Just heard on Radio 4 that NICE have announced that GP's will now prescribe Statins at a level 50% lower than the level now used for prescribing...
Have they not heard - that before the Thyroid Testing was in place - raised cholesterol was treated by treating the thyroid...
Also if current Thyroid Testing was improved and results better understood with patients being optimally treated - perhaps there would not be a need for increasing the prescribing of Statins.
So beware everyone - something else you are going to have to fight against - along with the AD's. Docs are paid for prescribing both....
Written by
Marz
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Hmmm... I couldn't agree with you more... If in doubt, chuck a statin at it.
I can still recall the absolutely agonising thigh pains I had when I was prescribed these before I had my hypo diagnosis. My GP's response was 'oh yes, thigh pain's quite a common side effect...
I have no intention of taking statins unless I need them. Why is it OK to prescribe statins for a condition which has not appeared yet and may never happen but doctors are reluctant to try levothyroxine when a patient has hypothyroid symptoms but "normal" results?
I think the problem is that, like high blood pressure before it, high cholesterol has now been turned into a disease in its own right, rather than being a symptom of something else.
At one time doctors classified normal systolic blood pressure for adults as being 100 + your age. They weren't particularly interested in the diastolic at all as far as I can tell.
(^^ That guy's website is interesting and worth perusing.)
But then it was discovered that the higher your blood pressure, the greater the risk of you dying, so there were howls about this, and reducing blood pressure became desirable. Then having high blood pressure was given a name - Essential Hypertension. And so high blood pressure is a disease now, when it used to be a symptom of advancing age, and entirely normal.
Nobody actually noticed that the older you were, the higher your blood pressure was, so the greater your risk of dying. They didn't blame increasing age for the increasing risk of death. They blamed the increasing blood pressure instead.
Now, with cholesterol, they have turned high cholesterol into a disease - hypercholesterolaemia. As a result won't be able to use it as a symptom of hypothyroidism in future. Instead, the doctor will spend all their time on worrying about your cholesterol and is even less likely to know the connection between hypothyroidism and high cholesterol.
I've read The Great Cholesterol Con by Dr Malcolm Kendrick.
I thoroughly recommend it. I would never agree to take a statin after reading that.
When I said to my Endo 'Is high cholesterol connected to hypo' he said 'Yes and years ago if someone had high cholesterol hypo was suspected'
When next at my appt. with G.P. I said Mr. M. confirmed high cholesterol is a sigh of hypo, she looked at me blankly and said ' er mmm. and that was it.
On my first visit to my Endo last November,I took all the blood test results I previously had done via my surgery .....amongst those results was a rising cholesterol reading,which had been commented on by my GP.
When I drew my Endo's attention to this he remarked " that's not unusual in thyroid patients.".......Seems like another reason to treat the thyroid correctly doesn't it!!
I know - heard that on the news first thing this morning. Just what you want to hear to start your day isn't it.
I can't understand why doctors will prescribe statins and tranquillisers etc rather than just run a few blood tests and treat thyroid problems. Especially as the thyroid affects so many other parts of the body
Thank you Clutter. The Einstein article was interesting and yes I agree Guidelines are just that. Sadly Docs in the UK seem well motivated to prescribe statins. Dr Toft's BMA book has some Guidelines on Thyroid - mostly ignored it would seem from reading the posts on this forum.
It's all about money. The GP's get paid for giving out statins. I was given statins because my TSH was just out of range to be hypo at 5.6, seven years ago. I took them for a week and thought I was going to die. Went back and saw my usual GP who put me straight on to levo. I exercise and eat a healthy diet but of course the GP doesn't get paid for that.
Slightly off topic I was recruited onto UK Biobank research programme some years ago. They are rolling out more testing. Maybe they will do some work on Thyroid issues!!
Thank you for your post. Apparently cholesterol is mostly produced in the body and only about 20% comes from our food. The food industry is as corrupt as BIG Pharma. A whole new industry was created for low cholesterol foods when they were NOT needed. Sorry am not familiar with UK Biobank Research programme....I live in Crete
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