Not necessarily related to PMR as I have had high cholesterol since I first started having blood tests years ago. My 'good' and 'bad' have always been about the same level. My current GP suggested statins. I declined. She then suggested trying plant sterols. I've ordered a couple pf packs from Healthspan UK today. The reviews seem very positive.
Has anyone else taken this route? If so, what was your experience.
Thanks for reading.
Hi there I have had high cholesterol for most of my adult life and have over the years done quite a lot of research into both the condition and the statins I'm prescribed. I've also recorded & 'explored' my own blood test results and come to some definitive conclusions.
I haven't taken plant sterols in supplement form but I have eaten a daily (well known) yogurt containing plant stanols. This has definitely contributed to keeping my cholesterol level in check and before I was prescribed statins, if I stopped eating these yogurts then my cholesterol reading would definitely increase.
As the subject of statins is often discussed on here, I think many would be interested to hear your experiences so please report back…..
My cholesterol is borderline- and after many years of trying different brands, the surgery has a note on my records as being ‘intolerant’ to them, so a new keen GP doesn’t insist I try again!
Have thought about trying plant sterols so will be interested in how you get on with them…
I should receive them in about two weeks. I believe results may show in a month or so. I'll keep you posted.....
😊
9I perhaps should have added that after my high cholesterol diagnosis I initially attempted to maintain healthy levels through diet & exercise and this was when I began eating the plant stanol yogurts. Over time I experimented a little and discovered that if I dropped just one of 3 things (a healthy low sat fat diet, exercise or the daily yogurt) then my LDL cholesterol level increased. Even whilst taking statins this has proved to be the case.
Plant sterols have a higher degree of absorption than plant stanols, making them possibly the more effective of the two.
If my yoghurt with plant stanols has shown to have an effect, then it would be a reasonable assumption that plant sterols would be even more effective.
Would definitely be interesting to find out what Pr0jection thinks.
Have you been diagnosed with Familial Hypercholesterolemia?I have , it is a genetic issue / flaw with processing cholesterol which is surprisingly common but never gets talked about in general. It can effect people to such differing levels that most people don't get to know they have it.
I tried diet alone for about 6 months , and plant sterols helped a little but my cholesterol, both HDL and LDL remained high, which was the clincher for the diagnosis.
I'm on a combination of a statin and Ezetimibe alongside a low saturated fat diet , I do need to reduce fat levels in total in my diet too. My mother was diagnosed with it number of years ago too .
Hi there,
I initially started off with an overall reading of 'six point something'....can't remember exactly as so long ago.
Within 3mths I'd managed to reduce it down to 4.2 through changing my diet, increasing my exercise and including a plant stanol yogurt daily.
Realistically though, this was not a feasible regime to sustain as I was having to be extremely disciplined... to the point where it was impacting drastically on my social life.
I began statins and my levels remained satisfactory until I had a break from them (the reasons I won't bore you with)
With an older, post menopausal body and a more sluggish metabolism, it was impossible to maintain healthy cholesterol levels independently and when I was diagnosed with PMR, my cholesterol reading was off the scale and seriously high.
I was then told I now had hypercholesterolemia.
40mgs of Avorstatin nightly are keeping things well under control though I'm pleased to say.
Yes, I was surprised to here how common this gene flaw is. I read a study that said it is estimated to be 1 in 250 people with the flaw , although you may not get the same level of issue in different people with it.I did my rigourous tests in myself , not really wanting to have to use the statin if I could go without it. Diet and exercise didn't work alone ( it went up!) Adding sterols didn't work ( marginal reduction) I started Ezetimibe then , there was a reduction but not as good as it needed to be so Rosuvastatin was added ( tried Avorstatin first but I got side effects on that one ). Things are nice and stable now.
It's also one of those annoying things which means some people can't follow the HF/ LC diet, as even using healthy fats alone , as I do , it still had an unwanted effect on my Cholesterol results and with my heart issues and family history it wasn't worth the risk.
When genes and other illnesses are involved we often can't get these things under control with diet alone or the high results happen even if we already have a good diet.
As you say , many people don't get diagnosed with it until they are over 40 unless they have had a need for earlier Cholesterol tests, and the effect of age , illnesses and medications can have an effect on how well controlled our Cholesterol becomes , even in people without FH.
Glad it's under control for you too. Onward and upward, Bee
The plant sterol capsules have a similar or better effect in general to the stanols and sterols used in the cholesterol lowering products , drinks etc. The benefit being the dose is higher and it can be a lot cheaper than buying in the food products. ( I also didn't particularly enjoy the foods that contained them).
I would say if you don't have a condition that causes your higher cholesterol the plant sterols in oral supplement would work for you.
I got a better reduction with the ones I was prescribed (similar to the ones you can buy over the counter) than I did trying the drinks , in my case , it just wasn't enough for my needs and I did need to use the Ezetimibe and statin.
Much like a statin , it's a good idea to take them in the evening at the end of your evening meal.
Thanks ,
I did take statins (and BP meds) way before GCA and through it (although it took 3 different statins to find one that I could tolerate.
A couple of years after GCA went into remission and following knee replacement my BP went very low -so GP decided perhaps we’d do a re-boot and stop cholesterol and BP meds. His rationale was as I was older and had lost weight, levels might be better.
They were, but BP crept up again (guessed it would as familial issue) but very low dose Candasartan controls it well.
