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Refusing to take statins. What can my doctor do?

Posted , 24 users are following.

Tafia43
Tafia43

Hi,

Having read a lot about statins, the very high numbers needed to treat and the harm they can do, I told my doctor I did not wish to take them. We almost ended up by arguing as she dismissed my concerns and insisted that her advice is that I should take them. Mu current level is 7.3.

I showed her research which showed the numbers needed to treat (NNT) for statin use in those who have not been diagnosed as having heart disease is between 50 and 250; I showed her a pro-statin study which said if 1000 patients were statinised for 5 years, just 18 events of cardiac disease would be avoided. The study hailed that as a success!

Still she repeated her advice. I asked if I still refused would she have me exception reported as a non-complier and she shrugged which I took to mean 'yes'.

My previous doctor, now retired, understood my reluctance to take statins and the reasons for it and didn't push them onto me. It seems that the new doctor is now bullying me into taking her advice to take statins.

Blood tests have all shown my liver to be functioning as it should and yet the new doctor told that if I take the statins I must have another test to ensure they are not damaging my liver, a known possible side effect!

Given the huge controversy around statin use, can anyone tell me where I stand if I still refuse to take the doctors advice? Can she kick me off her list at a surgery where I have been a patient for 70 years?

4 likes, 53 replies

53 Replies

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  • graham_j
    graham_j Tafia43

    Posted

    Hi i had the same thing yesterday went to doctors due to tingling feeling in my feet and hands /// iust turned 50 male  2 stents on clopidrolo ..bsoprolo..asprin..and the dreaded evil  sinostatins brother avistatatin which  i have  NOT taken  for 4 weeks due to its side effects,,WELL this doctor went absoulty nuts with me and it nearly got to the point that I was going to  chuck  him out the window rude and dictating saying you will die etc etc and praising these drugs so i suggested him taking it WHY would itake these i dont have a heart condition like you: nor did i till having the stents and the bad information that you lot got me on was my reply ..

    But i feel  better with out the aches the pains in hip can sleep very well so i will take my chances ..I feel very sorry for the elderly who may live on there own and now have this drug thrust on them  its not right and you must stand by your actions your body tells you when something is not right and if you dont want them do not take them... 

    • loxie
      loxie graham_j

      Posted

      A friend recommended an e-book to read - I googled it and the lengthy synopsis of the contents make very interesting reading alone, before even reading the whole book: "The Cholesterol myths: Exposing the fallacy that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease" by Uffe Ravnskov MD PhD.  All the comments are things my mother and grandmother seemed to know inherently and they lived into their 90's.  My great great grandmother died at 102.  My generation are the ones who get sick and we're all forced into the 'low fat is God' mentality!  Reminds me of the 30 stone person ordering two meals in McDonalds and getting irate because they'd run out of diet coke......I rest my case.
    • EileenH
      EileenH loxie

      Posted

      It is accepted that reducing carbs is an effective way to reduce cholesterol. I'm on prednisolone for a rheumatism/arthritis, only option to manage it, and I had put on weight and cholesterol was high. Atorvastatin almost had me in a wheelchair in 10 days of half dose. I haven't had what they describe as a "cardiac event" says the cardiologist and she was quite accepting of the refusal to take it - I offered to try another because not all as bad a simvastatin which can CAUSE the rheumatism I have anyway.

      To cut the story short: after 18 months of a very low carb diet I had lost 30lbs in weight and my cholesterol was just into normal range. It was only "just" into normal range because my HDL (the so-called "good" cholesterol) is very high. They like that. No statins.

