Suggestions/personal experiences with statins.

All I can add is: thank god people are starting to wake up to the multi billion £ scam that is statins.
I've been banging on about this drug since 2006 when my cholesterol was 9.6.( still not much under that)
I spent hrs and hrs reading up on them. That's when I came to my conclusion, ie, it's a scam, but a very clever one perpetrated by drug companies.
When you've sat in a heart specialists office with your friend and he tells her to keep off the statins you know something is very wrong.

Definitely check with your provider before stopping statins.

Interestingly, statins were originally created because they help people with a specific genetic issue processing cholesterol. (We know now that high "bad" cholesterol actually has more to do with genetics than actual diet.)

*Important caution*: you may hear about a supplement called "red yeast rice" that may lower cholesterol. It has a similar chemical and side effect profile to statins and should NOT be used without checking with your provider FIRST.

I understood your post Iam64 and did not mean to sound as if I was reacting to it. The more of us who share the dilemmas and our own solutions, the better. At least we are treating each other with the respect we'd like to have from professionals and I like it best when GNers debate and inform without criticism as we are doing here.
I was - possibly clumsily - just sounding a note of caution to the silent readers of this forum, having realised my own actions may have encouraged others to come off the statins against advice.
I was in a very remote place at the time, hundreds of miles from the surgery and unable to function properly. By the time I got home I was off the statins and did not feel like going to the GP's partner for a further telling off and possibly more statins. It was a year before I felt safe to visit the surgery.

Caledonail14, did you have any problems coming off the statins? How long before you felt yourself again?
Your point about not feeling able to function properly chimes with my feeling over the past couple of months. Brain fog, seriously aching thigh muscles, back pain I haven't had in years, low energy, not my usual cheery self and feeling very stiff at yoga/pilates classes. I'm a week clear of statins now and hoping things will improve.

I think it will be different for everyone and, for me, the change in memory was instant. I had just been losing words here and there, but they were simple words like knife (as in Please pass me a ........?). It's a long long time ago now so it's hard to remember exactly (but not in a bad way).

It took a long time to associate the feet problems with the statins and it was really only when I got the correct treatment that I realised the timing was right. I think I was lucky.

If I can put my tuppence in, I think you have to follow through, even if coming off the statins doesn't work. There may be some other simple explanation and I remember the brain thing being very embarrassing but frightening. There are all sorts of things that can show up in blood tests and cholesterol shouldn't be the only thing they look at. Good luck to you Iam64. I hope we hear some better news from you very soon. I wish you a sympathetic GP.

Someone I knew was on statins for a long time. Towards the end, he could hardly walk from muscle pain and weakness. It's possible it was from his medication.

Iam64 When you see your GP ask him/her what the risk of a stroke/heart attack is when taking statins compared with not taking statins. I asked that question (prompted by a post on a previous discussion on this subject)

The answer, for me, was that taking statins to reduce my cholesterol to an 'acceptable' figure would reduce my risk of a heart attack/stroke by less than 3%, so it seemed pointless to start medicating myself for so little advantage.

MOnica, my GP hoped the risk could be brought down by 8% by taking statins, it would still be mid teens. It's been made more difficult for me by the downturn in our previously brilliant surgery. Shortage of doctors etc

Both myself and sister had bad muscle pains on statins,i came off mine after a few months,my sister had memory fog, badly,she as just come off hers
My own pharmacist said she would never take statins, so what does that tell you

Iam64, make sure that he turns his hopes into a secure calculation. My GP was quite shocked when she saw how little difference statins would make to my probability of a stroke/heart attack in the next ten years.

MOnica, I will make sure she makes her hopes into reality. I've had a series of blood tests and finally managed to get an appointment, its a 3 week wait. Shocking in truth.

Hi I could not help notice your message as it is exactly what happened to me. I can hardly put or take of my bra. The pain in my arms is very painful and lack of strength. I stopped statins a month ago and thought the pain would go away much quicker than it has. So how long before being totally pain free?

My message was for Jang

I.m afraid I would refuse to take them, if I disappearcat at an earlier age, so be it, but I think there are far too many tablets passed out to ‘maybe’ stop something
My mum was put on some heart tablets in her 50 s as she went to the doctor with palpitations, no tests, just put on them She religiously took them for about 20 years until my daughter who was a nurse and visiting her Nan one day as she was taking them asked her why she was on them and insisted she went back to the doctor to ask to be tested
She was tested and had absolutely no heart problems at all
I avoid the doctors unless absolutely and utterly necessary I take no medicatipn and hopefully will continue that way
My ex husband who moved to US told me very proudly that he was on 18 tablets a day well he died a couple of years ago

My sister, under medical advise has come off statins due to the terrible pains in her joints. She has to see GP at end of this week as that will be two weeks without and they will discuss what to do. She has slowly felt improvement with the pain especially in her fingers, wrist and elbows.