As I said cholesterol is just borderline -but having tried previous med I took and a couple of others, they really don’t suit me now - if it was off scale l might consider the side effect bearable -but as it’s not - I’ll try and reduce it in other ways.
That's interesting, they tried me and my daughter on Candesartan to help with the Tachycardia and our Migraines. Made my Migraines worse but it is helping my daughter at the moment while she waits to see the Cardiologist.I say waits to see them but we went on Friday.
We are currently not just asking for a second opinion but also putting in a complaint to the Chief Executives Office.
Beginning with the fact that he based his " your wasting my time" evaluation before we entered the room on a letter from her pain clinic and that days ECG (because he had none of the notes from her Cardio event in AandE that had provoked the urgent need for an appointment in the first place ) he then went on to hold the type of appointment which should have been filmed under the training title , " Consultants: What not to say;What not to do"
He even used the words , " it's in your imagination" and went on to attack everything from her home life , her gender , and criticize every other treatment she was getting with scary stories about the side effects of the drugs to make her believe there was nothing wrong with her .... Including , the Candesartan!
Until , asked about why he wasn't looking at her other ECGs of course then ( after much flapping if the pages he had did not make them magically appear in her folder) he said it might be worth a Holter but only to stop her worrying.
I've never seen such a spectacle in all of my decades of experience of bad appointments. They usually do one or two of the unprofessional things in an appointment not all of them!
As I said in another thread, you wonder why such people go into medicine at all… or do they go in in all bright eyed and bushy tailed, but get ground down by the relentlessness of it as the years go by? Doesn’t help the patient though, which is what it’s all about surely…..
Thanks Blearyeyed, I'm getting mine from Healthspan UK and the reviews appear to be good.
They do work for some but the amount they contribute isn't like the effect of statins. There are alternatives to statins - I take Ezetimibe and apparently that together with bempedoic acid is equally as good as the best statin. It is very unusual to have an HDL the same level as the LDL, no wonder the total is high. I have a very high HDL but not that high!
My GP isn't allowed to put me on an alternative to statins unless I can prove that statins have an adverse effect. As I've never been on them I can't do this so she advised taking the plant sterols route. Years ago I saw a herbalist who prescribed her own cholesterol lowering remedy. I think the main ingredient was oregano. It did work but after 6 months or so I started to get blurred vision that went away as soon as I stopped taking it.
I also take Ezetimibe as I seem to be intolerant of statins. My cholesterol level has lowered a little but I may ask my GP about adding Bempedoic acid, hadn’t heard of it before. I believe Ezetimibe acts in a similar way to plant sterols.
Yes I have been on Plant Sterols for some time. I really couldn’t say whether or not they make a difference. I have high and sometimes very high cholesterol but apparently my saving grace is the good is higher than the bad? Rather than go on statins I had an angiogram which showed my heart arteries were clear. Hopefully they still are! I keep taking the Plant Sterols with crossed fingers. I am very interested to hear your GP recommend them.
My cholesterol was up to 6.7 from around 5.5 after 6 months of Pred. I have genetically high cholesterol and good levels of HDL but the increase was in LDL.
A nutritionist friend recommended plant sterols and having miso soup. After two and a half months on the sterols a home test says I'm back down to the mid 5s. So worth a try - the tablets are quite expensive though. And the miso soup has lots of potential health benefits.
I am on Zetia and it is the first time that my numbers went down without any side effects!
I have also been using an alternative to statins after having adverse effects from the two varieties I tried recently to lower my familial hypercholesterolaemia.
I read that Whey Protein can reduce cholesterol so I have been taking an organic whey protein powder smoothie every morning instead of breakfast and have been feeling really well. Also managed to taper from 7mg to 5mg smoothly by 1mg reductions in four months after being stuck at 8/7 for years.
To be honest I don’t know if it has brought my cholesterol down from the 9.7 it was when tested but I just feel so much better. I have been referred to the Lipid clinic so time will tell. My several attempts for Ezetimibe have fallen on deaf ears (expensive drug I believe) so I am waiting for Bempedoic Acid to be offered. Meanwhile as usual I am seeking my own solutions to this persistent and annoying medical condition. Best wishes Chrissie
I take plant sterol capsules along with psyllium husk and my total cholesterol reduced from 7.3 to 6.3 in one month also did a bit more exercise. I now take one maintenance capsule a day along with a teaspoon twice a day of the husk, no ill effects.
hi. That’s interesting I have just ordered plant sterols from the same place along with asparagus tablets which are supposed to work together to lower cholesterol.
Mine is ok in the 5 range but my doc wants me on statins to be on the safe side. Few years ago when I was stuck to low carb diet I lost a stone in weight and my cholesterol went right down. I hope these work 🤗
Hi Carrollee I was going to order the two together but thought I'd start off with the plant sterols and move on to them if it's a success. Thanks for your reply.
👍
I too was told I was borderline regards cholesterol & declined steroids…which the doctor was ok with. I’ve been taking psyllium husk for a month now & have another blood test booked in August, so it will be interesting to see what the results are. I’ve also just reduced from 2 - 1.5mg Prednisolone so 🫰🫰🫰
I bought some last year from the usual Mr.AOnline. Took then for two days and felt very nauseous, so stopped. I wouldn’t take statins even if you paid me.
Accidental reduction?
Reduction Complications.
GCA and steroid reduction 
My experience on dosage reduction
