Cholesterol.

[Speedbird-1]

Thanks again folks.

[BroncoOne]

Originally Posted by Dr.Brian

The general sentiment is that at some point when your cholesterol is high enough, and diet is not effective enough, you can either start statins now or start statins after your first heart attack. As they’re not all survivable, I’d generally recommend following the recommendations of your physician who understands your situation and risk factors.
At your age some options are not realistic, ie radical diet changes and daily vigorous exercise and weight loss, etc.
As for the side effects, they’re obligated to list every possible thing that happened during their trials. Most people tolerate statins just fine for the long term, and it beats the alternative.

This is where I am. An excellent diet and exercise habits did not reduce genetically induced high cholesterol, but a statin did. I’m fortunate not to have any of the side effects, though. I’ve been on it many years.

[omar10213245]

Originally Posted by crew

I have been on statins for about 15 years. I’ve had to change brands twice due to muscle soreness, a known and common side effect. I’m currently on 10mg of Atorvastatin after once again experiencing side effects from my original 20mg daily dose.
I was instructed to stop taking the 20mg dose for about 1 month by my doctor and then begin taking 10mg/day. Just about 2 weeks ago the muscle soreness returned and although not awful it does prevent me from getting a restful sleep.
I’m thinking it’s probably time to try another brand.
And, for the record, my cholesterol went from about 240 to about 170 when treated.

Have you looked into supplementing CoQ10 along with your statin medication? That's usually the go-to, to prevent that muscle soreness that so many people develop.

[DaveG_NJ]

Despite changes in my diet and increasing my activity, my cholesterol has continued to climb as I've aged, so I started up on Atorvastatin last month and go for a Calcium CT of the heart later this month. Blood pressure is fine. So far, I feel no ill effects from the statin.

I work in health care and am open to alternative therapies, but at some point, you have to go with the prevailing science. You can go nuts if you start watching Youtube videos of people with all kinds of theories, diets, regimes.

[LobsterHunter]

Ignore all the BS about high cholesterol being bad for you. The American public has been lied to for years. Most doctors are clueless and only follow their outdated training and education. Go to a carnivore or ketogenic way of eating. Lots of info here:
https://cholesterolcode.com/

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by LobsterHunter

Most doctors are clueless and only follow their outdated training and education.

Maybe we should be doing continuing medical education at YouTube Medical School and Facebook University?

[Andad]

Originally Posted by LobsterHunter

Ignore all the BS about high cholesterol being bad for you. The American public has been lied to for years. Most doctors are clueless and only follow their outdated training and education. Go to a carnivore or ketogenic way of eating. Lots of info here:
https://cholesterolcode.com/

Quit while you are behind.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by Pw92676

My advice would be to ignore the side effects unless you experience any.

Translation required.

[Bstewart]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

Maybe we should be doing continuing medical education at YouTube Medical School and Facebook University?

This was good.

[crew]

Originally Posted by omar10213245

Have you looked into supplementing CoQ10 along with your statin medication? That's usually the go-to, to prevent that muscle soreness that so many people develop.

Yes. When I went to the 10mg dose I started taking CoQ10 daily. I think it helps, but I can’t say for sure. I’ve been off my statin for about 1 week now and the soreness is almost gone. Waiting to hear from my PCP how to proceed.

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by crew

Yes. When I went to the 10mg dose I started taking CoQ10 daily. I think it helps, but I can’t say for sure. I’ve been off my statin for about 1 week now and the soreness is almost gone. Waiting to hear from my PCP how to proceed.

My spouse had moderate muscle soreness with the first statin drug she tried, but none with the second. Sometimes one has to try an alternate drug.

[crew]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

My spouse had moderate muscle soreness with the first statin drug she tried, but none with the second. Sometimes one has to try an alternate drug.

That’s what I’ve heard as well Joey. Atorvastatin is my second attempt. I was originally on Simvastatin for about 10 years with no issues, until I developed issues. I’ve asked my PCP to consider a different statin and am awaiting his reply.
The muscle soreness is no joke. It interferes with daily activities to a moderate degree but interrupts my sleep significantly.

[Blansky]

For people who don't understand what cholesterol is.........Some decent information on it:

https://peterattiamd.com/why-there-i...d-cholesterol/

Further down he discusses "heart disease" and various other heart related issues.

[Rico_Brasole]

Originally Posted by Speedbird-1

Thanks again folks.

Red Yeast Rice

https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2020.11.056


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[THC]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

Statins reduce the all-cause mortality rate by 25% even in patients without high cholesterol. I take atorvastin even though my cholesterol is normal because of this.

