Posted on 09/24/2022 1:02:19 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
I was prescribed Hydrochlorothiazide for my blood pressure, for at least 30 years which could have been the cause of my diabetes. No one else in my family (parents and three siblings) was ever diagnosed with diabetes, and none of them were prescribed a diuretic or statin drug. I have also been taking Pravastatin and beta blockers for my blood pressure and cholesterol for many years, which may explain why my blood sugar hasn't changed at all, despite my having lost that much weight. I still have to take those medications. I eat twice a day, and limit my carb and sugar intake. If my blood sugar gets down to 84 or below, I begin to experience hypoglycemic symptoms. I guess I should be grateful that I haven't had to use insulin at this point in my life. I have outlived the rest of my family. I was the baby. They all smoked, I didn't. Three died of lung cancer. My only brother died of a massive heart attack at 51. My last sister, the oldest, died in 2014 at the age of 74. I am the only one to have made it to 75. No guarantees that I'll see 76.
I’m with you. Although, my diabetes is caused by hydrocortisone, I have to take it because of my liver failure. I’ve never been obese until now. The looks I get from being fat and in a wheelchair gets me depressed. And it isn’t my fault. I have a gene that has caused it.
With your medicines, can you shift some to likely better options? For instance, calcium channel blockers and ARBs are preferred now over beta blockers and diuretics, partly due to side effects. ARBs are even better than ACE-Inhibitors.
With the Pravastatin (came out in 1980), newer statins, still about the same price, have fewer side effects. One cholesterol lowering medicine, Zetia (Ezetimibe), even gets rid of statin’s side effects, by not being a statin. That one appears to be $12 a month with GoodRX.
Consider talking with your doctor about improving your medicines. With your weight loss, you might find you can do a lot better.
Statins are snake oil. Cholesterol numbers are easily gamed over a three day period and cholesterol deposits are a symptom of heart disease, not a cause.
Also, at the advice of a Physician's Assistant at my Cardiologist's office, he took me off the Pravastatin, and put me on Atorvastatin. I only see the Cardiologist once a year, and that's for sonograms on my carotid arteries and heart. Last year, the heart murmur I have had for years disappeared, and they attributed that to the loss of weight. The Cardiologist prescribes no medication for me. This year I didn't get to see him, but saw his P.A. for the first time, and two weeks later that office called wanting to change my statin medication. I told them I wasn't going to take any new medication from someone I see only once a year, and told them the P.A. would have to talk to my Endocrinologist first since he also serves as my family doctor, and prescribes all my medications for me. He eventually approved the change, and within six days of starting the Atorvastatin, my urine had turned dark orange, and I began having very bad side effects...weakness, fatigue, severe joint pain. I called my doctor's office. He had me come in and had blood drawn. Everything they tested me for was either too high, or too low. My kidney and liver enzymes were out of sight. The day after I had the blood work done, I woke up sweating profusely, had the shakes, my heart was racing, and I had a pain in my left shoulder that ran down to my hand. I drove myself to the emergency room. They did all sorts of tests, and CAT scans, and told me to stop taking the Atorvastatin, and the Lisinopril/Hydrochlorothiazide. It took several weeks for my system to get rid of that crap, and start feeling normal again. I'm back on the Pravastatin and plain Lisinopril without any issues.
A month earlier, my doctor had prescribed Fosamax for the Osteoporosis in my right hip. Years ago, when I was going through my change, and because a bone density test showed Osteopenia, my Gynecologist prescribed Actonel. I took it for quite a while until blood work showed my liver enzymes were very high. They did a sonogram on my liver because they thought I had liver cancer, which I didn't. They told me to stop taking the Actonel because it was the reason my liver enzymes were out of kilter. When I learned that Fosamax and Actonel have the same drug ingredients and drug classification, I stopped taking it, as it is quite possible that it, along with the Atorvastatin, was also contributing to the high liver enzymes.
After I stopped taking the Actonel, my Gynecologist put me on Calcitonin, a nasal spray, which I used for quite a while without any problems. She also had me on calcium supplements. At some point, after having blood work done, it showed my calcium levels were very high, and I was told to stop using the Calcitonin and taking the calcium supplements. I was diagnosed with an overactive parathyroid. My calcium levels remain high to this day.
My Endocrinologist is retiring in December. I'll be seeing him next month for the last time, then another Endocrinologist will be replacing him. I now have to find another family doctor. They provided me with a list of doctors to contact. They're all at the same medical center.
Also consider the non-statin I mentioned, and bring these up with your doctor
And an ARB and Calcium-channel blocker can do great for blood pressure, and won't have anywhere near the side effects of your current high blood pressure medicines. My wife takes telmisartan and amlodipine, because I did the research and those two allowed the best overall impact with no side effects of any note. Telmisartan had just come off patent three years earlier and her doctor didn't know that and was fine with prescribing these two.
How bad is your cholesterol and do you have any known plaques in your cardiovascular system?
Cholesterol has been good. Only mild plaque in carotids...no change since 2015 when I first started being tested.
The reason one's pancreas can no longer do its job is microscopic fat cells in the organs and muscles, mostly due to animal fat but also vegetable oils (fat) in one's diet.
Look up lipotoxicity and diabetes.
Blood glucose levels that stay high is merely the symptom of a dysfunctional pancreas that can no longer cope.
If you stopped your statin, what would your cholesterol shoot up to?
I wonder if you need a statin, at all. You can keep plaques down, even reverse them, by diet and supplements, if not getting exercise.
We have to have 1,000 to 1,500 mg of cholesterol a day from food, or we have to make it in our liver. We need cholesterol in our brain, and just about every other place in our body.
If you want a supplement with a quick reversal of plaques, look into Arterosil, now available on Amazon.
During the time period when I went off the Atorvastatin, to the time my doctor put me back on the Pravastatin, both my good and bad cholesterol shot up a lot. My good cholesterol has always been within normal range when I was on Pravastatin. My bad cholesterol was just slightly over the normal range. I go for fasting blood work before each appointment with him. My next fasting bloodwork next month will show the new numbers after being back on the Pravastatin for a couple of months.
I appreciate your advice, but I don't do over the counter supplements of any kind unless my doctor prescribes them, and he never has. Other than the Calcium supplements I took years ago as directed by my Gynecologist, none of my other doctors have ever told me to take supplements of any kind. I take several other medications for various health issues, and won't fool around with experimenting with supplements that may adversely interact with my prescription medications, especially after having experienced adverse reactions from some of the prescription medications I have been prescribed over the years. Supplements can kill people too, as well as prescription meds.
My journey started at 265 and now at 175 which is my running weight when I was in college.
Thank you. It’s hard to trust medicine and medical providers when sickness = profits and health = losses.
I went to an endocrinologist a couple weeks ago. He asked why I wasn’t on a statin. I told him my total cholesterol was 110, what my cardiologist called WNL - within normal limits. He prescribed me one anyway. It’s sitting here on my desk. I don’t want it.
110 isn't a big deal, so I can understand your reluctance to take it. Everybody's body is different. I know when something isn't right with my body. Sometimes you have to diagnose yourself, rather than trust a doctor's advice.
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