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CQ10 isn't a magic bullet for statin side effects:  all it does is replace some of the enzyme depleted by the statin.   I took it for the last 6 months I was on statins and it didn't make that much difference, except maybe it helped clear my mind enough for me to stop taking statins altogether!

Ken, I cannot emphasise it enough. Check your food intake and cut out sugar. There is a link between statins and diabetes. I have statins induced myopathy and stomach problems and all of the above except muscle pain. I have been much better of late and then ate a doughnut! Result back to squre one. That is the effect sugar has. Cut down on anything else white as well and see if there is a difference. Don't forget the CQ10!

Thanks for the advice Leajayse, does that include things like rice and pasta? I'm honestly considering just ditching the statins and taking my chances, the heart attack didn't feel as bad as I do at the moment!!😀

I did make that decision about a year ago, feeling I"d rather risk another heart attack than live in pain and depression and lethargy without even a sex drive to compensate!

 

Hi Ken. Good advice from Leajayse - 'hidden' sugars are the culprits a lot of the time.  As they've said, cut out 'white' - ie white sugar, white bread, white flour in pastries, cakes, etc., which are mostly starch and have very little nutritional benefit.  Aim for complex carbs rather than refined ones.  The body takes a lot longer to digest and process them and the added benefit is you feel fuller for longer, so generally eat less and dont feel like snacking on unhealthy food. Carbs seem to get bad press but the body needs carbohydrates, just the 'right' ones.  Refined carbs.  The other thing to ensure is you get enough of the right fat in your diet.  Unfortunately for those of us with high cholesterol that is familial (hereditary) in origin, diet doesn't always play a major role in cause/effect but we're always told fat is bad.  It isn't.  The body needs fat - and cholesterol - particularly for good brain function.  It just needs to be the right type of fat:

Unsaturated fats of which there are two types, namely polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat. These types of fats can actually reduce cholesterol levels and provide us with the essential fatty acids that the body needs.

Polyunsaturated fat. These two fatty acids are ‘essential’ because they cannot be made in the body and have to be provided by the diet.

Omega-6 polyunsaturates are mainly found in vegetable oils. Omega 6 fats reduce ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol, but too much may also reduce the ‘good’ HDL cholesterol.2

Omega-3 polyunsaturates have now been shown to be particularly important in preventing heart disease and strokes. One of the ways these fatty acids are thought to be beneficial, is by making the blood thinner They also seem to protect the heart against abnormal heart beats (arrhythmias) and help reduce triglyceride levels.3 Good sources are oily fish, as well as nuts and seeds, and their oils such as soya and walnut.

I got told by my GP that my diet was generally healthy and I wouldn't lower my cholesterol by changing it and thus only statins would help.  This turned out to be the worst advice I ever believed!   I became very very ill on statins but stupidly I hadnt researched beforehand and didn't know why I was becoming so ill.  Now I DO know and I wouldn't give statins to my worst enemy!  I have changed my diet, only marginally nothing drastic and I have no signs of vascular ill health.  My cholesterol level was at 9 - in the words of my doctor 'youre a stroke waiting to happen'.  I haven't had it tested again - I dont want to know.  I want to feel healthy is all and I do.  I personallly would rather take the risk than be permanently disabled.  I have no shortage of breath, can climb stairs, etc., and no chest pains.  I still have muscle issues and as some others have said, didnt find Co-enzyme Q10 of any use in that respect.  I take curcumin - a natural anti-inflammatory found in turmeric and this I find excellent for inflammatory pain.  I do now have fibromyalgia and have to cope with this as best as I can, taking occasional paracetamol for the pain.  The only other thing I take is low dose (75mg) aspirin.  Hope some of this helps.

sorry, typo - in para 1 I typed 'refined carbs' when talking about 'the right carbs' - this should have read NOT refined carbs. I'm old AND blonde

I just remembered another point about reducing cholesterol by diet - I was told by a very senior consultant to avoid products marketed to reduce cholesterol at all costs - eg spreads like flora etc., yoghurt drinks like benecol and so on, as these are mostly omega 6 fats as they reduce all cholesterol, not just LDL the bad one but also HDL the good one and HDL is critically essential for the body and should never be reduced.

