I was put on Lipitor for high cholesterol... Then I went for a dye test on my heart. The young fellow who did that dye test was a cardiologist who looked like he was just out of high school... Several other people were undergoing the same test on the day that I had mine... They were being told that they would need bypasses and that they were given stints etc., to ensure that they would continue living... My young doctor told me that my arteries were so clean that I didn’t even need to be on a statin and that I could discontinue the Lipitor prescription... I did discontinue it for about a year or so... But my cholesterol remained very high, so my regular doctor put me back on it.
Thankfully I’ve never had any side effects from taking Lipitor and I’ve never had any cardiac problems... But every now and then I wonder... Isn’t it possible that having high cholesterol isn’t exactly a guarantee that you’ll have a heart attack? Nobody in my family has ever had or died from a heart attack... Maybe your genetics have more to do with it than your cholesterol.
If Jim Fixx were alive, I guess we could ask him... His father died of a heart attach and he thought running and exercise would help him prevent one... It didn’t.
My cholesterol is 314...but I am not worried...my CRP is .71
Insulin resistance and inflammation are big factors, I believe.
What was your cholesterol reading??
When I was 60 - a doctor told me I had to go o statins for cholesterol.
I told him I thought my cholesterol was in good shape and he said that it was, but the heart association recommended the statins to males over 55 because they were the higher risk group. I told him I needed a more compelling reason to put that poison in my system - and reminded him that those on statins did not tend to live better/longer lives.
I’m now in my 70s - had an echocardiogram before starting radiation and chemo for esophageal cancer a few years ago and it showed “minimal plaque”. Talked with doctors about the earlier deal and they said that the statins were no longer being universally recommended for males over 55 because there was no evidence they did any real good except in the most severe cases....and even that was as much theory as fact.