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Health

statins or not statins

(29 Posts)
nanou Sun 08-Sept-19 11:04:03

Hi all,
I would welcome your comments about the side effects of statins especially on the knees. DH has been on statins for 3 years and seems to suffer increasingly of knee pains. His GP says nothing to do with statins, but when he stops (which he shouldn't) knee pain goes away. Any similar experience?

luluaugust Wed 11-Sept-19 14:21:20

I tried them horrible results I agree with Eamon. I am waiting for them to decide we need more Cholesterol as we age as there are more bits of us to repair! A friend told me the other day that the GP had told her the difference in life expectancy between taking them and not taking them, for her, was less than a year!! can that be right?

M0nica Wed 11-Sept-19 14:30:58

luluaugst Your friend's GP is right. It varies from person to person. For some people statins are absolutely essential, but for others less so.

Before taking them get your GP to calculate your life expectancy if you take them and if you do not. Essentially, the older you are and the healthier you are the smaller the gap.

I am 76 and otherwise healthy and the difference between the two figures was about 2 years. Since the life expectancy is based on what will happen over the next 10 years, by which time, in my case, I will be 86 and already well over average life expectancy for woman in the UK (82.9). I decided not to bother.

nanou Mon 16-Sept-19 19:53:34

Well the jury is still out, thank you all for your comments. I guess DH should ask for another opinion at our surgery. Can't hurt can it?