I take the exact same Joey .. it has tweaked my blood levels to almost perfection every 7 months when I go

[LobsterHunter]

Originally Posted by Andad

Quit while you are behind.

Prescribing statins solely on a total cholesterol number (which the OP indicated) is incredibly naive. You need to take a holistic look at the entire lipid panel and other indicators. What is the remnant cholesterol value? What is the triglycerides value? What is your LDL particle size? If your doctor recommends statins based solely on TC that is both incompetent and negligent. Find another doctor. Maybe you should quit while you are behind.

[TheVTCGuy]

I am reading all of your posts, and understand this is a serious subject. I am taking 5MG or Crestor every night, numbers are down from 200 to about 165 (although my HDL still really sucks) and my heart health APPEARS to be just fine. I exercise regularly and last CTV or MGT or whatever the hell it is called showed zero blockage.

HOWEVER! I am also a certified hypochondriac, and reading all of these posts is causing me chest pains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by LobsterHunter

Prescribing statins solely on a total cholesterol number (which the OP indicated) is incredibly naive. You need to take a holistic look at the entire lipid panel and other indicators. What is the remnant cholesterol value? What is the triglycerides value? What is your LDL particle size? If your doctor recommends statins based solely on TC that is both incompetent and negligent. Find another doctor. Maybe you should quit while you are behind.

What’s your medical background LobsterHunter? Where did you go to medical school? Maybe you should stop rendering medical advice unless you can show some training other than research on social media.

[Lol-x]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I believe that total cholesterol in isolation is not a proper indicator of health.

However anyone would be crazy to rely upon an opinion here as the basis their health regime..

[airchitect]

Mine is slightly elevated and I swear its because of a few lifestyle changes I made which have had the opposite outcomes from what I expect. Gave up sugar candy last year…..picked up 20lb without really adding to my diet. Moved to mostly weight training last year (ie gave up running and rowing for my back). Got Invisalign and tried to move to 3 normal meals instead of my usual all day grazing….. all of it has thrown me out of whack…..


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[Blansky]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

What’s your medical background LobsterHunter? Where did you go to medical school? Maybe you should stop rendering medical advice unless you can show some training other than research on social media.

Joey, we've had this discussion before on other threads.

We both acknowledged that the medical profession has a history of over prescribing drugs like Ritalin, Statins, antibiotics and opioids in the past and present. And we acknowledged that medicine today is very "symptom" oriented. And controlled and manipulated by drug companies.

You go to the assembly line doctors office and they see a symptom, and they say we've got a pill for that, instead of trying to find the real reason that symptom occurs.

And we agreed that the medical profession is very good at trauma (basically your previous field) but not so much at maintenance or nutrition which could be the core of most diseases.

With the case of cholesterol, statins have been a huge money maker for the drug companies when you consider that most people think that cholesterol is an affliction you get from eating eggs or some other nonsense.

You have the ability to make decision on your use of statins due to your medical background, but most people are just lost when they blindly trust their doctor and are scared into taking these meds.

70% of Americans are on at least one prescription, and 35% of people over 50 are on 5 prescriptions.

My non medical advice to people is do some research. Get second opinions, and clean up their diets.

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Joey, we've had this discussion before on other threads.

We both acknowledged that the medical profession has a history of over prescribing drugs like Ritalin, Statins, antibiotics and opioids in the past and present. And we acknowledged that medicine today is very "symptom" oriented. And controlled and manipulated by drug companies.

You go to the assembly line doctors office and they see a symptom, and they say we've got a pill for that, instead of trying to find the real reason that symptom occurs.

And we agreed that the medical profession is very good at trauma (basically your previous field) but not so much at maintenance or nutrition which could be the core of most diseases.

With the case of cholesterol, statins have been a huge money maker for the drug companies when you consider that most people think that cholesterol is an affliction you get from eating eggs or some other nonsense.

You have the ability to make decision on your use of statins due to your medical background, but most people are just lost when they blindly trust their doctor and are scared into taking these meds.

70% of Americans are on at least one prescription, and 35% of people over 50 are on 5 prescriptions.

My non medical advice to people is do some research. Get second opinions, and clean up their diets.

Well said.

It took me a long time and many different doctors to find one that addresses the cause, and he is semi-retired. All the others were pill pushers not investigators. But it’s the nature of their business, they are a high throughput business model. They simply didn‘t have the time in the three to five minutes they spent with me to find out what was really wrong.

