Cholesterol and statins

[rotorplod]

I have a cholesterol level of 6.0, with 1.59 HDL and 3.59 LDL. I want to get it down as I have a family history of heart disease. I am worried about the side effects of long term use of statins(especially muscle waste). Can anyone advise or offer personal knowledge?

[Bad medicine]

Rotorplod,

There has been a lot written on statins in this forom. Try a search like this one: http://www.pprune.org/forums/search.php?searchid=273623

Cheers,

BM

[scanscanscan]

If you are worried....Go ask to talk talk to a senior cardio consultant at your NHS hospital.
Probably cost you around £80 for 20 mins advice but they do talk quickly!
If you shut up and listen and are good value if you actually follow their advice!
If you live near Norwich Norfolk England I can recommend mine who can well sort pilots fears!!

[Rainboe]

I have been taking Statins since they were made OTT (I think for a couple of years). I have noticed no 'muscle waste'. I have been going to a gym for the last couple of years at least a couple of times a week with a personal trainer and indeed I am more concerned about getting a physique like Sylvester Stallone! You should take them- the OTT is a low dose- try it for a few months, get exercising or jogging gently, and I think the problem will go away. My cholesterol has gone from the top level of normal to normal normal. I'm told the effect on plaque is extraordinary. If you are over 50 and health minded, you should be on it. Chemists will sell you Zocor if your Doc won't give a prescription- don't pay more than £10 for a months supply (even that is robbery), and if you can, get it in the Far East.

[kluge]

The side effects can be nasty over and above muscle wastage. It depends on the statin. I started on Lipitor - my LDL/HDL improved slightly. After a year the qwack put me on Crestor. LDL/HDL improved but the side effects - massive muscle ache, creaking joints getting outof bed in the morning etc. Didn't affect flight status though.
Anyway moved back on Lipitor and Coenzyme Q10 which is supposed to counter the aches and potential muscle loss (never experienced this). Still some creaking in the morning but that's now probably due to excercise !

Although I need a statin at 40yo the biggest contributor to reduced LDL/HDL is change of diet and excercise. Well at least in my case. That and the eradication of alcohol and cheese, butter. I'm working to get thr levels down so I can reduce the Lipitor to arond 5mg a day - at present it is 20mg as my levels were way high !! BTW I am also hypertensive which is linked.

[scanscanscan]

There is a whole lot of stuff about statins and Q10 et all on the internet....and immediately after my heart attack in June 2004 I went there big time seeking information.
I then drove my consultant nuts with questions on my medication and heart condition. Basically I now suspected he might be a Quack!!
He said most people do read up on their condition....and he was glad I did not also read the Daily Mail!
I recently (at a heart department fund raising) had the opportunity to talk socially and at lenght to several other heart consultants both male and female....I can assure you they as proffessionals know exactly what is written on the internet...the good... the bad.... and the ugly.
As a result of this mass enlightenment talk in I now simply follow my NHS consultants advice and take his medication....and feel fine...it includes Simva statin 40 mg daily...sure sometimes I have all over body muscle achs in the evenings if I get cold and immobile but it soon goes away if I move around...a small price to pay I feel for Cholesterol of 3.6 and BP of 140/80 at 66years old. I also walk the Lab 5 miles every morning and only have 20% arterial blockage with no chest pain.
They tell me my bloods showed I had a massive heart attack...the good news was the para medic doctor who got a clot buster drug into me (which actually worked and did the business) at 23.30 hours one Sunday night..90mins after the attack. Boy oh Boy was I glad to see him!
Prevention is better than the experiance and everyone should know their numbers and risk to prevent their event. And how is the pain on a scale of 1 to 10 sir? You all can do without that.

[kluge]

Wow - some experience. As you say prevention is better than cure.

Re the arterial blockage a check now recommended for 40yo males onward (annually) is an EBT scan (Electron Beam Tomography). Fundamentally what this checks for is calcium deposits on arterial walls as this has been identified as a precursor to a cardiac arrest later in life. Any deposits can be reduced with diet and lifestyle. Again prevention is better than cure.

What surprised me was how all of this came within the space of two years - hypertension, cholesterol etc. The important thing is DO NOT IGNORE IT. Most of these conditions are genetic and you can do zip about that. What you can do is learn about the conditions and then do something about it, controlled medication, excercise and lifestyle changes. To not do anything about it when you know (and because there are no symptoms most people ignore the condition) is stupid. The 'silent killer' I believe it is called.

Re the comments on 'qwacks' - my respects to the medics on this thread. I loathe medicals.

[Blacksheep]

History: Heart attack at age 44. Double Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts. BP 190/110. Total Cholesterol 6.2.

Doc put me on B.P. lowering medication and brought it down to 130/80 where its remained for the past 15 years. Went on low fat, low sodium diet as well. Lowering saturated fat intake to around 30 gms/day had no effect on cholesterol levels. Further reduction to 16 gms/day also had no effect. The effect on weight was dramatic though - I dropped from 74 kgs to just 64 kgs. Doc eventually said "Look, the diet isn't working. You'll disappear altogether soon. You'll have to go on statins." As an initial dose I was put on 10 mgs of 'Lipitor' and within two weeks total Cholesterol was down to 5.2. A month later it was 4.8, where it has remained ever since. Doc does liver function checks every four months but nothing has showed up.

No muscle loss, odd aches and pains, creaking joints etc. - may be due to side effects, but more likely just middle age. The message is plain. For some people diet works. For others, its genetic and statins are the only way.

Evidence suggests that one very effective way to reduce B.P. and Total Cholesterol levels is to have a fatal myocardial infarction. This achieves levels of zero within a short time of death. :uhoh:

I prefer the statins. :ok: