Statins????

[blondie120]

Hi I'm waiting for test results , I'm on simvastatin 20mg its making me sick or @ least I think its that , huge waves of nausea an dizziness migrain behind my eyes took imigrin but no joy just lying here feeling awful an its such a nice day .. Anyone else feel like this on statins ??

[custardpot]

Simvastatin is the worst of the statins for side effects. I have been on most of the statins but have stopped taking them as they caused problems with my liver. I am controling my cholestral by healthy eating and losing weight. in 2 years my cholestral has gone from 8.7 to 4.5 and with the healthy cholestral I have that is classed as a good result.

[Thaddeus in reply to custardpot]

I would be interested to know what you eat to get those results. My cholesterol is pretty much all the bad kind and it recently hit 9.1 for no apparent reason. It came down to mid 6s but my triglycerides are still in the 7s, mind you they were up at 11. The most impressive levels I ever got were cholesterol of 11.9 and trigs of 27, this was when i ballooned up to a huge 11& 1/2 stone.

I have been tried on Atorvastatin, simvastatin and pravastatin, but each has caused me really horrid cramps and muscle problems, and big CPK levels. This week i started Resuvastatin, but am not confident of good outcome.

[custardpot in reply to Thaddeus]

I follow Slimming World Healthy eating plan. I have lost 7 stone in just over 2 years.

The trouble with statins is they cause a lot of other problems, a friend of mine was told by a consultant that they can cause more problems in some people than what they are worth and she was advised not to take them.

I would recommend Slimming World to anyone, it is more about healthy eating than a diet and you can still have treats.

[blondie120]

Hi I. Have yo yo weight probs they checked my levels an in 5 days mine went from 6 to over 7 that's when they put me on it , an even after being on it 4 months it was still over 6 but lately when I've taken it it makes me feel very sick , but I've so much going on its hard to say what's causing it, my level doesn't even decrease wiv months of diet shake an plain no frills cooking ?

[Gillyg]

Ask if they will try a different Statin, that isn't the best one anyway. Atorvastatin could be worth a try. I think the problem is that we take so many tablets that you really don't know what is reacting with what. Good luck you don't need to be feeling sick all the time. Xx

[Tigerlily4]

Hi Blondie and much sympathy. I can't comment on statins save to say apparently the side effects of all (including increased joint pain in some cases) are such that my Rheumatologist refuses to prescribe them for his patients with SLE. He trained at the Lupus Clinic at the Middlesex Hospital, knows his stuff and I trust his judgement, especially when he's advocating less medication rather than more. My cholesterol level quickly rose to 13.5 after being encouraged to take glucosamine supplements by a Physiotherapist. BAD MOVE!!! There's a general assumption supplements do only good and are benign but this is far from the case in some instances, as I found to my cost! He referred me instead to an NHS Nutritionist. With the help of a bowl of porridge oats dailiy and slightly modifying my diet to include more fish and chicken than red meat, I reduced my cholesterol levels naturally. I'd recommend following the same path - natural is always best! Good luck and let us know how you get on. x

[Voutton]

Hi Sympathise with you Had the same on simvastatin , so asked for pravastatin which with research does not have said side effects so readily Been on them with no side effects , but what's one mans honey is another mans poison .Trial and error I think .Good luck

[Nightjar]

After all I have read about 'The Statin Myth' ..I am staying well clear of them. There is a lot of information on the internet. A French professor of medicine has recently published a book about the statin myth. According to him, nobody needs statins - particularly not women. The body produces all the cholesterol it needs and absorbs practically none from food. The whole business is based on a flawed research (on rabbits!!) from way back. I have read that of people who die from heart attacks, the majority have low cholesterol rather than high - and that there is no good or bad cholesterol - there is just one kind of cholesterol. Many doctors are now writing/blogging about this.

Don't forget to check out the benefits of cholesterol. We need cholesterol for repair of our muscles, for the brain etc... The fat in our food should not come from 'light' products but from 'the real thing' - butter, coconut oil, olive oil etc. - not from low fat products. After all I have read about this, it seems we get fat from starch, sugar and grain rather than animal fat.

Don't take my word for it. Inform yourselves. Check it out on websites like Dr Briffa, Patrick Holford, Dr Mercola, Natural News, Sante Nature Innovation, GreenMedInfo etc - there are many more.

I know of someone who said to their doctor that they had decided against taking statins and his comment was "..I think that's a good decision.." (..was off the record of course).

Perhaps it's worth asking our GPs (or consultants) what they know about this. I doubt they want to take it themselves. Good luck. xxx

[blondie120]

Thanks I've actually stopped them as of now as I can't take the pain in my head seeing doc friday will see wat he says I can't face food yet my stomach is bloated wiv fluid I feel awful can't wait to see doc I so want to feel normal x

[Thaddeus]

Having had muscle and CPK problems with a range of statins I picked up a script for Resuvastatin the other day. I asked the pharmacist if she had any experience of it and she said:

' In her experience, doctors will start you off on the cheaper statins and work their way through until they find one which works for you! '

And since Resuva was one of the dearer ones, it should do better with fewer side effects.

[blondie120]

Ok thanks I will ask doc on friday x

[blondie120]

Hi all , well went docs he said lupus test still not back yet but my bnp test was bad an surgests heart failure which my mum died of in 2009 I've got to have an echo an wear some wire thing for a few days at home he signed me off another 2 weeks till he gets bk off hol an I don't know why but I think there's stuff he isn't saying first time ever his comp screen turned away so I can't see it @ all an he just seemed stressed to be wiv me plus he walked me out just odd an I've to have a diabeties test an lipid profile rb7 I think my cholesterol is thro the roof see what happens next ..... Xx