Statins please share your experience/knowledge

It's in the interests of the drug companies to have as many people as possible taking regular medication. Bear this in mind whenever you are advised to start taking something.
Personally, I would prefer to take statins in a different form....yogurts and spreads containing plant statins.

Been on statins for about 20 years, no side effects or problems.

Curtaintwitcher

It's in the interests of the drug companies to have as many people as possible taking regular medication. Bear this in mind whenever you are advised to start taking something.
Personally, I would prefer to take statins in a different form....yogurts and spreads containing plant statins.

So you'd prefer to increase the spread and yoghurt producers' profits? Foods containing plant sterols and stanols are all highly processed.

Read any of these books and I think you will be persuaded not to touch them.

Why do you trust anything written in the books?

Statins are one of the most researched drugs in the world because they's prescribed so widely. Where is the solid scientific evidence which refutes the claims that they save lives?

If you read the books (and I have read them all), you will find ample scientific evidence.

Why wouldn't you trust books researched and written by qualified doctors?

I suggest you read any or all of the books for yourself.

I think if anyone has any sense they will not be persuaded by posts on this site but discuss their individual risk with their GP.
Deaths may be caused by believing information which is not scientifically rigorously researched.

Many statins are now out of patent, therefore cheaper, and the savings in the prevention of heart attack/stroke are greater to NHS than expenditure on statins.

Justin Smith is not a doctor for a start fancyflowers he’s an ex engineer and now a personal trainer and nutrition coach who’s probably made a few quid from the book. I can’t be bothered to research the rest of them.

Better to read research articles published in reputable journals which have been "peer reviewed", than books, even by doctors. Anyone can write a book and get it published. Summary of latest research is available on sites like British Heart Foundation. One of those is an article referred to by Farznanah upthread - "Statins - 10 facts you might not know". I'll quote one interesting bit of research:

A 2016 BHF-funded study found that patients were 11% and 12% more likely to stop taking statins for primary and secondary prevention respectively, after a period in which statins received a lot of negative media coverage.

A 2015 Danish study found that every negative nationwide news story meant people were 9% more likely to stop taking statins. Stopping statins early led to a 26% greater risk of a heart attack and an 18% increase in the risk of cardiovascular mortality

I think if anyone has any sense they will not be persuaded by posts on this site but discuss their individual risk with their GP.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/21/gps-paid-handing-statins-puts-patients-review-finds/

I've taken prescribed statins for ten years without any problems whatsoever.

Grantanow

I've taken prescribed statins for ten years without any problems whatsoever.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1867901/

fancyflowers The Telegraph articles are behind a paywall. You are clutching at straws I’m afraid. There are plenty of positive articles in Telegraph for statins if you search, but bear in mind these articles are written by journalists.

The science for statins is well established and saves lives. Nothing else to add.

As an ex-research pharmacologist, I would totally agree with people who say read as much literature about them as possible. All drugs can have side-effects, not everyone will experience them or they are so mild that it doesn't bother them. Some people will have to give up that particular medication or change to an alternative.
Like many posters, I have been on Atorvastatin 20mg for a few years with no side-effects. My OH has been taking Simvastatin for many years, and gets tired, but who can say if that is due to the drug or a
old age? Many people can take them happily with no adverse effects. I would trust medical research papers more than books on the shelf in WH Smiths or Waterstones. Other bookshops are available.

fancyflowers Statins have been prescribed for years to many millions of people. There are enough statistics to know that if, for example, a million people were to take statins, fewer of them would have heart problems over (say) ten years than if they didn't.

It's also true that some people have side effects they can't tolerate, but on balance the benefits outweigh the negative side effects for the majority of people. Unfortunately, doctors don't always know how medications will affect individuals.

It is also true that statins have suffered from an extraordinary amount of negative publicity and some so-called doctors have jumped on the band wagon. Research has shown that people taking placebos are just as likely to suffer negative side effects from statins as those taking the real thing. One study even showed that more people claimed they have side effects taking a placebo!

In the end, it's your body and it's up to you what you put in it. If you have good genes and a healthy lifestyle, luck is probably on your side, but none of us has a crystal ball. Statins will lower risk of heart problems, but they won't eliminate all risk.

My cholesterol continued to rise steadily despite my best efforts with my diet and the use of plant stanol products. 2 years ago I started taking a statin at the lowest dose. My cholesterol has now gone down to an acceptable level. I still take care with my diet but sometimes it’s nice not to have to worry, for example when travelling or visiting friends. I’ve had no side effects but if I had I would have asked the GP to change to another drug.

