Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Who needs statins?

I have taken Simvastatin for 15 yrs. now with no side effects.

Odd response. Odd since at no time did I ask advise from anyone. Personal stories and opinions are just part of normal human conversation.

There is no drug to my knowledge (and knowing a lot about a lot of them was my job) that is not a double edge sword, generally speaking. Too much of any drug (and for some, not much) is a poison.

They are prescribed based on indications from knowledge garnered from R&D, experience, and bias. But you are the consumer and there never has been more accessibility to info on drugs. Read, get different opinions, but ultimately you decide.

I’m not damning drugs at all by not praising them. Some, in many cases are lifesavers, but probably not all most of the time.

I’ll hazard an opinion that in my forty-year career, most are probably over-prescribed. Generally.

I was allergic to Statins. After a heart attack in 2012 and two stints, my doctor put me on Preluent. An epipen type injection in your stomach or leg. My cholestrol went from the 250 range to about 135-140. No more heart blockages. I also have type II diabetes. I've kept it under control by avoiding sweets and carbs as much as possible. Cutting carbs I've lost about 30 or more lbs.

There have been no side effects from Preluent. My doctor said when you are growing and a kid up until about 20 you produce and enzyme that eliminates cholestrol. Then 30 years later you are stopped up. This med is just a reintroduction of the enzyme. So there is no side effects, except maybe an infection from an unclean injection point.

Unless you have good insurance you might have to think about Preluent. It is about $800 a month if you have to pay for it. Medicare does cover it in their drug plan.

My understanding is statins flat work and lower total cholesterol...why feel like ass and lower good cholesterol with statins?

Doctor's have also been prescribing Metformin to lower blood glucose levels, the symptom of diabetes...why are doctors treating the symptom rather than the disease?

I am having difficulty trusting doctors, especially internal medicine.

I’ve been on Pravastatin for 11 years since the
Stroke. No Ill effects.

"I'm given that because of my type 2 diabetes. They say it is to prevent heart disease."

How old are you and do you take insulin shots? Excess insulin in your blood inflames your artery walls and LDL attaches to the damaged areas to protect them. It's just not logical to me that if your LDL level is lower it won't attach to damaged arteries. LDL does exactly what it is supposed to do. Ask your Doc to explain why some people with high cholesterol have cardiovascular disease and some don't. Then ask him where you can find the research that backs up his answer. I don't think there is any research because it might hurt drug sales.

Over 30 years ago (I was 43) my Doc told me I had high cholesterol and prescribed Lipitor. My cholesterol levels stayed EXACTLY the same even after trying several different statins. At the time I was in good shape and very muscular from lifting weights every other day and running 3 eight minutes miles every other day. I couldn't take any of the statin drugs he prescribed because of extreme fatigue, Lipitor was by far the worst.

Today I'm 76 still muscular and healthy while all my friends that are still alive and taking statin drugs are physical wrecks because they just sit on their asses all the time waiting to die. They're inactive because the statin drugs make them tired. They're afraid to stop taking Statin drugs because they believe their Doc knows what's best for them. My eye Doc has a research magazine in his lobby that I read when I go in for an exam twice a year. I read some research on statin drugs w/a daily baby aspirin the conclusions were that there is no benefits from taking them after age 70. The statin drugs are not going to unclog your arteries and a daily baby aspirin increases the chances of a brain bleed (what killed my Father at age 70). I do keep a bottle of full strength aspirin on my night stand in case I suspect I'm having a stroke.

Atorvastatin

Some here don't comprehend the pure fuggin torture that stuff inflicts on some of us.

I don't think my doctor comprehends it.

It ain't a life , just a fuggin miserable existence.


Mike

46, high cholesterol. Everything else is perfect; blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. Atorvastatin kicked my butt. Switched to Rosuvastatin (Crestor) and its not too bad, definitely manageable. Been getting blood tested every three months for two years. I've experimented on my own. Rosuvastatin drives down my cholesterol no matter the diet. I quit taking it and ate a very strict low cholesterol diet, however Cholesterol shot right back up. Got back on it and ate bad intentionally, cholesterol went right back down. In summary, diet doesn't see to effect my cholesterol
and Rosuvastatin drives it down easily. Must be hereditary

Sam,

My wife and I had a hunting trip planned to Africa in 2002. I was 40, she 39. We decided to have physicals and a trust written before we headed out. I felt great, was active (not like working a ranch...) and found my BP at 190/90 IIRC. I had no idea. On meds then, an old school pill and a water pill. When I retired 4 1/2 years ago by medicated BP dropped. When I stopped eating sugar and carbs 6 months ago my BP dipped too low. So I am off the water pill and with another 20 pounds I will likely be off meds. Cholesterol has always been fine.

Pravastatin and rosuvastatin are water soluble. Atorvastatin and simvastatin are fat soluble. In my experience, the water soluable ones are much better tolerated.

The first commercially available statin was Mevacor that was derived from the same fungus that is used to make red yeast rice. RYR is not the best option.

Mine is only 5mg of Crestor, It did take longer for these symptoms to come on, but they did.

I got a stent in my LDA at 44. Fairly important tube!


https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronary-heart-disease
Left main coronary artery (LMCA). The left main coronary artery supplies blood to the left side of the heart muscle (the left ventricle and left atrium). The left main coronary artery divides into branches:

The left anterior descending artery branches off the left coronary artery and supplies blood to the front of the left side of the heart.


Statins keep the bad cholesterol in check. Eat perfectly would help. Over an $80000 trip it was too. Been told genetics contributes strongly.


Anyways, hate to see something controllable, NOT controlled. Get in there.

Shaman and others-thanks for your input here. I've been on Atorvastatin for over four years now and have one heck of a time keeping my blood sugar in check. I'm going to talk to my heart dr. about all this ASAP.

If one wants to lower the bad stuff just eat a 1/4 cup of walnuts a day.

It sounds simple but it works.

One needs to change their lifestyle if they want to change what got them there.

It's been 14 years and the bad things that frightened my Doc are lower than the base line.

It don't taste bad either.

Yep,same thing

If they make muscles hurt it's because they are destroying your muscle tissue. Not good. I rec you talk to your doc about your case and a good pharmacist about it in general.

I wouldnt stay on any which did that.

I had the quad bypass (open heart) at 45....

+2

Tried them all with the same effect of severe muscle pains in the legs and total fatigue most of the time. Live longer with the statins ? and their pain, or shorter by not taking them and having a livable lifestyle. Not a difficult choice for me. GW

Dang.... Good results apparently. Congrats.