Statins..Anyone here have to take them?

[DaDoc]

A couple of weeks ago I had a bit of an episode with chest pain, wound up in the ER for several hours, and they recommended I have a stress test.

Did the test this morning and the doctor told me there was some abnormalties going on, most probably choresterol buildup in my arteries..No surprise there, I'm nearly 64 and my lifestyle has not always been the healthiest.

So I get a call from my doctor's office this afternoon and she wants me to come in later in the week, and I can pretty much predict what she's going to recommend-Statins.

She has already been on my case about taking them due to my bloodwork showing high "C" levels, but they're also supposed to be a bit risky to take..Unfortunately there's a severe lack of doctors around nowadays who are into natural methods of curing disease, it seems to be the norm these days to just prescribe the latest big pharma invention, then to counter the side effects with another drug, and then another..You get the picture.

Back in N.C. I had a really cool doctor who was open to natural and organic cures, but even if I had stayed back there he's retired now..And the new generation of doctors that are coming into the the medical "biz" nowadays seem to be all about nothing but chemicals and big pharma.

Don't get me wrong, if a conventional drug is going to be the only way I'm Ok with it, but the whole slippery slope of feeding people multiple drugs in a "Let's try this" scenario and then them having an adverse reaction to the cocktail they've been taking is scary..I've seen it happen, I nearly lost one of my best friends to that kind of crap recently, and so I tend to be really leery of the whole bit.

So, is there anyone here on these Statins? And if so, how are they working for you?

 

[anitoli]

You mean Simvastatin? I take that. For myself that hasn't caused me any issues that i am aware of but the blood pressure meds were/are a bitch.

 

[DaDoc]

You mean Simvastatin? I take that. For myself that hasn't caused me any issues that i am aware of but the blood pressure meds were/are a bitch.

Yeah, I'm already on high BP meds and they suck..And I'm REALLY reluctant to add anything else.

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

I would never take a Statin. Had a discussion with my Dr., and told him never to bring it up again. It's your health, and I'm not a doctor, so this is not medical advice, just my opinion. I came to the conclusion that there is more risk, and very little benefit. You can Google, talk to other medical professionals, or whatever.

My bad cholesterol was sky high, as were my Triglycerides. I cut out some bad foods, lost a little weight and my blood chemistry went from horrible, to normal. No medications at all.

 

[GregM]

Do your BP meds give you cramps? My Mrs is on them and like 4 out of 5 nights she wakes up crying with leg/feet cramps, and swears it's the BP meds
I have got her to drink more fluids and even have a hydrolite or gatorade at night but doesn't seem to work

 

[anitoli]

There have been times i got lazy and didn't pick up the statin refill and missed a few days and that didn't seem to cause any issues but man if i forget the BP med i will be hurtin.

 

[anitoli]

Do your BP meds give you cramps? My Mrs is on them and like 4 out of 5 nights she wakes up crying with leg/feet cramps, and swears it's the BP meds
I have got her to drink more fluids and even have a hydrolite or gatorade at night but doesn't seem to work

That may be a potassium issue. Low potassium can cause leg/feet cramping.

 

[anitoli]

I would never take a Statin. Had a discussion with my Dr., and told him never to bring it up again. It's your health, and I'm not a doctor, so this is not medical advice, just my opinion. I came to the conclusion that there is more risk, and very little benefit. You can Google, talk to other medical professionals, or whatever.

My bad cholesterol was sky high, as were my Triglycerides. I cut out some bad foods, lost a little weight and my blood chemistry went from horrible, to normal. No medications at all.

Yup i am effed up, i'll take this stain crap but not the covid vaccine...................

 

[Tiboy]

Good timing. I came from my cardiologist today. Last year he put me on the lowest dosage of Rosuvostatin. I’m not a fan of drugs, especially a lifetime of them. Rather than take it daily, I opted for 2x a week. I also switched to a Mediterranean diet lifestyle. I dropped about 10 lbs. The lipid numbers today are all in the normal range. How much of it is due to statin vs diet is unknown. My doc was more concerned about inflammation vs lipid numbers. I have a few MD friends in my social circle. They’re all taking statins. At least that tells me they are practicing what they preach. No known side effects, but my athletic performance seems to have dropped off. Today doc said stop the statins for a while and compare performance. He doesn’t think the statins are impacting my performance negatively, but also isn’t concerned about my temporary cessation of the statins. My normal resting heart rate is 43. My blood pressure today was 120 over 62. I’m told that’s good. I do cycling in excess of 7,000 miles per year and supplement that with about 150 days of weight lifting. I’m 5’10” and 165 lbs. I’m in my 60’s.

 

[mirrorman]

I have been taking a generic version of Lipitor (Atorvastatin) for several years, it has really helped my cholesterol levels.
The only somewhat negative side effect I've experienced is having VERY vivid dreams. They have given me some lyric material though, so not all bad.

 

[JP2036]

Statins cause hair loss.
Buyer beware.

 

[Scumback Speakers]

Statins are toxic for me, I nearly died from taking them six years ago. They had to put me on the cholesterol reduction med Repatha, the injection is twice a month. Got my cholesterol level down to 93 total, which is apparently optimal for those with heart disease in their gene pool.

Statins are ok for 60% of those who take them, others have issues, and those they affect the worst wind up like me, nearly dying of anaphylactic shock, twice.

I spent 16 months in bed recovering from that crap from July 2014 through October 2015. They have tests to determine if you're allergic to them, I STRONGLY recommend you get that done. I had to have a Berkley Blood Lab test to determine it.

 

[DaDoc]

Many thanks for all the replies!

I don't know exactly what the doc is going to want me to do yet, I guess I'll find out Thursday. Hell, for all I know she may want me to have a friggin' stint put in, but I doubt that..Like I said, she's already been pushing for me to take the statins, so I suspect my results will give her a "legit reason" for me to have to take them.

If that's what it takes to keep me from having a heart attack or stroke, cool. But at this point in my life I've lost both faith and trust in most of our established institutions, the latest being..Well, ya know, 'nuff said there..

But I lost trust in western medicine a long time ago. It treats symtoms of disease rather than the disease itself, and big pharma is all about profits over actually curing disease. Cured people=less profits..Cynical POV? Maybe. But I've lived long enough to see things as they really are rather than how we are so often told to see things by those who only want to either control us, or profit from us.

I was having a conversation with my next door neighbor a few days after my chest pain scare, who's a physical therapist. And he mentioned something I hadn't thought of before regarding the current generation of medical professionals..The medical schools they spend a number of years in are mostly funded by big pharma, and these institutions aren't going to do anything to piss off BP and possibly lose funding (Like study natural or alternatives cures) So it only goes to follow that they get sort of brainwashed into believing that everything connected with the industry is good for you, and everything else is snake oil.


We've been looking up natural methods of lowering bad c's, stuff like fish oil, olive oil, ect. Thanks Tiboy, for mentioning the Mediterranean diet, that's also something we're looking into.

 

[Tiboy]

I concur whole heartedly (pun intended) with your sentiments. Long gone is the practice of medicine. It is now the business of medicine. That means decisions are often made to further their bottom line vs my health needs.

 

[paul-e-mann]

The cure can be worse than the ailment, a friend with heart disease was put on a heart medicine with a slim chance of causing types of cancer, she was dead in a year from you guessed it, cancer not heart disease at age 50. Sickos whoever is pushing that kind of medicine....

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

@DaDoc Like your latest post. There's a lot to be said about diet, and eastern medicine. I have had terrible joints (like wrists and knees). Near crippling. (Long, bad story.) I started on Accupuncture about 18 months ago. It has helped a lot. Now, as of 6 weeks ago, I take an herbal supplement imported from the Far East, but extra purification and mixing done in Houston. Between Accupuncture and the supplement, 90% improvement. Best I've felt in 25 years. No "modern" meds involved.

I have a stepdaughter in college that has suffered from terrible acne. Of course, very hard on a teenage girl. She's been to several doctors, including multiple dermatologists. Nothing has worked, at all. Thousands spent. After 2 years of convincing, she now goes to Accupuncture and takes an herbal supplement. She's been going for only 6 weeks. Her acne is clearing up little by little, after 7 years of anguish about her appearance.

There's a lot more out there, as you have stated, than Big Pharma. Good luck to you sir!

 

[purpleplexi]

Atorvastatin has a worse record of side effects than symvastatin which has virtually none. I don't have high cholesterol and I don't take them. My wife had a scare and was prescribed atorvastatin. I don't let her take it.. Her cholesterol isn't that high anyway.

