It is better not to take drugs, since they have many side effects over a long period. If you cholesterol is too high, you should try diet and exercise first, if you can.
I have taken a low dose for about eight years. It has definitely helped control my cholesterol and I have had no side effects. My doctor has been treating me since the 80s. I have 100% confidence in him.
Ketogenic diet.
Cholesterol itself is not the problem, your body makes it.
if it was me, I would only take them long enough to get my cholesterol & LDL down. Then stop and follow the labs. Once they start going back up, I would restart and repeat.
My husband has a strong double dose of genetic lipid dysfunction. His diabetes is well controlled with atkins. First stent, age 47, a 5 way bypass less than 2 weeks ago.
He has had several heart attacks and lots of negative Teopinin and ekgs.
We delayed statins because he had serious pain.
Now, he is still recovering from having his chest opened.
Looking back.. maybe we should have tried differnt statins.
We are now.
He went from 1 stent 5 years ago to 6 blockages, 5 they could fix.
I havd 3 decades of healthcare exp, but you have to make up your mind, based on your family history.
He
Been using pravastatin for about 10 years. Works. No problems.
After 15 years of taking it..dropped it..my legs and feet feel normal again..and it’s only been 3 days since dropping. YMMV.
Lowering cholesterol is important.
I know some people are against taking cholesterol lowering drugs, but I think at least individual reactions vary.
My Mother took Lipitor for many years, no bad side effects.
Crestor is another good one, that I understand does not have bad side effects.
my doctor wanted me to take statins, triglycerides a little high one time,I changed my diet in 3 weeks everything perfect, changed doctors imo statins more harm than good statistics imo are misleading..
They worked well to get my cholesterol down, I needed to add fish oil (Rx grade) to get my triglycerides down. My HDL (good cholesterol) is as high as any my doctors have ever seen. My doctor said it’s genetic but I’m pretty sure it has climbed considerably over the years. I don’t think statin mfr make any claims about improving HDL, not sure.
I didn’t have any bad side effects as far as I know. I have a lot of health problems but, so far, I don’t think any are attributable to the statins.
I started off with Lipitor. It interfered with another med I was taking and have been taking Crestor for a few years.
Probably diet improvements and regular exercise will do more good (my doctors opinion also).
Take them, you’ll be fine. You won’t even notice any sort of side effects, IIRC. Don’t take them, you’ll be at higher risk.
I’ve been using generic Lipitor for 17 years with no side effects. Cholesterol level is 98 (not 198, 98).
Be sure to take CoQ10 to offset mitochondral stress due to the statin. Also, be alert to the risk of muscle and liver damage as a potential side effect.
Read the warning label all the way through before you decide.
Did he give a reason WHY? My wife was put on statins simply because her total cholesterol was 210. No other reason. “I want to see your total below 200.” She also suffered joint aches, stopped, and it took 2 years for the joint pain to go away.
But statins DO make sense for some people. So ask your doctor for a detailed explanation WHY.
BTW - Total cholesterol isn’t very predictive of anything. The devil is in the details.
I’m no doctor, but I’ve stayed at the Holiday Inn before.
I have a doctor friend I respect who thinks statins are generally good for people who need them, but not always.
My personal experience is that I’ve had high LDL, but also high HDL—a decent ratio. One of my doctors started me on a low dose statin. It dropped my LDL with no noticeable side effects. One day, I got a routine blood test and the doctor freaked out because my creatinine level has gotten much higher than normal. Creatinine is a muscle breakdown product. Now, I wasn’t too worried, because one of my kids had visited me, we went to the gym, and I kind of overdid it on the weights, which explained the creatinine. But I stopped the statin.
Then several years later, another doctor suggested I go back on the statins, but recommended a different one—and a minimal dose produced a fairly dramatic drop in LDL, with no noticeable side effects.
That seems like a good thing.
On the other hand, I had a friend who had statin-induced rhabdomylosis, which is why they test your creatinine. He was having statin-induced muscle breakdown.
Without knowing anything about your numbers (and I did stay at the Holiday Inn) I’d suggest that you consider the statins if your doctor recommends it, but only if he watches your blood tests for a few months to see that your tolerating it well, and how effective it is.