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Treatment with Ezetrol is it safe?

Posted , 11 users are following.

jennifer17456
jennifer17456

I have taken Ezetrol for approximately 7 years having had considerable problems with statins and leg pain. 3 years ago I began to have sensations of heat and nerve pain in my legs . I was , a year later, sent to a neurologist but no determination of the cause was found. I also had a Doppler to assess the circulation, sent to a cardiologist who said it was normal. I thought the point of me seeing him was that the results were abnormal and were certainly very different from an earlier one at the time of the statins saga.I am now suffering pain in legs and the area of liver and a general malaise with some dizziness. This week I am to have a blood test to assess the liver function. I was never ill until the word Cholesterol came into my life and I have never been well since. There is plenty of information as time passes from Drs and other health care professionals who now seem prepared to stand and say that Cholesterol, statins and ezetimibe are not as they have been described to us. Cholesterol is necessary and statins and ezetimibe are questionable treatments.

1 like, 40 replies

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  • ian189
    ian189 jennifer17456

    Posted

    Hi Jenniferi suffer with Angina and Osteoarthritis the i suffer with all in my joints are unbearable so i went back to the doctor and told him i have endless sleepless nights so he priscribed me with Amitriptyline 25mg they are the best tablets i have ever taken i hardly have any pains at all during the day and night and never slept so well i also have a stair lift i couldnt climb the stairs without it now i can with ease these tablet are remarkable you can look up Amitriptyline on the internet dont worry about any side effects they discribe all i have is very minimum no problems at all hope this helps you . 
  • sankirk
    sankirk jennifer17456

    Posted

    Jennifer... Go on line and get the free YouTube videos with tag line "statin nation", If you're more interested rent the full length video. Pharma is trying to discredit the videos.... Now the line is, "statins are anti inflammatory" rather than its healthy to have a low cholesterol. High cholesterol is deadly IF someone has familial MONOZYGOTIC (not heterozygotic which many of us have) hyper cholesterol or several rare diseases.... Otherwise, it's not been proved to be the pathology the drug companies mythologize it is. Heterozygotic hypercholesterolimia is not the pathology BIG PHARMA tries to scare us about. And Statins are not benign....they can cause permanent damage. Pravastatin made me very ill for a month and I was so relieved to find the statistics re high cholesterol on "statin nation". Then all the scare tactics made me mad so I've been on this site ever since.

    Note... Find out from others if quitting the drug suddenly has negative consequences. Good luck

  • bill80656
    bill80656 jennifer17456

    Posted

    I too am made at big pharma and the doctors that have pushed these horrible drugs on me. I have been sending statin info to my cardiologists by email. Like "Statin Nation" and his response is "don't believe what you see on utube"! 

    He is just a medical dinosaur set in his old uniformed and archaic ways.

    When I was last in his office he was pushing statins on a new unsuspecting patient. I wanted to take the new patient aside and tell him to research the side.

    effects of statins and the whole BS regarding cholesterol as the cause of heart disease before he started to take them.

    I'm not see this MD dinosaur anymore to say the least. 

    One example of his ignorance and stupidity. I found out from my regular doc that I was prediabetic, I also was also having bad night sweats, terrible night leg cramps, and extreme muscle pain and weakness in one arm. I told my cardiologist this and that I was stopping the statins since research on the web told me that all those symtoms were caused by statins which I have come to find out was very true.(They are all gone now a year later, except that I still have pre-diabetes, which may never go away!) So I told him this and he looked at me and said, " I would rather have you die from diabetes than from a heart attack"!

    How crazy is that? I don't need to die from either. Cholesterol causing heart attacks is a myth.

    • jennifer17456
      jennifer17456 bill80656

      Posted

      I am entirely reading from the same page as you. However i did get off the statins much to my Drs disgust .His first reason for me staying on them was that they were a very good brand? His second was that it must be my blood pressure, his third that I had elevated sugar. In the end I threw them to the back of the cupboard and after 2 months when still not feeling good i was referred to a specialist who decided that I had been affected by the statin. I changed Dr and  have taking Ezetrol /ezetimibe for about 7 years and I am now having similar problems, At least this Dr is prepared to listen and to look into the situation. i am just surrised that they are unaware for the adverse comments from various sources.
    • pat11500
      pat11500 bill80656

      Posted

      Wow.. it is almost unbelievable that this happens ..I think a very good point was made on here recently regarding what the GP's themselves take for so called high cholesterol.. now that would be interesting.. must be some that take statins and experience side effects?
  • lee12629
    lee12629 jennifer17456

    Posted

    Hi,please look up nueropathy and statins. Burning,tingling pins and needles,numbness.
    • jennifer17456
      jennifer17456 lee12629

      Posted

      I am aware thanks, Lee but I am now taking ezetimibe which works differently and is supposed to be gentler on the system. It remains to be seen if this is the problem or whether there is some other reason for feeling more or less as I did with statins. I will update info if my blood tests show anything of interest.
    • lee12629
      lee12629 jennifer17456

      Posted

      I took simvistatin only 10 mg. Took 1 year for any symptoms. All my blood tests were normal,plus nerve tests etc. Had tingling in arms and hands,also legs. Feet burned and felt like needles were sticking the bottoms of my feet. I stopped the statin and after several years,no symptoms of that anymore.
    • sankirk
      sankirk jennifer17456

      Posted

      If you go off the med, it may take longer than 2 weeks to get rid of symptoms.  It took almost 4 weeks for me to feel better and even longer to really feel better.  I even got worse right after I stopped pravastin.....then gradually improved.  For some of us.... And I wonder if all, statins are toxic.  Maybe we who get the aches and flu-like symptoms are canaries in the coal mine...and statins may hurt everyone.  
    • jude65855
      jude65855 sankirk

      Posted

      Yep, I think it's entirely possible that the people who take them for years without experiencing any negative effects may have a lot going on under the surface that they don't know about and may discover down the track.