This thread is very timely! I have just been prescribed Atorvastatin 20mgs by my GP because my cholesterol level is 7 and I have high BP. I'm very reluctant to take it due to all the commonly known side effects. For those who have taken statins and suffered aching joints, poor sleep quality etc, could you tell me how long long you'd been taken them before the side effects became apparent? My GP has given me a 3 months supply.

Very timely for me too! I'm already on 3 bp tablets and a new doctor I just saw thought a statin would help. But my cholesterol is fine, that is the total is 5.7 but the ratio good to bad is good also the triglycerides. I was going to do as she said but horrified when read that it could higher your glucose level, mine is already borderline, plus liver problems, plus all the possible reported side effects. So I'm going to take some plant sterol tablets instead and leave it at that. As M0nica said the difference it would make it's quite small anyway.

Because I'm over 70 I get a yearly MOT from my GP. I get a printed sheet showing weight/BP/cholesterol levels and a risk ratios for heart attacks. Last year I was offered satins because I was "borderline" I said no thank you. This year my weight was down a bit, my chloresterol down a little bit, but my risk ratio had gone up. The only factor that had gone up was my age and there's b** all I can do about that. I said no to statins again. I am grateful to my GP for discussing it with me and letting me make my own decision.

I had high (bad) colesterol and was given a choice to take statins or try diet. I suggested statins for a few months to clear the blood then I would try to keep it low by diet, but she seemed to misunderstand me and left it at diet only. So it was grapefruits before dinner, Benecol, oat bran etc and although I still used butter and ate hard cheese and a little chocolate, amazingly it worked. But this time I saw a different nurse and she said that although my colesterol is now good I would still benefit from statins as I am over 72, I took them for a week but was shocked to discover that you should avoid bran or grapefruit amongst other things. After a week I had an appointment with the nurse to see if I was doing OK on the pills, and I told her that I had already been suffering from 90% of the side effects before taking them, plus I could not understand the logic of replacing natural foods that had helped me lower my colestetol, with a chemical substitute. So now I am not taking them and instead my colesterol will be monitored twice a year. I am not really sure if it was the right decision as there is a history of heart attack and stroke in my family. As I told the nurse, it is not easy when even the medical professionals give opposite signals.

OK before anyone else points it out - CHOLESTEROL not colesterol....

I'm very glad I read this. I just had my annual MOT and was told my cholesterol was too high and I needed medication. I refused...I said it was probably caused by too many mince-pies at Christmas and I would deal with it myself. I found it unsettling that medication was the doctors immediate suggestion, not a change of diet. I do know that the drug companies urge doctors to prescribe their products, but I wonder if they get some sort of reward for doing so?

These posts on here are always very timely for me! Recently after a health scare I had a good MOT cardiac and brain. The two specialists concluded that all was OK and changes due to normal ageing. (I am 70) no further intervention required. Then a new GP suggested statins as I have high BP to reduce my risk of stroke and heart attack. I was horrified when I read the leaflet which among other things, said not recommended for people aged 70 or over! I'm now taking plant sterol tablets (my diet and lifestyle already as recommended) Will wait till the next check up and see what happens.

My husband was put on statins when he had angioplasty (stents) quite a few years ago, he was put on Lipitor which is called something else now. A while back the doctor switched him to Simvastatin and those produced raging headaches, so much so, he told the doctor he would stop taking them and was switched back to his original statin. He does wonder if they make him tired, when he's had a day playing golf he invariably comes back home and goes to sleep for an hour or so, but I think that just comes with aging. On the whole he's quite fit for his age, slim and has a low cholesterol although I put that down to lifestyle. Another friend of ours was put on Simvastatin (I think) and suffered hearing impairment, so he also stopped taking them. Not without their problems it seems.

I've just finished my 2nd week on Atorvastatin and, so far, apart from very vivid dreams about the lady in the locals bakers shop , I've not had any side affects.

Chewbacca, I've been taking Atorvastatin since 2007 and swear by them. The hospital had recommended I take 40mg a night but I refused and the dose was reduced to 20mg which has suited me. I think the original reading before medication was over 7 and I was put at high risk because of family history.
Along with the warfarin that I also take, I'm almost sure that my life was saved with this combination after a mini-stroke less than 18 months ago. being 77 at the time who knows what could have happened ? It's not unusual to suffer a full-blown stroke after a mini. No ill effects either apart from initial dizziness and being slightly unbalanced but I literally forced myself to get cracking again.

Eyesight is good with only reading glasses needed which I put down to taking the statins for " keeping things clear ".

Initially, Simvastatin didn't agree with me and went through me like a Porsche.