Prednisone and cholesterol

But can prednisone cause high cholestrol?

I know for sure Pred raises the level of sodium and glucose, do not know it does the same with the cholesterol .

Before the onset of my Temporal Arteritis, and before started taking Pred Ivwas taking Zicor for my cholesterol and med for blood pressure which goes up and down .

I may say those Meds do not interact with the Pred.

Stay well xxx

Please read Zocor. Sorry. Thank you.

Thank you

prednisone will cause high cholesterol, because natural cortisol is made from cholesterol in adrenaline glands. If you are not making your own cortisol and replacing it with artificial ( prednisone) there will be "extra" cholesterol in your blood stream.

What are your numbers? What is the ration between LDL and HDL? How much triglycerides you have? If your ratio LDL/HDL is less then 4, then I would not worry, because it is considered as negative factor for heart attack.

All my ratios are in the low range.

Cholesterol Ratios

In addition to these numbers, the results from the cholesterol blood test may also show a cholesterol ratio (or several). These ratios may include:Total/HDL ratio:

The goal is to keep this ratio below 5:1, with the ideal being below 3.5:1.

LDL/HDL ratio:

The goal is to keep this ratio below 5:1, with the ideal being below 3.5:1.

HDL/LDL ratio:

The goal is to keep the ratio above 0.3, with the ideal HDL/LDL ratio being above 0.4.

For instance, the ratio of HDL/LDL looks at the ratio of good cholesterol (HDL) to bad cholesterol (LDL). The ratio is determined by dividing the LDL cholesterol into the HDL cholesterol. For example, if a person has an HDL cholesterol of 50 mg/dL and an LDL cholesterol of 150 mg/dL, the HDL/LDL ratio would be 0.33. The goal is to keep the ratio above 0.3, with the ideal HDL/LDL ratio being above 0.4.- See more at: http://www.cardiachealth.org/your-cholesterol#sthash.wP8YJZIS.dpuf

I was in the opposite position - the preds seem?  to reduce/contain my cholesterol levels.  I was never that high (6.5) so was not prescribed satins but did review my diet on my GP’s advice, which helped - this was all pre PMR. 

It might be that I had reduced my calorie input because of inactivity in the early days of PMR, and on my next check-up my cholesterol had dropped to 4.5. 

I’m at 3 mg of preds at the moment, and I am a lot more active and have found myself eating better as well! (Including possibly at lot more calories!).  I’m due for another cholesterol check-up shortly so will see what the results are then.

I have not had a cardiac problem and am reluctant to take statins as i have such sensitivity to meds. I am doing well and almost off pred the last 2- 1.5 mg. Thank you for your response.

When I took the statin I only took it for just over a week. i had been in hospital and left in no pain and able to walk well on crutches ( I had achilles tendon and back problems at the time). Within a week I could barely walk up a slight slope 50 yards long and felt awful - both aspects improved when I stopped the statin but it took quite a long time to feel back to normal (months, not weeks).

Nothing would induce me to try another and I would always suggest to someone else to try diet and exercise first. One of the very common side effects with most statins is muscle and joint pain - as if we didn't have enough of those! Simvastatin is felt to be by far the worst culprit but in my case it was atorvastatin/Lipitor.

There is a statins forum on this site and there are some very interesting comments.

Hi Carol,

I hesitate to get into the discussion because I have no experience with high cholesterol or statins but I do have an opinion. I, personally, would stay off of statins unless I were convinced otherwise as I've heard of many long-term bad effects.

I would encourage you to get the book The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer. It's about a lot more than how to lose weight. The book covers a great deal of research on the health benefits of intermittent fasting. One of the benefits is lowered cholesterol. I've been fasting about 2 (non-consecutive) days a week and I feel good doing it. You actually eat 500 calories on your fasting days and it's much easier than I ever expected. I've lost 10 pounds rather easily doing this, even while on prednisone. 

I recently jumped from 1 mg to 7.5 mg as I had a flare and, this time, want to be at 100% (which I am at 7.5—yeah!) before doing DSANS to go back down. Yesterday was my first day fasting at 7.5 and it went fine.

Good luck going the last 1.5!

I have done my homework on this one and you have confirmed what i have found out.When I first told my dr about my pain her first question was are you on statins, this was before my PMR diagnosis so I am already wary of them. I would like to try another approach as I am VERY sensitive to drugs I had a terrible time with prednisone. Sometimes as they say the cure can be worse than the disease. Thank you for your imput

Statins are not dangerous~!  for every million patients on statins, 30,000 coronary events are avoided at the cost of 1 case of rabdomyolitis.  And we now know (this is new) that they are powerful anti-inflammatories as well, which may be one reason they work so well.  

We are not talking of rhabodomyolitis which is fairly rare. We are talking about PMR or PMR-type symptoms being triggered by statins which is not - about 1 in 10 patients on statins develop such symptoms overall and in some studies as many as 30%.

This report:

Effect of Statins on Skeletal Muscle: Exercise, Myopathy, and Muscle Outcomes by Beth A. Parker, Ph.D and Paul D. Thompson

says

"The reported incidence of myalgia during therapy with the more powerful statins has varied from 1% in pharmaceutical company reports to 25%  of patients. It is impossible to discern the true incidence of mild muscle complaints because these problems typically are not examined in pharmaceutical sponsored trials and because of study design."

Strange how pharmaceutical company reports only quote 1% isn't it?

The same report goes on to say

"Recent clinical reports, however, have confirmed clinicians’ suspicions that statins frequently produce muscle symptoms. Among 7924 patients treated with high dose statins, 11% developed muscle symptoms, 4% had symptoms severe enough to interfere with daily activities, and 0.4% were actually confined to bed with their symptoms."

If those are the rates amongst otherwise muscle healthy patient and I already require management of a myalgic condition - I think it is fair to say I have no real desire to risk it becoming even worse.

Many complaints go unreported but here in the US you can report it yourself to the FDA. so I think that the incidence of it is probably much higher,switching drugs can sometimes be the answer. I would rather try a diet approach first.

Hello

My husband who is In a lot of pain has had two heart attacks after an op took place to remove his gallbladder, this took place 6 weeks after a serious gallblader infection. that nearly killed him. He tried statins after a triple bypass 15 yrs ago but ended up back in hospital very ill with the side effects of statins. He then went on a diet of no high carbs ie only meat and veg, no fruit , potatoes, pasta etc. his cholesterol level is below 5. He only takes one tablet for his blood pressure. So why the need for more drug companies to benefit ?

Adverse events can also be reported in the UK - using the yellow card scheme and doctors, pharmacists and patients can all use it. Unfortunately, patients tend not to know about it or that they can also report and doctors are often under the impression that it is for new, unknown events. It is the yellow card reports once a drug has been launched onto the market that establish the true incidence of any such events - the pharma companies are very good at fudging such results. I know, I used to work in the market research industry for clinical research - I heard what the doctors said and saw what the companies said. Really not always the same!

Exactly - must try harder and see if I can get mine down that low!