Statins please share your experience/knowledge

This is a recent thread
www.gransnet.com/forums/health/1333132-Statins

I am on one, reasonably low dose and from the beginning maybe three years now there has not been one noticeable side effect.
Lots of naysayers but I’m of the opinion if it staves off a strike or any other potential problems I am happy to continue following my gps advice.

It might help to research Statins and CoEnzymeQ10
My husband had dreadful cramp until someone pointed him in this direction
Could be a help

both my husband and I took them for quite a few years...tried different statins because of muscle aches and pains....hair started thinning, memory got bad...but the thing that made us both stop them was when we were both told we had type 2 diabetes, my blood sugar was 11.5....I then started reading about the effects of statins..and raised blood sugar was one of them
I stopped them and my bloodsugar is normal now , I'll never take them again...nor will my husband...

I started taking 10mg, then 20 last September, no problems.
pably15 I hope you discussed stopping with your GP? The research on the link between statins and a possible, I emphasise possible, rise in blood sugar is clearly explained in the research. The risk is higher in those who already have indicators, pre diabetes, not a given across all statin users.

I take a statin and have done for about 4 years. I'm a retired GP and felt the evidence showed it was worthwhile. More so for men though. I haven't had any side effects. My raised cholesterol is familial.

Been on statins for years. No side effects but miss eating grapefruit. If it can prevent a stroke, why not take it?

Medical opinion on statins varies. This is one doctor's view:



// The Problem with Statins



... The main problem with statins is that they inhibit two important enzyme systems. Firstly Coenzyme Q 10… This means that mitochondria will go slow and the ageing process may be accelerated … statins almost invariably make patients with chronic fatigue worse.

..

Statins also inhibit formation of selenium based proteins such as glutathione peroxidase...


It is a combination of the above two factors which explains the devastating effect statins have on some people with muscle metabolism. People get obvious muscle soreness, stiffness, weakness and fatiguability. Heart muscle is little different from normal muscle so it is no wonder that the heart is also affected and theoretically this could result in heart failure.



Because statins interfere with antioxidant defences and energy supply they may be contributing to the epidemic of Alzheimer's disease we are now seeing.//



(My emphasis.)



drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Cholesterol_-_the_whys_and_wherefores

Personally I will never be taking them.

I have been taking statins for at least twenty years. I now take 80mg daily. Never noticed any side effects.

I've been taking statins for about 10 years with no side effects. I'm also on an anti-coagulant and beta-blocker - all to lower risk of stroke/heart and blood-vessel problems. I feel well and healthy and have regular blood tests - no sign of raised blood sugar.

I'm amazed. Thankyou so much for your responses clearly I have lots of reading to do. The info re CoEnzyme Q10 and cramp is particularly helpful. Thankyou for taking the time.

Watched my Dad go downhill quickly on statins. Also lots of elderly people at a care centre whose side effects ranged from aching joints, aching muscles to confusion and memory loss.

I was told to take them 20 years ago but didn’t so have saved the NHS money and me from taking unnecessary medication.

Met an old schoolfriend last week and the conversation with a few others got on to statins. She said she refuses to take them despite being told she should be on them. She is a retired Practice Manager at a large GP Practice. I asked her why and she said she had spent most of her working life listening to patients complaining about statins, she had discussed the subject with various GPs and more recently noticed a big change in her husband since he started taking them.

Hi, Bertha. DH has been taking them for ages.

A young locum doctor suggested I take them, which I did. I got increasingly bad nosebleeds triggered by any rise in blood pressure, e.g. anxiety, and it was impossible to continue. A doctor at A&E, which I'd gone to as I couldn't stem the blood flow, said it was a statins side effect - so I stopped taking them and the nosebleeds dwindled and ceased. The next doctor I asked said I didn’t need them anyway.

Jaxjacky....yes I told my gp I wasn't taking anymore statins, he wrote it in my notes...

I take 40mg daily and haven’t had any side effects in the 5 years since they were prescribed.
I have severe heart failure following vital myocarditis and I want to minimise any chance of further complications from it.
My cholesterol, blood pressure and h1bac are all good so I guess I’m doing ok!

A woman I used to work with was told to come off them just a short while after starting them because they were causing her liver damage. It is not uncommon.

Hb1ac*

We have both been offered an injection instead of statins. It will be repeated in six months. I did try statins years ago but got terrible pains in my calves.

For informed information look at the BHF and 10 things about statins which you may not know, rather than unreliable anecdotal accounts.

Medical evidence is overwhelming for statins in the reduction of stroke and heart attacks, and is very convincing.
My cholesterol went up from 4.6 to 6.6 a few weeks ago, and I started statins after discussion with GP who went through my personal risk profile with me.

I am taking 20mg a day with no side effects at present. My OH has been taking them for 30+ years because of familial raised cholesterol. His father died mid 40s from heart attack, and my OH has had no problems.

IF there are real risks NOT related solely to your age - then maybe. (The QRISK assessment tool is so heavily age weighted that it is impossible to have a low risk over the age of about 75). Not tried them myself, but watched DH lose muscle mass and energy VERY badly as he tried each of 3 different types for 2 months each - 3 years ago and he has never regained the strength in his legs despite being then and now a very healthy active person. I do know that some people take them with no bother, but also am sure they harm some. Wish we knew which 'sort' we were.

To be frank when you are over 75 life is not low risk, sadly.

My brother has taken statins for several years without any problems or side effects.
I haven’t taken them, but worryingly my GP prescribed them without discussing this with me first. I had collected my usual medication from the chemist with statins included. I refused the statins. Apparently NICE now recommend them for anyone scoring 10% or above on the Qrisk3 assessment for developing heart problems in the next 10 years. I requested a cholesterol test and discussion about the Qrisk assessment and any side effects with a GP before I was prepared to take statins. The test result was normal & I heard nothing further from the GP.
I’m not sure how ethical it is for GPs to prescribe medication in this way. Whatever happened to ‘informed consent’?

Statins have lowered my cholesterol considerably, and I have nil side effects.