When I worked overseas the doctors were looking for the cause, not hustling me out the door to the pharmacists. Curing the patient was the business model, not billing as many patients per day as possible.

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Joey, we've had this discussion before on other threads.

We both acknowledged that the medical profession has a history of over prescribing drugs like Ritalin, Statins, antibiotics and opioids in the past and present. And we acknowledged that medicine today is very "symptom" oriented. And controlled and manipulated by drug companies.

You go to the assembly line doctors office and they see a symptom, and they say we've got a pill for that, instead of trying to find the real reason that symptom occurs.

And we agreed that the medical profession is very good at trauma (basically your previous field) but not so much at maintenance or nutrition which could be the core of most diseases.

With the case of cholesterol, statins have been a huge money maker for the drug companies when you consider that most people think that cholesterol is an affliction you get from eating eggs or some other nonsense.

You have the ability to make decision on your use of statins due to your medical background, but most people are just lost when they blindly trust their doctor and are scared into taking these meds.

70% of Americans are on at least one prescription, and 35% of people over 50 are on 5 prescriptions.

My non medical advice to people is do some research. Get second opinions, and clean up their diets.

I’m glad I’m not practicing anymore.

[Rico_Brasole]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

I’m glad I’m not practicing anymore.

Correct. Unfortunately, practicing medicine in a post COVID era is very challenging. Everyone has an MD these days.

Not to get too much in a tangent but Blansky threw out some stats about the over prescribing of medication or the lack of holistic care.

The elephant in the room for us physicians is now everyone is a “doctor” and has prescriptive authority. What did they expect when they gave DOs, NPs, APNs, PAs, and any other mid level practitioner a license to prescribe along with a DEA number?


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[KathleenL]

Originally Posted by LobsterHunter

Prescribing statins solely on a total cholesterol number (which the OP indicated) is incredibly naive. You need to take a holistic look at the entire lipid panel and other indicators. What is the remnant cholesterol value? What is the triglycerides value? What is your LDL particle size? If your doctor recommends statins based solely on TC that is both incompetent and negligent. Find another doctor. Maybe you should quit while you are behind.

OK, analyze and discuss my lipid panel past results. I put a red arrow over 15 March 2018, because that panel was done when I was in the ER with chest pain. My RCA was 99% blocked and was stented by the early afternoon. I was put on Lipitor 40 mg, and when my blood was tested again less than 3 months later, the numbers had dropped so much that my dosage was reduced by half. I've been on 20 mg daily since then.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Rico_Brasole

Correct. Unfortunately, practicing medicine in a post COVID era is very challenging. Everyone has an MD these days.

Not to get too much in a tangent but Blansky threw out some stats about the over prescribing of medication or the lack of holistic care.

The elephant in the room for us physicians is now everyone is a “doctor” and has prescriptive authority. What did they expect when they gave DOs, NPs, APNs, PAs, and any other mid level practitioner a license to prescribe along with a DEA number?

And I'm sure it didn't help when the drug lobby got politicians to allow drug advertising on TV.

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by Blansky

And I'm sure it didn't help when the drug lobby got politicians to allow drug advertising on TV.

If you ever want to be shocked, Google the prices of the meds advertised during the evening network news. Prices to the uninsured patients regularly hit $25,000 to $200,000 a year in the US. Far less in other countries.

[Stan Cooper]

I'm eighty and have been on Pravastatin 80mg/day for over a decade without any side effects.

[GMT Life]

Statins are one of the most researched medications with ample safety data. Every medication has side effects, on the mild side statins can produce aches and on the high side in extremely rare cases they can cause a type of muscle breakdown.

In consultation with your physician you should use one of the approved risk calculators to give you some scientifically supported idea of your situation.

Also choose the statin that causes the biggest initial cholesterol reduction because whatever you achieve in that drop, you won't get again so make it count. Get an idea of what your doctor wants to target on lowering LDL-C and raising HDL-C.

Statins don't work the same in all groups. For example there is a different regimen in patients of Asian heritage.

[mjm700]

The analysis today is significantly more advanced than 5-10 years ago. A good doctor / cardiologist will run a comprehensive panel and look at a number of indicators in addition to HDL, LDL, TGL, etc. Then looks at family history and other factors. The CT angiogram is an easy, in and out test that takes minutes (but may not be covered by insurance) and can see where you are on any blockage/build up. Get all the data and make a call. Statins definitely work but are just one piece of the puzzle.

This is definitely an area where i feel fortunate to have good medical care and the ability to get proactive treatment given my family history and personal profile. Statins have played an important component in my approach, which has worked so far...