HAS ANYONE BEEN PRECRIBED STATINS FOLLOWING STROKE

A Cod Liver / Fish Oil supplement would increase the availability of what are thought to be the most beneficial fractions

House - thank you for that very fast response. I'm a believer in fish oil but I rely on portions of oily fish several times a week. A professor in nutrition in London has recently published an article advising that a couple of portions of oily fish a week are better than taking the supplements, saying that a very large daily dose of the supplement is needed to provide the same benefit. However, if someone doesn't like oily fish then I guess the fish oil supplement is better than nothing.

I'm really just questioning the need for the statins and whether it's safe for my son to have that low a cholesterol reading. If it really does protect from having another stroke, then fine but the medics do seem to be pushing the statins at everyone these days.

Many thanks again for replying.

Next time your son is due a test tell him to have a fry up beforehand I take Clopidogrel and Statins myself and to be honest I don't give all this Cholesterol business a second thought

Ah but how low is your cholesterol reading?

I dunno,, I'm not too bothered

Fair enough! Keep well.

Just had a stroke a week ago. I'm now on clopidogrel and atorvastatin. Apparently, the hypercholesterolaemia is hereditary so I can't lower it much just by altering my diet, which is good anyway (plenty of fibre and monounsaturated fats, etc.).

Hello Zoe

I'm so sorry to hear about your very recent stroke and I do hope you haven't suffered any long term side effects. It sounds as though you might not have been aware of your previous high cholesterol and therefore not treated in time. I hope the clopidogrel and atorvastatin will now keep you safe and well. My son takes clopidogrel and simvastatin. Take care and best wishes.

According to my medical textbooks the minimum safe total cholesterol is 3.9. We need cholesterol for building cell walls. Mine is hovering around 4 (I had a stroke in March), so I'm happy to be on statins.

Medical textbooks that I have checked recently say that total cholesterol should be no less than 3.9. I think your son would therefore be regarded as a borderline case for statins. May I suggest that you ask your GP to refer him to a dietitian who can suggest alternative ways to keep his cholesterol down? Some doctors recommend Benecol products (or similar) when only a small reduction in cholesterol is required. On average, these products reduce total cholesterol by 10-15%, which may be enough to bring the total to 3.9-4.0 but they should not but used with statins unless the doctor has deliberately reduced the dose to try to eliminate unpleasant side-effects.

As regards diet, remember that mono-unsaturated fats have a positive effect whereas polyunsaturates are simply not harmful. Therefore a diet high in mono-unsaturated fats is a good way to tackle high cholesterol. The best sources are rapeseed oil (which can legally contain some mustard seed oil as the two plants are apt to hybridise in the wild), olive oil and just about any nut oils but the latter tend to be expensive.

Thank you Zoe. Yes it does concern me that my son's cholesterol is being kept low - it was reading about 5 at the time of the stroke so not really high but I gather that prescribing statins alongside the blood thinning medication to keep the cholesterol very low is standard procedure following a stroke.

Hi I suffered a stroke just before Christmas and have been prescribed Atorvastatin 40mg ,cholesterol now 3.5

clopidogrel, ramipril 5mg & sertraline 50mg

Testing Cholestrol is part of TIA and stroke incidents as it is said high cholesterol is a high risk factor for TIA's and strokes, if your laboratory standards are the same as ours (Australia) 4 - 4.5 is normal for a male and doesn't warrant treatment,(USA labarotory numbers differ from ours) High trigylcerides is another matter. I have had 2 suspected TIA's and was prescribed Clopidogrel and they wanted to put me on a statin but I can't tolerate them, I have what they call familial Cholestrol.they also test your blood sugars every 2 hours when a stroke is suspected

New studies have "apparently" been shown that it's not linked to heart disease and the likes,some experts even go to the extent of saying as there is "no such thing as cholesterol " I read this somewhere ,where I don't remember and it was also on several of our morning tv shows recently...the new studies into cholesterol ans what they had discovered.