statins

I have take statins and ramril (blood pressure tabs) for approx. 10 yrs.with no side effects that I can think of.

5 months ago I stopped taking both, the reason! I couldn't afford the prescriptions.

I am due to have a cardio health check in July, fasting blood test, blood pressure etc etc ..I will be curious to see the results, I am ! expecting my cholesterol to be high(it was only 5.2 when they put me on the simvastin)

I have been checking my blood pressure at different times during the week and it has been normal, up and down sometimes but nothing out of the ordinary.

There is provision for help towards paying for prescriptions where necessary biker - www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcosts/Pages/Prescriptioncosts.aspx

I too have an overall level which is on the high side (5.8) but the "good" cholesterol makes up the majority of the figure so no-one is worried about it.

One of the GPs in our practice is very anti-statins except in the most extreme cases; he is also anti screening for anything as well, believing that more pathology is caused by false positives generating unnecessary interventions.

Granjura, how can liver function tests tell you whether statins are the cause?
You could be taking four different medications all of which can affect liver function tests.

biker; could you buy the yearly prescription prepayment certificate which means if you needed anything else [eg antibiotics] you would get that included? I know it's a lot of money upfront but it's worth it if, for example, they keep changing the strength of your medication to get it right.Failing that, I'm sure that, if you told your GP you had a problem paying for them he/she would give you a prescription for two months supply to halve the cost. I was amazed to see the other day that prescriptions are now over £8 each.

That was one of the questions that the prospective Labour leaders were asked. You would have failed, Tegan, like the one asked did. He thought it was £7.60.
I would just say no idea because I do not pay.

I have taken Simvastatin for several years with no side effects. There is heart attack risk in my family and as I have had Type 2 diabetes for the last 3 years my risk of heart attack or stroke increases. My diabetes is extremely well controlled and my cholesterol is now very low partly due to the medication. All medication carries some risk but my other risk I consider to be higher and I want to live as long as possible with my children and grandchildren so think I am happy to continue with the medication. You all have to make your own choice but if you stop taking something you really should let your GP know, they are not psychic.

I can only speak from my own experience of using Statins as adviced by my GP.

I took them for about 6 months but had memory loss issues I didn't associate this with this drug until my DIL sent me a study which had been done which said that memory loss is one of the side effects.

I went back to see my GP who said immediately that unfortunateley some patients do suffer from memory loss. He did a memory test and took me of the drug straight away..

I personnelly would never ever touch the drug again because I thought I was suffering from the beginnings of Dementure.

My cholestral was high and I also have high blood presure, prediabetes and heart valve desease and through diet I have reduced my cholestral to 5.1 from 6.4, I'm also keeping some control in the prediabetes unfortunately I am still on a low dose for my high blood pressure.

What ever anyone says to you it's your decision but at least you know the side effects I didn't.

DH is going to ask his GP to come off statins for a few months. His cholesterol has dropped to 2.8 (from 4.9 on statins alone) since we altered his diet and we feel we may be able to control it by diet alone. He was pre-diabetic but now his blood glucose is well under control too.

If people, like Jeanie and DH are able to control these conditions through diet and exercise then that is the way forward, but if not then medication ought to be considered.

As someone else said, it's a case of balancing risk.

I used to have a yearly 'season ticket' for prescriptions before I reached 60 - it was £10 by Direct Debit so you don't have to pay it all up front and that covers all prescriptions so its a very good deal.

Anya your husbands cholestral is exceptionally low how have you achieved this with diet, I thought I had done well getting mine down to 5.1.
I would be very interested to know.

Jeanie check out the thread called 'Support and ideas for those on low-carb diet' and it's all in there.

I was sceptical at first, then did some googling around the subject. I didn't especially need to follow this as my blood sugar, BP and cholesterol were fine (5.4) but I didn't think it fair to ask DH to change his eating habits while I didn't.

The upshot is I'm fitting into size 12 jeans again and my cholesterol has dropped too (4.78)

Thanks Anya. I'll also have a look.

www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/statins-the-cochrane-review/

This is a long but balanced article about the benefits of statins in primary prevention (ie people with no history of vascular disease but some risk factors)

1000 people have to be treated to prevent one death is the take home message.
Doctors are divided in their opinions as to how to interpret the data(ieshould statins be used for primary prevention or not.

So the use of statins is controversial even among the medical profession for people WITH LOW RISK but slighlty raised cholesterol.

However for those with high risk factors, be it Diabetes or familial history, history of previous strokes or heart attacks, etc- they are truly life savers.

My real concern is that the above may decide not to take statins due to the controversy re low risk and general use of statins for over 50s or 60s (which I've already said is just OTT)- and suffer catastrophic consequences. Tragic, really- and I have witnessed the results in many of our friends and family.

Mishap yes I looked at the article, but my budget just wont' allow, I have had to start paying tv licence since DH left this world, we got it free as he was 0ver 75. Teegan I tried that but it didn't work, asked very very nicely if I could have at least 2 months but just got the one month, but!! apparently when I go on Jobseekers I think I may be entitled to free perscritions(if they havnt moved the goalpost by then) also I will be eligible in October when I am 60 but will I!! if now the pension age has changed I really don't know! and another thing "do I really need them" time will tell.

biker, I personally wouldn't worry!

I'm surprised your GP put you on Simvastin when your cholesterol level was only 5.2. It's not long to wait until you get free prescriptions and you don't need any extra stress at the moment.

Good luck with the jobseeking...

My OH has low BP , bit overweight , has PD and has suddenly started wandering and confused in the night , got him to the GP cos I thought his meds needed looking at , Gp thought he had a waterworks infection (he hadn't ) did a load of bloods , all ok except cholestol 5.2 and mentioned Statins ............. Good grief , least of his Problems , luckily I got hold of the PD nurse and got advice

I was astonished when, well before the age of 60, I discovered that, because I had been prescribed thyroxine for hypothyroidism, I was eligible for free prescriptions. I felt a bit guilty about that since I had already been buying a 'season ticket' to cover various other prescriptions and I could still afford that, being in full time work.

I wouldn't take statins for any reason. Not for me thanks I have read a lot of research on statins and I don't like the side effects and too much of the positive. published research has been commissioned by manufactoriers of statins.
Also your Cholesterol levels are made of two components bad and good cholestoral. It's the ratio between the two that is important. The ratio should be three or less.
I did try plant stanols and took for a year and found that both good and bad levels went down so the ratio stayed the same!

I have been taking Plant Sterols (tablets) from Healthspan and my Cholesterol went from 6.8 to 4.5 within a couple of months ! Similar to Benecol but less calories.....
I and my GP were most impressed and I have not taken Statins.
Maybe worth looking up and trying them out.

thanks Ana

Sorry durhamjen, been out all evening. If tests showed that your liver function was impaired, then the whole of your treatment would be reviewed, statins and all- and other reasons investigated too.

Yes, that's what I meant. It would surely be impossible to tell if it was the statins or any other medication that was causing the impaired liver function.
All you could do would be use trial and error to find out what happened, which would probably take years, depending on the number of drugs you were on.

Well of course- and this is where having a good GP who will work with a specialist if the issues are complex- would work methodically and logically to eliminate non essential medicine and re-evaluate- with the experience and knowledge.

People on statins should be regularly monitored for liver function- from what I can gather after about 1 year, and then depending on first results.