 

[Derek S]

My late/former boss was taking them but it was too little too late I guess, still died (heart attack @ 63) just 3 years after a quad bypass surgery and meds. But fwiw, they seemed to be helping him with no ill effects (what got him was overdoing it in his yard one day during 92 degree weather this past summer)...his numbers were all heading in the right directions, even his cardiologist had recently given him a big thumbs up and the go ahead to continue his exercising, etc, that's why it was such a shock when he suddenly dropped over. I even remember him bragging at work about how he hadn't felt that good in many years. Life can be cruel. He was always in poor health though (before his heart scan that revealed issues that led to his surgery and a new, better lifestyle), he never exercised, way overweight, smoked, etc, was just doomed from a life of poor habits.

On the brighter side of that story - when my boss died it was an eye opener for me. He had no symptoms, he just stumbled onto a groupon for a heart scan one day and jumped on it. That scan revealed heavy blockage, etc, he must've had surgery no more than a couple weeks after that scan. So I thought why not get one myself! I'm in extremely good shape, always been health conscious, run marathons, hell, right now at 52 I'm shredded...but I thought, you just never know, why not get the stress test and scan to be sure, lots of healthy folks drop over dead! After what happened to my friend and being nervous about a specific race I had coming up that was the most physically demanding thing I was ever going to do, I NEEDED that piece of mind from taking it loll. Thankfully my hunch was right and I aced the test and the scan was clean, no blockage, calcium levels at zero. Hell, I ran through stage 6 on the treadmill, doc said it was a pretty awesome feat, especially at my age.

 

[Tiboy]

My late/former boss was taking them but it was too little too late I guess, still died (heart attack @ 63) just 3 years after a quad bypass surgery and meds. But fwiw, they seemed to be helping him with no ill effects (what got him was overdoing it in his yard one day during 92 degree weather this past summer)...his numbers were all heading in the right directions, even his cardiologist had recently given him a big thumbs up and the go ahead to continue his exercising, etc, that's why it was such a shock when he suddenly dropped over. I even remember him bragging at work about how he hadn't felt that good in many years. Life can be cruel. He was always in poor health though (before his heart scan that revealed issues that led to his surgery and a new, better lifestyle), he never exercised, way overweight, smoked, etc, was just doomed from a life of poor habits.

On the brighter side of that story - when my boss died it was an eye opener for me. He had no symptoms, he just stumbled onto a groupon for a heart scan one day and jumped on it. That scan revealed heavy blockage, etc, he must've had surgery no more than a couple weeks after that scan. So I thought why not get one myself! I'm in extremely good shape, always been health conscious, run marathons, hell, right now at 52 I'm shredded...but I thought, you just never know, why not get the stress test and scan to be sure, lots of healthy folks drop over dead! After what happened to my friend and being nervous about a specific race I had coming up that was the most physically demanding thing I was ever going to do, I NEEDED that piece of mind from taking it loll. Thankfully my hunch was right and I aced the test and the scan was clean, no blockage, calcium levels at zero. Hell, I ran through stage 6 on the treadmill, doc said it was a pretty awesome feat, especially at my age.

Your part of the story is pretty awesome. Genetics are the key IMO. I’ve been a lifelong jock with my only vice being cigars. I, too, was off the charts in a good way on the treadmill test. However, my calcium score was 1,100 which started this process for me. This summer I did a bike climb with a super fit (former pro) cyclist buddy. At the top of the climb he fell over. He was dead before he hit the ground. Carpe diem!

 

[DaDoc]

Your part of the story is pretty awesome. Genetics are the key IMO. I’ve been a lifelong jock with my only vice being cigars. I, too, was off the charts in a good way on the treadmill test. However, my calcium score was 1,100 which started this process for me. This summer I did a bike climb with a super fit (former pro) cyclist buddy. At the top of the climb he fell over. He was dead before he hit the ground. Carpe diem!

Bummer. Sorry to hear about your buddy.

Well, I'm headed to the doctor's in a couple of hours, and I guess I'll see then what she's got in store for me..

Like I said , I suspect statins will be on the list..Or maybe something like more testing, or both.

We went to a nutrition center over in Bozeman yesterday, and I was very impressed with how knowledgeable they were there. Scored several chorlesterol-reducing supplements, along with a blood pressure reducing one. It seems that statins are also hard on one's liver (according to the nutritionist so are the supplements, for that matter) but at least with the supplements one can also take a different supplement to counteract that. I have a dodgy liver as well, due to both my wild and reckless lifestyle when I was younger and a bout with hepatitis C some years back. I'm cured of the hep C, and was told at the time that my liver damage due to the virus was minimal..Still, it's something to take into consideration.