Statins?

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.

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

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.

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...

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

Henetha, I too had a mini-stroke ( TIA ) of which I hadn't been aware of until a CT scan for dizziness showed slight damage. I'd been taking both statins and warfarin for years, but I still say that without either medications it could have been a lot worse, especially for my age.

My stroke probably happened in 2017 as I was only told about it in March last year.
I'd be scared to come off statins now.

I resisted statins for years due to adverse publicity. But when my cholesterol remained stubbornly above 6.5 for ages I then decided to give in. This was about 2 years ago. Now my cholesterol is 3.2 and I have had no side effects of any sort. However, I still don't feel entirely happy about taking them. But as I recently had a mini-stroke I think I need them...possibly.
I just had a thought.... I still had a mini-stroke in spite of being on statins.... Oh dear.....

My cholesterol is also 6.5 but I've been told it's good cholesterol. This despite me being on a life long low fat/sugar/salt diet! So I guess in my case too is hereditary as is my high bp/border line sugar!

It’s not the actual number of your cholesterol levels that’s important but the ratio of LDL to HDL surely?

I'm in a high risk category because of inflammatory auto immune conditions, AF and kidney stuff. My cholesterol was 5.7 and my GP persuaded me to take statins. The cholesterol dropped to 4 but within several months I felt dreadful, head like cotton wool, all major muscle groups painful and I just didn't feel myself. I stopped taking the statins and feel much better
Two cardiologists have told me there is no evidence that for a woman in my age group, who has not had a heart attack or stroke, taking statins lowers the risk of heart attack or stroke.
Both said they wouldn't prescribe them for me.

It is not a question of whether your cholesterol goes down if you take statins, it is whether getting it down will have any effect on the probability of you having heart attacks and strokes, which is what the purpose of taking it is.

That is the question I asked my GP and she was very disconcerted to find that, in my case, even if I did take statins and reduce my cholesterol, it would actually reduce my probability of having a heart attack or stroke very little.

I cannot see any point in taking a medication that, while changing my body chemistry, will have little or no effect on my health outcomes.

mumofmadboys
Exactly what my Dr says.
You know something is wrong when a Consultant Cardiologist tells your friend ( I was in his office with her) to keep off them!!!

I have taken statins for a number of years and my count went from 7.9 to 5.2 so I am satisfied with that.

Patsy 70. Your statement that cholesterol can be solely controlled by diet is wrong. A large contribution to cholesterol metabolism is genetic.

I don't understand the two types of cholesterol, mine is 4.5 but which is which i have no idea, must ask gp next time at the surgery to explain.

My cholesterol is 6.5 but the doctor is not worried as she said it was good cholesterol!

B9exchange Thanks very much for the interesting links.
MOnica I too have resisted statins. My risk is calculated at 13.2% over 10 years.
My reasoning in not taking a statin is because although my cholesterol is considered to be above the normal range, I don't have a family history of stroke or heart attack , don't smoke and weight and blood pressure are good.
I am not convinced of the "benefits" either.

I was put on statins a good few years ago.
When I had a blood test, I was called in urgently to speak to the doctor, and he asked me to tell him truthfully about my drink consumption.
I'm teetotal, absolutely hate drink, but he didn't believe me, asking if I was perhaps a binge drinker, as my liver was not functioning properly since the last time he had seen me.
The only thing which had changed was me being on statins, so I stopped taking them.
I have no idea what was going on, but I was NOT going to have a liver biopsy, as was suggested.
Shortly after that my doc dropped dead from a heart attack, so that was the end of that.. I hope.

I've taken statins for nearly 13 years and have also been " pre-type 2 " for the same length of time ( not a full-blown type 2 ) just impaired caused by high BP many years ago which led to me having AFib.
Statins are life-savers bringing down my cholesterol from 7.9 to the steady 4 that it's been for years and I eat loads of Lurpak on my crumpets in a morning.
As you get older your arteries aren't as efficient as they used to be so statins help to keep them from clogging. I also take warfarin to keep the blood flowing------which it does because I haven't experienced any " palpitations " for a while now which also indicates that the statins are doing their job by keeping the arteries clear so that the blood can flow through them without any problems.

My OH had horrible side effects fromm statins.he had two heart attacks in quick succession so we thought statins were inevitable.After just a few months on them he was so ill I decided to research alternatives.
I came across Ubuquinol a form of co enzyme Q10 and he's been taking that...with his GP's approval for over 6 years now and his cholesterol levels are fine.No side effects either.There is also Red Yeast Rice supplements in capsule form that are supposed to give great results .Run it past your GP .

This is worth reading (sorry, it's a U.S. Article) on why older women shouldn't be on statins - drhyman.com/blog/2012/01/19/why-women-should-stop-their-cholesterol-lowering-medication/

4.5 sounds perfect.

My cholesterol is now 4.5 due to statins - it was much higher before. I am very happy with this result and 4.5 is not a high result. I have no obvious risk factors for high cholesterol, so the assumption is that it must be hereditary. I eat no red meat, hate milk and mainly live on poultry, fish and vegetables - this has been the case for about 40 years. I am not overweight. I started on a high dose then halved it.

mamapat, Here is a link to the Framingham Table where you can calculate your risk. You need to enter your age, sex, total cholesterol, HDL result and blood pressure.
www.mdcalc.com/framingham-coronary-heart-disease-risk-score

'High cholesterol' can be controlled by diet, easily. Absolutely no need to take medication for this, which can have adverse affects.