I was told that at pulmonary rehab a couple of years ago.  I suppose the manufacturers get away with it by stating that the product "lowers cholesterol" and not specifying it lowers good as well as bad .... ah those sneaky capitalists!   

I can't help wondering if the "epidemic" of dementia isn't only to do with an ageing population but also because so many older people are on statins and reducing good cholesterol as well as bad.    Some doctors prescribe it as a "precaution" to people who don't even test with high cholesterol, I knew a few older people who've just accepted the doctor's recommendations on this without question.   

I'm all for quality of life rather than quantity myself

I so agree Jude.  I was stupid, I admit it.  I blindly believed and followed my GP's advice re statins without doing my own research first.  I know differently now and I am to be honest totally horrified by the wealth of information about statins and the destruction they cause - particularly one very eminent piece of research into Alzheimers which shockingly discovered that many sufferers had cholesterol levels below 3.  Given that NICE insists doctors prescribe statins to get cholesterol down to near that level, even as you say in people who dont currently have 'high' cholesterol, if that stupidity continues we're looking at a future of an older generation all suffering dementia.  Very scary.  I thank the Lord for forums like this where people like yourself who have taken the trouble to find out the true facts can share with others and protect them from misinformation from the medical profession.

Hey, enough with calling yourself names!  We've all been brought up to revere doctors and trust them totally, I'm lucky I'm a stroppy old bitch who's always asked lots of questions her whole life.

I'd be thanking the humans who set it up and contibute to this forum, but to each their own ......   It is great isn't it?   Sometimes I get a bit tired of all the repitition as new people come in asking the same questions but I was one of them once so I accept that's just part of being on an open forum like this.

I'm on the cataracts one too but it's not as helpful because the medical responses seem to vary incredibly from country to country, unlike the statins where the whole world or at least the affluent countries are now full of people suffering or taking them when not necessary.

It's going to be a HUGE scandal one day with class actions and enquiries:  I hope I live long enough to see the companies brought to account as has happened in the past, eg with thalidomide and asbestos and tobacco, but it'll take a while I fear and some public spirited lawyers.

Coincidentally I was in a conversation about previous scandals such as thalidomide just recently.  I was arguing that this is the same as that.  Drug company funding pushing a wonder drug that had horrendous side effects.  Statins have the propensity to be just as devastating, maybe not to all but to a high enough proportion to warrant serious investigations into what is now ridiculous over prescribing.  The bottom line is that they are cheap to produce because all the costly research has stopped (unfortunately) and if still on patent are expensive to buy so big profit margins.  Money talks eh.  Are all doctors so gullible to brainwashing?

If you're interested in the history of the thalidomide scandal, there's a fairly new Australian book called "Silent Shock", which covers the history of the drug and the companies who marketed it and the Australian legal cases, focussing on one particular family.

The German private company which actually produced it had links to concentration camp exterminations .....  it's really worth a read if you can get hold of it.

Doctors are human and to give most of them the benefit of the doubt, their training teaches them to trust drug companies and they sometimes don't have time to research every new drug:  however, this doesn't excuse their ignorance about statin's negative effects now that so many people have experienced and reported them.    

Don't eat either for a week and then try one and then wait for the reaction. If nothing try the other. It's a case of trial and error. Limit your fruit intake as well as that contains sugar. There's sugar in a lot of food so check tins and packages. I also take Omega 3 and one magnesium capsule (will give you the runs) I also eat Weight Watchers bread but not white.Also watch the milk intake (sugar) I stopped taking statins after a few weeks and look what I finished up with! It can be controlled but you have to work at it. Research!