    • karen87871
      karen87871 graham_j

      Posted

      Hi Graham, I'm a 53 year old I had a small stroke in November, hyde consultant said my cholesterol was 3.4 border high, they want me to get it to 2, they put me on 80mg arvostatins , and clopidogrel, I rang GP the other day and said I ache like a 90 year old, I too have tingling in hands and now my feet going up my legs, I have had my first blood results today, they better be good as I have been very good not having cheese, cakes biccys, crisps etc, eating oats a nd cinnamon and honey, no salt, bla bla, I really don't want to take these although they have dropped to 40mg, if my bloods are good I don't think I'll bother, Do it my self on alternatives x
    • loxie
      loxie karen87871

      Posted

      Whilst I am not a doctor nor do I have any formal medical knowledge - even following a stroke, a reading of 3.4 is very close to the modern definition of 'normal'.  Not quite sure why your doctor wants it as low as 2, as this really is an abnormally low level and is depriving your body of its natural resources.  It's only in very recent times that a level as low as 3 was determined, previously it was higher - cant remember exactly but probably over 4 and up to around 5.  A lot of us are not convinced this is anything other than very powerful influence and marketing strategies by the drug companies rather than as a result of definitive research showing the ACTUAL health benefits.  Can your GP state unequivocably that your stroke was purely down to cholesterol levels? I think probably not, its usually a combination of factors, of which high LDL can play a part but realistically 3.4 is NOT high even for someone with stroke history.  If taking the statins is making you ill, my informal and non qualified advice is for heaven's sake stop immediately and maintain a healthy lifestyle which will lessen your stress and aid your route to keeping cholesterol at 'healthy' levels.
    • karen87871
      karen87871 loxie

      Posted

      Hi Loxie you have just answered my head questions, was speaking to a freind of mine she is 5 years older than me and her level is 5.4 doctor said that's not high, getting it down to 2 has been hard work, don't even know if I've achieved it, don't like the stattins, and it's not proven it caused the stroke xxx
    • loxie
      loxie karen87871

      Posted

      Hi Karen.  Obviously different aims apply to those with differing medical history.  Those without any previous history of stroke or heart incidents can probably aim for a higher level and those with, a lower level is needed to prevent recurrence.  Still think 2 is abnormally low.  The body needs cholesterol, its keeping the LDL and HDL at the right balance thats important.  I had a reading of 9, the doctor actually stated 'youre a stroke waiting to happen' (quote).  I was so shocked that I took statins without question thinking I was lucky to be able to save my life.  Within three months of taking them I was so ill and at one point unable to move, I ended up in A&E and it was the ER staff who said it was down to the statins, I hadn't known that and my GP hadn't told me.  I have not taken them for three years and not once has my GP bothered to ask if either I'm still taking them or offer a cholesterol test or a liver enzyme test - for all they know I'm now dying of liver failure ! hopeless situation.  I have tried to keep my lifestyle as healthy as possible, I eat all the right foods, I exercise as much as possible (I have severe OA so exercise is limited to certain activity only) and I guess I'm always going to be at risk of a heart or vascular problem but I had to make a decision that I couldnt live so disabled as I was whilst taking statins.  Catch 22 situation and obviously not the route everyone should take but I made an informed decision for my own situation.  
    • derek76
      derek76 loxie

      Posted

      Is your GP still giving you repeat prescriptions for Statins?

      He would have had a report from the hospital on their findings. Did our discharge letter mention the statin effects? 

  • peter07641
    peter07641 Tafia43

    Posted

    I am a bit late joining this thread but it's interesting.  I've been on Simvastatin for many years and no real effects except sleep disturbance. A few months ago I noticed that my prescription had been changed to Atorvastatin instead. I didn't give it much thought but now I'm getting muscle joint pains and what I can only describe as 'fragile' skin with a loss of sensation, almost waxy. Having read up on it, I see that there is a contraindication with Sivastatin and Amplodopine which I take for blood pressure. That's presumably why it was changed from Sivastatin to Atorvastatin. I have decided to have a statin holiday and I stopped taking them about 10 days ago. The muscle pains are slowly going, but it's a bit early to say. The skin rashes have decreased and the sensation is coming back. The reading up suggests that Cholesterol is extremely important, so important that the body recycles it via the liver, rather than getting rid of it via the kidneys. It seems that a high level indicates that some cell repair work is going on and so it's high for a reason. Is this another case of doctors treating symptoms and not causes. Could it be that people with high Cholesterol have an underlying arterial call condition from which they eventually die and that the high Cholesterol is in fact not something that should be automatically lowered, but investigated. I have an appointment with the doctor today, so I'll see what his reaction is to stopping them.
    • EileenH
      EileenH peter07641

