Statins and blood pressure meds

[Artless]

Just had an ecg at doctors that apparently needs to be repeated along with a referral for a heart scan. I have had statins prescribed the last two years or so and have never been keen to take them considering the advice on this forum. Doctor insistent that I start them again along with blood pressure tablets. Blood tested again a few days ago and everything has come back with range . So not going to type them out again. My cholesterol was at 6 I didn't think that was too bad. I am sure many of you must have been in this position. Think I will have to be a good girl and take my meds and hope it doesn't have a knock on effect from my interactive thyroid condition. Any thoughts?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

How much do you weigh in kilo

Recent test results here

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Have you negotiated a small increase in levothyroxine….eg 112.5mcg per day

Vitamin levels all need improving

Exactly what vitamin supplements are you now taking

Cholesterol levels should reduce when thyroid levels are fine tuned and all vitamins optimal

[Artless in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi thanks for the response. Doc did blood tests last week:Vit d 62.7 (>50 = adequate)

B12 336ng/l (187-883)

Serum Folate 9.2ug (3.1 - 20.5)

Tsh 1.7 (0.4-4.9)

Test taken just after 9 no med or food taken before. Stopped any supplements the week before.

Using the vit d with vit k mouth spray. Not really sorted any good vit b ones yet. Think I could do with a boost on those if you can recommend a good one.

I do feel happy enough with the dose of levo I'm on and tsh result seems ok think its the lowest reading I've ever had. Thinking of taking a statin every other day to help minimise risk.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Artless]

So vitamin D still on low side

How many sprays per day are you taking

one spray = 1000iu

GP should advise on self supplementing if over 50nmol, but under 75nmol (but they rarely do)

mm.wirral.nhs.uk/document_u...

But improving to around 80nmol or 100nmol by self supplementing may be better

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/218...

vitamindsociety.org/pdf/Vit...

Once you Improve level, very likely you will need on going maintenance dose to keep it there.

Test twice yearly via NHS private testing service when supplementing 

vitamindtest.org.uk

It’s trial and error what dose we need, with thyroid issues we frequently need higher dose than average

Vitamin D and thyroid disease 

grassrootshealth.net/blog/t...

Vitamin D may prevent Autoimmune disease 

newscientist.com/article/23...

Web links about taking important cofactors - magnesium and Vit K2-MK7

Magnesium best taken in the afternoon or evening, but must be four hours away from levothyroxine

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

livescience.com/61866-magne...

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

Interesting article by Dr Malcolm Kendrick on magnesium 

drmalcolmkendrick.org/categ...

Vitamin K2 mk7

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

healthline.com/nutrition/vi...

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Artless]

With serum B12 result below 500, (Or active B12 below 70) recommended to be taking a separate B12 supplement and a week or so later add a separate vitamin B Complex 

Then once your serum B12 is over 500 (or Active B12 level has reached 70), you may be able to reduce then stop the B12 and just carry on with the B Complex.

If Vegetarian or vegan likely to need ongoing separate B12 few times a week 

Very effective B12 drops 

natureprovides.com/products...

Or

B12 sublingual lozenges 

uk.iherb.com/pr/jarrow-form...

cytoplan.co.uk/shop-by-prod...

B12 range in U.K. is too wide

Interesting that in this research B12 below 400 is considered inadequate 

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

supplementing a good quality daily vitamin B complex, one with folate in (not folic acid) 

This can help keep all B vitamins in balance and will help improve/maintain B12 levels too

Difference between folate and folic acid 

healthline.com/nutrition/fo...

B vitamins best taken after breakfast

Thorne Basic B recommended vitamin B complex that contains folate, but they are large capsules. (You can tip powder out if can’t swallow capsule) 

Thorne currently difficult to find at reasonable price, should be around £20-£25. iherb.com often have in stock. Or try ebay 

Other options 

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu....

IMPORTANT......If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 7 days before ALL BLOOD TESTS , as biotin can falsely affect test results

endo.confex.com/endo/2016en...

endocrinenews.endocrine.org...

