Statins?

Everyone is fixated on cholesterol but few seem to realise the danger of high triglyceride levels. Anyone had a check for these?

I agree EllanVannin when I complain that I already do all the right things, lead a healthy lifestyle, take the medication, etc I'm told to think how worse it could be if I didn't...

4.5 is not high cholesterol. Mine was 7.1 and considered on the high side. I put the stations in the rubbish bin after reading up on them and bought Boots plant sterols instead which brought it down. Cholesterol should not be above 5. There are 2 schools of thought about this. The other school of thought thinks that older folk should have a slightly higher levels anyway to protect the arteries.

And bp for older people is now accepted at 150/90...

Blimey, BlueSky, there was panic-stations when the nurse took my BP last year and it was 136/86. I told her I wasn't going to lose sleep over it. I don't take BP tablets either. If anything it's quite low at times. In other words, normal.

When I was training the top figure was 100 plus your age. The figure at the bottom was the important one which should ideally be at 86 as that's the amount of " pressure " used at pushing the blood around the body. At 90, it's struggling a bit but still nothing to get excited about unless it stays like that.

I think this setting of arbitrary levels for anything is ridiculous. Some time ago I was told that my kidney function had fallen to a level that meant it needed monitoring. My GP then said, mind you if you had come to see me last week, it wouldn't have been a problem. They changed to this higher warning level on Monday. A couple of years later monitoring stopped because my kidney function level had improved. No treatment, no symptoms, just normal variation and the system is too inflexible to cope with that.

Many of these prescriptions are not the result of the doctor's considered opinion. They are the results of arbitrary targets set by NICE and financially incentivised by the government.

I have high cholesterol, it’s 7+, been that way all my life. Now stat8ns, uff, I took these cholesterol came down, didn’t notice any difference, stopped went back up.

So, for me, rhubarb, why take them at all, plus and doctors don’t tell you this, but a side effect of statins is STROKE, VERY SCARY.

Me I leave well alone, 75 now, still go7ng strong.

Yes EllanVannin that's what they used to say. Now they try to get people's bp so low that apparently that's one of the reasons why falls are common in older people. If I had your bp I would be ecstatic!

Statins gave me terrible pains in my calves followed by weakness.

One of the other things that worried me, is that statins can raise blood sugar.
The cardiologists were clear, no point in women of our age unless we have already had a stroke/heart attack then take them

DO NOT ACCEPT THE US ARTICLE AS FACT. DR HYMAN Does not even write like a US expert. I found some things in his article to be contrary to what my DR. and my Mum's(84) Cardiologist say. I have never had high Cholesterol myself, but it is hereditary in DF family line. Since my GP was DF same GP for over 20 years he did treat DF for high Cholesterol. DF never developed diabetes or heart disease. He died at 88 of Alzheimers. I have been on the lowest statin for almost 20 years and have had perfect Cholesterol, no diabetes and no hint of heart problems, only because of heredity. I am 63 post-menopausal and have no problems in my blood tests.
Don't believe everything you see or hear.

In addition to my post above. My DF died of Alzheimers not caused by statins. Alzheimers runs in his family line also for at least three generations we know.

Best make hay then OPgrndtr

I get told my blood pressure is a bit high, it’s around 4.5 6 or 7. Not that I go to the doctor normally but I had had pneumonia and was advised to go a week after being in hospital. The doctor said she follows the guidelines, when I questioned her she admitted that since I don’t eat meat, hardly drink (a glass of wine about once every three months), hardly ever eat eggs and I don’t normally eat anything dairy. The chances of me having problems are very, very low so why suggest something like that for someone who doesn’t need it. It makes me wonder how much money they get for prescribing drugs to their patients.

Unfortunately parmacuticals are BIG business and doctors are also involved in payoffs so tablets and medicines are pushed on patients who still see doctors as all knowing

I wouldn’t touch statins with a barge pole or most other drugs that suddenly come into vogue either
I remember when practically every child in a class was put on inhalers
My mum had the best diet anyone could have VERY low fat no salt, hardly any sugar, most veg home grown, one glass of wine occasionally, non smoker her cholesterol was always over 7 she lived to be 90
I don’t want to be part of a money making, fear inducing industry

I think you are right, EllanVannin. I'm also too scared to stop taking statins now.. and maybe our strokes would have been a lot worse without them. I'm on Clopidogrel now and just hope for the best.

Why would you even think of coming off them Henetha? They have proved their worth.

In my case taking them would have made little or no difference to my risk level, so why bother taking them?

I was put on Statins before Christmas but started to feel ill (tired, aching muscles and spasm-like cramps). I thought to trial myself by coming off them for a week and then restarting. When off them I felt fine; back on them and the tiredness and aching muscles return. Can barely walk. They are going in the bin.

Can I ask what brand of statins you were taking Beam ?

Pravastatin Sodium l0m. One at night.
I feel permanently" fluey".

I think age plays a part in whether a GP will prescribe statins. My DH’s cholesterol was 4.5 five months ago and our GP said because he is 75 she would recommend putting him on statins, if he was younger she wouldn’t worry about it. We both found this difficult to understand but she is a very good GP. He decided to ask her to let him try and bring the reading down through diet as he had successfully controlled his Type 2 diabetes through diet. He will have his blood test at the end of this month and we are hoping it has come down. We have done a lot of research on statins and opinions seem divided but we do try to avoid medication where possible, however if his reading hasn’t come down he will take our GP’s advice.

4.5 isn't high Jane, it's normal. Mine's been 4 for ages, no doubt with the help of statins but it's still acceptable. Mine used to be 7.9 before statins.

Thank you for that Beam. Mine are Atorvastatin and the only thing they do to me after I've taken them is make my belly rumble loudly----which is why I take them at night.

I also had a pain in one of my calves that frightened me. These tabs are not nice for me.

I had significant pain and discomfort in my major muscle groups Beammeupscotitie - thighs and across my back and neck in particular. Felt so grim I stopped taking them. Yes, they brought my cholesterol down but it was 5.7. My mother's was 8.9 and she lived well to 87 when she had a major stroke. I'm not being frivolous but honestly, that wasn't the worst way to leave this world (love you mum) x