On Simvastatin for at least twenty years, with no side-effects. I, too, miss the grapefruit

I took all types and they all made me feel dreadful, would rather live another 10 years feeling well, than 20 years feeling like that .
They now have me trying Supralip with is fenofibrate.
Its not a station but cholesterol lowering apparently, but I am not sure about this now, I am feeling a bit lethargic, going to try a few weeks anyway and make a decision about these

*11:16Farzanah

The Telegraph articles are behind a paywall. You are clutching at straws I’m afraid. There are plenty of positive articles in Telegraph for statins if you search, but bear in mind these articles are written by journalists.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513492/

I wouldn't call this clutching at straws.

I’ve been on statins for over 30 years. I’m still here. The only side effects I have had is dry skin on my legs ( my skin specialist told me this was a cause ) and slight muscular pains if I take a higher dose ( recommended but I stick to the lower dose because of it ). My cholesterol went from 8 down to 4 and hovers between 4 and 5 now. Our family has a history of very high cholesterol and everyone dies of heart attacks sooner or later. My husband got very sick on one brand so switched to another which works for him. For me, I think it has been worth it.

fancyflowers

*11:16Farzanah

The Telegraph articles are behind a paywall. You are clutching at straws I’m afraid. There are plenty of positive articles in Telegraph for statins if you search, but bear in mind these articles are written by journalists.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513492/

I wouldn't call this clutching at straws.

No, I wouldn’t either. Evidently there are different opinions among researchers.

//The role of blood cholesterol levels in coronary heart disease (CHD) and the true effect of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are debatable. In particular, whether statins actually decrease cardiac mortality and increase life expectancy is controversial… We conclude that the expectation that CHD could be prevented or eliminated by simply reducing cholesterol appears unfounded.//

fancyflowers

*11:16Farzanah

The Telegraph articles are behind a paywall. You are clutching at straws I’m afraid. There are plenty of positive articles in Telegraph for statins if you search, but bear in mind these articles are written by journalists.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513492/

I wouldn't call this clutching at straws.

Quite honestly, that article reads more like an advertising campaign for the so-called Mediterranean diet.

It is one article amongst the many thousands which have been written about statins; it's also nine years old. Incidentally, there's at least one factual error. Diabetics don't have "average" cholesterol levels. They very often have high triglyceride levels, which are part of a standard liver profile test. T2 diabetics also often have metabolic syndrome, which includes high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

I don't think anybody would claim that statins will prevent heart attacks or strokes completely, if people have other unhealthy lifestyle factors, such as being overweight, smoking, drinking too much alcohol and not exercising ... or having bad genes. I expect we all know somebody who lived to 100 while smoking like a chimney and being grossly overweight. There is no magic formula to predict when somebody will die or have a heart attack. It's about risk and meta-analyses of many studies have shown that high total cholesterol with low HDL and a high ratio is a risk factor.

If a relatively cheap drug can reduce that risk (along with healthy lifestyles) why not use it? Yes, there are people who genuinely can't tolerate statins, so they will just have to accept an increased risk.

Skye17

fancyflowers

*11:16Farzanah

The Telegraph articles are behind a paywall. You are clutching at straws I’m afraid. There are plenty of positive articles in Telegraph for statins if you search, but bear in mind these articles are written by journalists.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513492/

I wouldn't call this clutching at straws.

No, I wouldn’t either. Evidently there are different opinions among researchers.

//The role of blood cholesterol levels in coronary heart disease (CHD) and the true effect of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are debatable. In particular, whether statins actually decrease cardiac mortality and increase life expectancy is controversial… We conclude that the expectation that CHD could be prevented or eliminated by simply reducing cholesterol appears unfounded.//

I resisted taking statins for years because I don't like putting drugs inside my body. I have never been overweight and had a reasonably healthy lifestyle. Like so many, I thought I was invincible. I was told my risk of having a cardiac event, but my risk of not having one was higher, so I refused statins.

That all changed in October 2017, when I had a heart attack. I was lucky because an ambulance got me to Papworth within a few minutes and I had a stent fitted, but I am under no illusions that if the heart attack had happened elsewhere, I could be dead.

I have taken statins (and a whole load of other drugs) since then. I've actually felt fitter than I have for years. I'm T2 diabetic and my Hba1c levels are monitored. There has been no increase since 2017, so I'll carry on taking the pills!

Jaxjacky

Justin Smith is not a doctor for a start fancyflowers he’s an ex engineer and now a personal trainer and nutrition coach who’s probably made a few quid from the book. I can’t be bothered to research the rest of them.

I had a look on Amazon. The Dark Side of Statins is by someone with an American medical degree (MD). He also wrote Statin Drugs.

The Great Cholesterol Myth is by a nutritionist with a PhD.

A Statin Nation is by a practising GP.

A Statin Free Life is by a cardiologist.

The Truth About Statins is by another MD, director of the Women's Cardiac Center at the Miriam Hospital in Rhode Island.

All but two of these books are by professional doctors.

As I said in a previous post, medical opinion on statins varies. There is more than one side to the picture.