Back on the painful statin treadmill again
Posted , 10 users are following.
Hi and I'm so happy to be back in this forum. I was very active here but then after becoming statin free I stopped checking in. Now a couple years later the doctors are putting me through the statin 'experiments' again. Recently had an excruciating shot of 'Repatha' which produced the very next morning the most devastating back pain I've ever experienced and I was supposed to take the next shot two weeks after which of course I didnt do. So now they're trying me on Resuvistatin and after one pill at only 5 mg. I'm noticing various aches and pains in my body so I've ceased taking that one for now.
Anyway just very glad to be back with kindred spirits on this great forum which deserves far more participants than it has !
0 likes, 14 replies
TrishaT diane98246
Posted
Why on earth are you consenting to these things, one is just as bad as the other? The doctor can't force them on you, it is your choice so if they are having bad side effects then refuse to take them.
Martyn7469 TrishaT
Posted
I agree 100% with Trisha.
You do not have to use any of them - your diet is very important - I have changed mine (not significantly - as I believe in living life and not being a food hermit)
I have tried many of these Statins and I am back on Atorvastatin . I take them every other day, as opposed to daily
In the past I have had 4 TIA, the last on some 6 years ago was a stroke and this is when I was prescribed statins
Apart from numbness in my left hand's fingers I have completely recovered
I get my Cholesterol checked very regularly it is around 5 level which my Doctor (who is now a good friend) is happy with
I realise that you are worried about your aches, pains etc; but worrying about them is the stress that you must get away from.
It is easy for others to tell you not to worry, but try to get out and do something different
I wish you well
Leajayse diane98246
Posted
I agree with Trisha. How high is your cholesterol? There are alternatives to statins and why inflict this on your self.?
Lea
diane98246 Leajayse
Posted
Thank you Lea and my cholesterol number is high enough to be pretty scary so I wont let them tell me the exact number. All my life I have towed the line with diet and have at times even forced an extremely limited diet on myself in the name of 'good health'. Now I'm 74 and I am done with special diets and eat what I want. The other half of that equation is that I must accept the possibility that I will die earlier as a result of not disciplining myself. But what the heck my parents generation didnt even know cholesterol existed; they just passed on when it was their time, which is what I will be doing.
jimmy_66290 diane98246
Posted
Diane, there are indeed alternatives to statin. I have written a longer reply but is not published. I don't take statins and have opted for a low carb diet - lots of greens, veg, fruit, fish, chicken, nuts and moderate levels of exercise.
diane98246 jimmy_66290
Posted
Thank you Jimmy - very thoughtful of you to reply and I wish you the very best with your intelligent alternative to what is, in my mind, a very dangerous line of drugs.
jen86183 diane98246
Posted
Diane,
If you became statin free why would you take them again? According to doctors everyone's body is identical hence they decide everyone's cholesterol should be identical doh!
Cholesterol is an important bodily function which goes up and down, individual to everyone, some high, some low. Only 25% comes from food 75% is made by the liver, you can work out yourself that if you artificially lower it, the liver has to work harder to try and make more. I really believe by stopping a natural function you are damaging the body. Some doctors are waking up to the cholesterol lie.
Make up your own mind, don't be bullied by anyone.
loxie diane98246
Posted
Flush the statins and never go near them again. My husband recently had a heart attack (May 1st) and just last week had quadruple bypass surgery. He had three major arteries involved plus a branch. One artery was 95% blocked. His cholesterol was only moderately high before hand and did not warrant a statin prescription. Since the attack in May he has been on high dose statins and became so ill they even cancelled one booked surgery date. The symptoms were NOT angina or arterial - he had chronic pain throughout his body, funnily enough not in his chest, he had nausea, vertigo, breathlessness and cognitive issues. I insisted he visit the GP, who took him off one statin but was adamant he try another type. Even after his surgery, with all arteries now working perfectly, his stomach problems, breathlessness and thought haziness persist - I am 100% sure it is due to the statins as none of the symptoms bear any relation to those which we were already told to expect post surgery. Once he's improving and has been seen by the cardiac nurse, if he doesnt voluntarily stop the statins I will flush them down the drain myself - cholesterol was never the cause of his arterial problems so why reduce it to below normal - it's now at 2.7 which I believe is unhealthily low and will result in liver and cognitive damage if he continues taking them.
mrbob84 loxie
Posted
I echo the remarks about cognitive problems. Learned from my chiropractor - not my cardiologist, whose only comment in the 2 years I saw him afterward was that "all drugs have side effects" - that your brain needs a certain amount of cholesterol to function properly; lowering it below normal causes a very patchy memory. I had perfect numbers both before and after my non-cholesterol related heart surgery in 2012, but was put on them JIC, as is done routinely with all heart patients. My numbers went down by a full 1/3 when on them.
I co-operated blindly at first, but after a few months got suspicious. I took myself on and off them for several months and kept track, and while the statins they had me on were definitely effective in lowering my numbers, in the same breath they also interrupting the continuity of my memory, causing it to become very patchy as to what it would be able to recall. At one point when on them, I could not remember my account number at a bank where I had had that account for 25 years, a number that had always rolled off my tongue before.
That was when I got alarmed and started doing research and found them being soundly warned against by America's FDA - Food and Drug Admin - and by articles from Johns Hopkins and other very high echelon publications. Just Google it.