      Certainly those of us who do experience negative effects show a lot of variation:  for example, you mention flu like symptoms, which I never had on any of the statins and I began to feel better within a week of going off them.   The example I've given before on this forum is that on statins it took me two weeks to stack a 2 ton load of firewood:  a couple of months later and two weeks off the statins, it took me two DAYS to do exactly the same thing!   That convinced me, esp as I'd been assuming the exhaustion was because I have COPD, which can make you tired at times, but nothing like the utter exhaustion and weakness I experienced on statins.

  • jude65855
    jude65855 jennifer17456

    Posted

    I was prescribed Ezetimibe about 18 months ago after I told my then gp that I wouldn't take statins any more because I couldn't live with the negative effects.   When the same negative effects kicked in after less than a week I stopped taking it.

    Have you thought of just going off it for a couple of weeks and seeing if the negative effects reduce or vanish?   

    It seems you didn't have a heart attack so were the prescriptions only on the basis of "high bad cholesterol"?   

    • jennifer17456
      jennifer17456 jude65855

      Posted

      Hi Jude thanks for your response. I have not had a heart attack but was given Ezetrol after a bad reaction to statins. My total cholesterol was considered high but, when they show LDL and HDL seperately, my good cholesterol has been high. However they seem to go off the overall figure. I have tried stopping and after 3 weeks felt better but then I start feeling (stupidly) that I won't be able to justify this to my Dr. It is only now that I am feeling that I need to fight and stand my ground over what I take. When my leg pain started 3 years ago my first thought was not Ezetrol as I had been taking it for about 3 years although I have to say that I would have bouts of not feeling as well as I might but putting it down to age.I think that the leg pain may take longer to disappear.
    • pat11500
      pat11500 jennifer17456

      Posted

      Jennifer, I am so glad I decided not to take the Statins my GP gave me last week, after reading about all the awful side effects I know I have made the right decision. I have tweaked my diet and will have another blood test in 3 months, it will be interesting to see what my levels are then. What were your levels? 
    • jennifer17456
      jennifer17456 pat11500

      Posted

      My last test reading was 236mg/dL and my HDL was 72 mg/dL when they are looking for it to be at 45-65 so that I thought was good.

      ​Who sets these levels? Could it be the companies that make and sell them into the health systems?

    • jude65855
      jude65855 pat11500

      Posted

      For the benefit of the rest of us trying to manage cholesterol with diet, it'd be good if you could be more specific about what "tweaking" you've done .... please
    • jude65855
      jude65855 jennifer17456

      Posted

      Sorry, my response below was to pat, not to you:  I hate it when this site does that, it's very confusing!

      My responses to your post is that a couple of years ago I found some info on the internet stating that the level at which ldl is regarded as dangerous (& therefore needing medication, ie statins) was lowered back in (I think) the 70's or 80's by a US Committee which included a high representation of ..... guess what?  ...... drug companies.

      So I reckon you're right:  whether or not the change was justified and backed up by research I do not know ...

    • pat11500
      pat11500 jude65855

      Posted

      Cut out biscuits, crisps, cakes (not that I ate a lot of sugar anyway) eating more saturated fat as I understand this is now beneficial avacados, olive oil, eggs and will probably go organic.. less carbs.. I hope this helps :-) time will tell..
    • jude65855
      jude65855 pat11500

      Posted

      Thanks ... I don't agree about saturated fat being beneficial.    I know the meat industry says it's not harmful, but beneficial? 
    • pat11500
      pat11500 jude65855

      Posted

      Yes, I believe it to be so. Have you read any of the latest info? It might be worth your while as it (reportedly now) raises good cholesterol, which in turn lowers the bad.. of course it is a personal choice.
    • jude65855
      jude65855 pat11500

      Posted

      Thanks Pat, I'll research that, but I'll be having a very close look at who funded the research .. and yes, I am suspicious of a lot of research.

      For example, my cardiologist once told me I had to stop eating yoghurt bc latest research said it was dangerous for women who'd had heart attacks::  when I checked the internet it was one tiny study.   And I'm still eating yoghurt (low fat greek style), as I've done since long before it was trendy to do so.

    • jude65855
      jude65855 lee12629

      Posted

      That's what I thought:  I don't know where I'm supposed to get enough calcium in my diet, given that I cut right down on cheese ages ago bc of cholesterol issues and have been told that calcium supplements shouldn't be taken after a heart attack.    I do know some vegies contain calcium and I eat a lot of vegies but I'm definitely not giving up yoghurt!  I did give up the small containers of fruit yoghurt bc of the sugar content, but no-one will get my low fat greek yoghurt off me!
    • paul59051
      paul59051 pat11500

      Posted

      Hi Pat!  Hope you are doing well. Out of interest.  What was your total cholesterol at the time your Dr prescribed statins? In mmol/l if possible :-).

      I am a three time stent patient at 50 years with two heart attacks and have ankylosing spondylitis. Have taken statins and Ezetrol for on/off 25 years.  Am a cynic when it comes to doctors underplaying the side effects of statins.  There is definitely no evidence to show that women of any age who have not experienced a cardiovascular incident should statins as a preventive measure.  A good place to look at statin research or any other med for that matter is the Cochrane Librabry - they provide simple English summaries for lay people as well.

      Have been back on Ezetrol for 5 months now and wonder if it is not the cause for my present acute fatigue and muscle pain.

      Greetings from Cape Town

       

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