I have taken thyroxine for over thirty years. I have high cholesterol of 7.6. The ratio is now 3.6.
My doctor wants me to take a statin. Rosuvastatin, which I note is not to be used if thyroid is low.
He thinks my thyroid is good. But I am not so sure. I have many problems I think caused by it, bald patches, and fatigue to name only two. Any advice please.
If your cholesterol is high, then your FT3 is probably low. But doctors don't know that - for the most part, they don't even know what T3 is!
If I were you, I'd get full thyroid testing privately:
TSH
FT4
FT3
TPO antibodies
Tg antibodies
vit D
vit B12
folate
ferritin
Not specifically because of your cholesterol, which isn't doing you any harm (it does not cause heart attacks or strokes, Big Pharma just wants you to think it does!) but because low T3 can cause many other real problems.
This has been much story too. I've been on a lot of statinsnover the years. Rosivastatin was the last one before they threw ezetimibe at me last month. Which they conform to be is not a statin. However thlhis new drug is to take the bas (LDL) cholestral away from what your eating. Which isn't solving any issue of apparent problematic high cholesterol that is already in the body and may have done some damage. Just masking.But I have been more inclined to believe that if the T3 is managed better the the lower the LDL and trugs will be.
But if you are not a great converter like me then it is a tough one. I just continue with eating well which includes certain fats but avoid the refined sugars more.
I was dx with metabolic syndrome around the same time as thyroid finally crashed for me.
It's all linked, for sure.
Recent post about underactive thyroid and taking statins. Definitely worth looking at.
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
You'll see there's a link to the NHS website which says statins not advisable if you have thyroid problems (or words like that). Repeated here.
nhs.uk/conditions/statins/c...
I'm definitely refusing statins. My doc suggests that it will give me an extra 10 years which doesn't worry me since I'm already 84 without it.
Doctors are all about giving us extra years in the future, but far less focused on improving the quality of life of our current ones. My mum's side of the family were long lived, all passed away in their 90's, but truthfully none of them would honestly say their last decade was enjoyable or pleasurable.
They were kept going by a raft of medications. Existing, not living as my late mum would say. Its a shame that quantity trumps quality of life.
Do doctors get paid extra for dishing out statins?
I suspect they might, just as they might be for diagnosing diabetes. They are given targets for certain things like screenings, vaccinations etc.
I don't believe so. Not in the UK anyway. But GPs are under pressure to prescribe statins 'by the government' according to my GP.
But its reducing, not adding, years in this case - see my reply just now to Andrea.
I suggest you ask your doc for scientific evidence of increased longevity. In the unlikely event that he/she supplies such evidence relevant to you, please send. I can send you links showing the exact opposite for your age so another option is I send to you and you send to doc. Its because we need cholesterol for brains (thus reducing Alzheimer risk etc).
Go you! 84 and refusing statins is awesome 🤩 @admins can we pin this reply from Anthea55 It’s got all the statin info in one place . 🌱
If you are interested, here's the (hopefully polite) email I sent to the GP in reply to her letter.
Dear Dr ....
Thank you for your letter of ..... , suggesting that I should take statins.
I have had an underactive thyroid since 2011. This should be on my medical record. I get private treatment for this as I do not convert T4 to T3 adequately and until recently it has been difficult or impossible to get liothyronine on the NHS due mainly to the exorbitant prices charged by some manufacturers.
From the NHS website at 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."
From this you will understand why I do not intend to take statins.
Many thanks
Thanks so much for sharing 🙏
I have been on three different types of statins and felt awful on all of them, even on reduced doses. I asked my doctor what would happen if I refused to take any more and she told me I would die - can you believe it! I refused anyway so she then sent me off to have an angiogram scan and my arteries were clear, so she said I did not need statins anyway. I have been taking Spirulina and Chlorella which are said to reduce cholesterol levels - you can read more about that online. I also take all the recommended supplements for hypos. My cholesterol level has gone down from 9 to 6.3 over around 10 years and I'm still alive and kicking!
I hope you told her life is a terminal condition lol and death isn't optional 😀
Hi there Tolybotast, if you Google search Dr. Malcolm Kendrick for the heading ‘Silence was the stern reply’ you will find a link to the ‘Hunt 2 study’ from Norway which revealed that women with higher cholesterol levels have better life outcomes.
thank you. I have looked this up. I am going to thank my Doctor but say no thank you to the Statin.
Gosh, your post resonates with me. After a total overhaul of my diet last year, mostly vegetarian now with wholemeal grains and loads of beans etc My recent cholesterol test came in at 7.8 with a ratio of 3.5. I'm waiting for the phonecall from my GP tomorrow. He is very old school and does not really listen so I'm sure will try to push me down the statin route.
I choose not to take a statin despite being recommended it a few years ago by my GP. As others have mentioned there is a page on the NHS website that relates to hypothyroidism and statins and I used that as context for my refusal. My bloods at that time were better than they are now but even then I did not feel that my hypothyroidism levels were good. Now they're even worse and I have bad kidneys too (so that is even more of a reason for me not to take them).
All the best.
For anyone thinking that statins will help them live longer, see the graphs in this link :
drmalcolmkendrick.org/2012/...
It makes it clear in the left hand graph that overall mortality (risk of death) decreases the higher the total cholesterol is.
It always annoys me when doctors talk about heart disease in relation to statins. If statins really do reduce your risk of dying of heart disease, this isn't much of a benefit if statins increase your risk of death by cancer.
Personally, I think I would prefer to die a quick death from heart attack or stroke rather than drag it out with a death by cancer.
And who is to say with cancer if a) you'll get diagnosed quickly, and b) any pain will be adequately treated to keep you comfortable?
I suspect I would a) struggle to get a diagnosis, and b) would be under-medicated for pain, because that has been my experience of medical treatment for everything serious I have ever suffered from during my life.
In the link I gave above it is worth reading the comments as well as the article.
Statins
Statins 
CHOLESTEROL AND STATINS
Statins and levothyroxine
