week

[Leajayse]

Hi,

You haven't said how many mg. or what your cholesterol level is. My level was 5, average for the UK is 5.7. I began and after some deep aches in my arm, stopped. By then I had researched! I was 13st. 9lbs. initially but despite stopping the Simvastatin 40mg which was far too high I've averaged weight loss of one stone per year. Sounds great except it's muscle and I look like a Belsen inmate. Plus I've developed food allergies. It could be that you will have no ill effects but Simvastatin has a reputation for muscle loss. In your place I would seek alternative methods of reducing my cholesterol and above all research, research,research!

[Burstcouch]

Cholesterol level is 7.7

I have to start 20mg Simvastatin and repeat bloods in 6 weeks, GP did discuss the muscle pain and weakness as a side effect.

This won't be good for me as I run 3 times a week and I am a dog walker.