My memory has mostly come back, but I still need to take Focus Factor to help, which fortunately I can get very cheaply from my membership store. If I don't, I am constantly drawing a blank when it comes to recalling people's names. I am still not sure what it is that I am not remembering. How would I know?
If you do take them, be sure and supplement the CoQ10 depletion they cause, and get it replaced in your body every day.
Never again. They are poison.
wayne1962 diane98246
Posted
Hi Diane - after i dumped the statins, the docs moaned and groaned. then they suggested Ezetrol which reacts to cholesterol in the gut - which didn't make sense to me as my diet is excellent and 75% of cholesterol is produced by the liver. After 3 days i broke out in a rash, and after 6 I had digestive probs and their attempt to get me back on statins saw the inside of a bin. never again. We are being conned.
jimmy_66290 diane98246
Posted
Diane I have been in the drug development industry for over 2 decades managing complex programmes including toxicology and clinical evaluation, and statins are a class of drugs I would not advocate particularly because there other nutritional and life changes that can dramatically alternative lipid prolife in a person within 3-4 weeks of implementing the changes. My suggestion to anyone advised to take statins is first look at a ketogenic diet which essentially involves low carb, moderate protein and high fibre and 'good' fats (nuts, oily fish, avocado, cream, butter, eggs etc) with lots of fresh fruit (as opposed to dried), particularly the berries. Also cut out sugar - certainly excess amounts found in cookies, biscuits, cakes. I still eat chocolate but the dark variety 85% or above. This together with a sensible excercise plan such 35-40 mins walking every (2-3 miles) such tackle the high cholesterol and triglyceride issue. The only time statins may help is when an individual has a genetic predisposition to manufacture excessive amount fat. I hope this helps. Jimmy
diane98246 jimmy_66290
Posted
Jimmy thank you for taking the time to prepare this informational reply. I have taken certain parts of it and placed them in a notes section of my computer. Some of the suggestions however do not fit for me at my advanced age and with my health profile. I do walk but not as rigorously or as often as you suggest.
People of an advanced age such as myself have often accepted the idea that they will pass on when it's their time, and they are no longer willing to take what feels like heroic measures to prolong their life. We just want to enjoy the time we have and eliminate the discipline we enforced on ourselves when we were younger. I have always been a very disciplined person and the amount of walking I did per day exceeded two miles. I was also very disciplined with my diet - often eliminating carbs of any kind altogether and depriving myself of foods I loved for the sake of my "numbers" (cholesterol, weight, etc.).
So I recognize the wisdom of your suggestions.
loxie diane98246
Posted
Hi Diane. I have familial high cholesterol (ie inherited) even though for many years my diet has been very healthy, I'm a vegetarian and eat all the right things. However diet alone has never been the answer. I have always also had normal BP and normal blood sugar - it was just the cholesterol that was high. I got prescribed statins some years ago before I knew anything about them and suffered horrendous problems - none of which would my doctor accept were caused by statins so in the end I just took the view I would rather die early than live in such pain and distress. My husband recently had a heart attack and needed multiple bypass surgery as a result of having at least three - four blocked arteries. His cholesterol was never high (he too is vegetarian) but he does have a family history of arterial disease and high BP. He has now been prescribed statins automatically and is suffering the same horrible problems I did. I flushed my statins many years ago and have since continued reading about alternatives. Couple of things work for me - might be worth trying - I take supplements which include phytosterols (originally I got them as they also contained saw palmetto to help with hair loss but had the added benefit of helping my cholesterol). I also made a point of trying to find out whether my overall high level (last tested at 9) was made up of just high LDL or whether my HDL was also high, as I found out the differential is the most important thing and also whether my triglycerides were out of line rather than just my overall cholesterol reading. I found it amazing how difficult it was to get my doctor to explain properly once I'd refused to take statins anymore - I was just treated like a 'problem' patient. Very exasperating. I also take Niacin (vit B3) - caution though, as it doesnt mix well with some other medications. A secondary benefit of taking Niacin is that it has helped considerably with my arthritis.
jimmy_66290 diane98246
Posted
Diane, I appreciate adhering to a good nutritional diet and regular exercise can be difficult as one ages and also expensive. Organic and fresh food is not cheap in UK. Since the FDA have removed their restriction on Cholesterol limits, the new approach is that one limit does not fit all. This is based on good published research showing that certain people groups such as the Inuits who eat a lot of fat and protein from wild animals have high cholesterol levels but very low heart disease among them. The Swiss were also shown to high levels of cholesterol in general but low levels of heart disease. On the contrary one study quoted by Dr Arturo Volpe, showed that Russian's had low levels of cholesterol but high incident of heart disease. Therefore, the simplistic view that Cholesterol is a key causative agent of heart disease is being challenged by the scientific community. In my view I have never believed this to be accurate or based upon good unequivocal clinical test results. Since, research is on going, I would suggest you eat what like but avoid sugar, processed meat (formed meat) and excessive amount of carbohydrates, particular anything made from processed flour. And as suggested by another responder take necessary supplements in particular consider taking CoQ10 which is depleted in those who take statins (but please read about it), magnesium (citrate form is better for absorption) for muscular health and finally Vit C in the form kiwi fruit....one a day supplies your daily intake. I would not bother taking Ascorbic acid because it is not the whole Vit C molecule and quite frankly does not give huge benefits. Magnesium is a key element that is deficient in great proportion of the our population. Good health to you. Jimmy