      Posted

      I think it is fair to say that statins DO do SOMETHING that reduces cardiac risk  in "repeat offenders" - i.e. someone who has already had an event taking statins is probably at reduced risk of a second. But I don't believe that it is the reduction in cholesterol that does it, that is a side effect of the statins and they have an effect somewhere else that hasn't been identified. And there I think lies the problem - they started the "bad cholesterol" story and have invested so much in it they can't back out now. The rehabilitation of eggs hasn't been trumpeted anything like as loudly as the story in the first place telling us we shouldn't eat them has it?
  • sherry98083
    sherry98083 Tafia43

    Posted

    Over the years my cholesterol would go up, my doctor was hot to put me on a statin and then I would lose 10 pounds and my cholesterol was fine. It is frightening to me to see doctors so eager to put patients on a drug with such terrible side effects. Recently I have seen law suit commercials for women that develped Diabeties while on a statin drug. OMG!
    • wayne1962
      wayne1962 sherry98083

      Posted

      Tafia43 - I hope you have fired that doctor and got one who will listen to your concerns and act accordingly. It is outrageous that a doctor will punish a patient who stands up for him/herself. We are supposed to live by our own decisions and not the decisions of others.

      Sherry98083, I hope you have resisted your doctor's eagerness to introduce this dangerous drug into your life. Doctors world-wide have developed a tendancy to prescribe statins for any little blip that might affect the heart - even to patients whose cholesterol is fine (it should be noted that cholesterol production in the liver increases as we age - it is perfectly natural.) Cholesterol levels can be modulated with diet and exercise.

      Loxie, who posts constantly and shares vital info and advise, I feel and share your rage at what is being done to the lives of vulnerable and ailing people.

    • loxie
      loxie wayne1962

      Posted

      Thanks Wayne.  I am still astounded that so many doctors are insisting that statins have little or no ill effect and still 'toe the party line' repeating the official version that we, the patient, are ill informed and aren't in possession of the 'facts'.  The facts are that too many people's lives are being adversely affected by these drugs - unnecessarily.  I have no doubt that in some cases, statins may well be a life saver - but blanket prescribing to those who do not need them and should NOT be taking them is plain and simply wrong!  Too often drug companies develop a money spinning 'wonder drug' (think thalidomide) that definitely has benefits but has sufficient dangers that they should only be prescribed under caution - the whole issue with statins is the dreadful refusal by GPs and prescribing professionals to ignore the pharmaceutical company funded propoganda and use their skill and judgement to only prescribe when absolutely necessary - AND to listen to their patients, which they uniformly do not!
  • mimi68911
    mimi68911 Tafia43

    Posted

    Tafia- The following excerpts might also be helpful: 

    Dr. Agatston: Almost all people who have had a heart attack should be on a statin. Those who do not have established heart disease, but who have a family history of heart disease or any conventional cardiac risk factors (high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, smoking), should have a CT heart scan for a calcium score if they are men over age 40 or women over the age of 50. This test will let them know if they are accumulating plaque in their coronary arteries and are at risk for a future heart attack. 

    The presence of plaque on a heart scan is a much better predictor than cholesterol levels of who is destined for a heart attack. 

    Each of us has our own level of cholesterol where it builds up in our vessel walls, causing the atherosclerotic plaque that can lead to a heart attack. If plaque is present, your cholesterol is too high for you and a statin is likely indicated. 

    That said, there are many individuals with very high cholesterol levels who don’t have plaque and who do not need to be treated with a statin.

    “A prudent person will look at the risk and give statins to most everyone that’s had a heart attack, stint, or bypass,” Dr. Nissen says. “But in primary preventative care, the patient has to have to have a sufficient risk so that the benefits outweigh the modest but real risks,” which also include a slight uptick in diabetes.

     

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