In week before blood test, when you stop vitamin B complex, you might want to consider taking a separate folate supplement (eg Jarrow methyl folate 400mcg) and continue separate B12 until over 500

[Artless in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks Slowdragon. I will read through your links . The d vit is Better you I do three sprays daily. Stopped all a week before tests as wanted a base level to work from so probably test were lower than they would normally be. I appreciate the balanced response.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Artless]

continue vitamin D up to day before test

Only need to stop biotin week before testing

[greygoose]

I don't think the doctor has yet been born that could persuade me to take statins. All this cholesterol hype is utter nonsense. The cholesterol won't kill you, but the statins might. Cholesterol doesn't cause heart attacks but a statin could. Not only that but lowering your cholesterol too far - and the goal posts have been moved so many times that cholesterol levels are already far lower than they ought to be - will also lower your sex hormones, because they are made of cholesterol. As is your brain.

I have never heard of anyone suffering from statin deficiency, but some people - like me - can have cholesterol deficiency, and I'm in far greater danger of a heart attack then someone with high cholesterol. GPs know nothing about it - any more than they know about all the other nutrients we need, because cholesterol is a nutrient. GPs get their information from Big Pharma representatives, and BP representatives want to sell statins. I'm amazed that so many presumably intelligent people - because doctors are supposed to have a certain intelligence, aren't they? - can be so gullible, and fall for the sales talk like a housewife in a fish market. Or is there more to it than meets the eye? Why are they so hell-bent on getting everyone to take statins...

[birkie in reply to greygoose]

My mother had a mild heart attack in her late 50s, put on statins🤦‍♂️ she only had arthritis before this, then on her bloods for her heart attack a couple of months later her thyroid had gone under active (hypothyroidism) she was given 50mg T4, as far as I was awear her T4 medication was never increase and I'm pretty sure she was on this amount until her death, I can't ever remember her surgery calling her in to have her thyroid bloods re done, and I was caring for her then.Sorting her meds out ect, but then I knew nothing about thyroid conditions 🤦‍♂️but after about 20 years of being on statins she lost muscle and strength in her lower and upper limbs, her left foot became floppy and she could no longer stand, she ended up in Newcastle for tests it was determined she had motor neurone disease died 11 months after this diagnosis, the specialist I spoke to at Newcastle told me she had lost her entire muscle use.

I looked into statins and found muscle wastage one of the side effects 😠 when I had hyperthyroidism (gp didn't know why my heart was beating so fast🤦‍♂️ if only he'd bothered to do thyroid bloods he'd have found out why! He sent me to a cardiologist who immediately tried putting me on statins.. I told him where to stick them😂 plus I didn't need them as I was actually hyperthyroid (graves disease) shows you, that cardiologists was going to just prescribe statins eventho I didn't need them😠

[greygoose in reply to birkie]

Oh, I know! They're all as bad as each other.

So sorry to hear about your poor mother, poor woman.

If only they would automatically do thyroid bloods as soon as anyone goes to the doctors for anything, then there would be a lot less suffering and early death. But, then, they'd have to diagnose too many people for their liking, and they hate diagnosing thyroid problems, probably because they don't know how to deal with them!

[userotc]

I welcome the time that someone on here writes a post similar to yours then asks their medic for irrefutable scientific evidence that statins would benefit them. Maybe that's you? I presume you've never had a heart attack where statins may offer stability.

I've read the Lancet report which indicates they may be beneficial but is questionable and limited. I've also read numerous scientific reports that they are not. Available, on request.

For the record, my mum's total cholesterol is stable around 7.0 (likely due to post menopause) and we are unconcerned 🤞

You mention BP/drugs - what's your BP without them? Mum weaned off them years ago with a Nutritional Therapy protocol and she's normally 115/75.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

previous post with results suggested you probably need small increase in levothyroxine

Vitamin levels all slightly low as result

Look at increasing iron rich foods in your diet to improve ferritin over 70:

Suggest you retest via Medichecks again in another 2 months

obviously just testing TSH on nhs test is completely inadequate

nhs.uk/conditions/statins/c...

If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), treatment may be delayed until this problem is treated. This is because having an underactive thyroid can lead to an increased cholesterol level, and treating hypothyroidism may cause your cholesterol level to decrease, without the need for statins. Statins are also more likely to cause muscle damage in people with an underactive thyroid.