Does Statins indeed Save lives or cause more problems if you are not very high risk??

tjlhb

For low HDL, increasing exercise is generally the best natural way to raise it. Also, avoid trans-fats from hydrogenated oil in margarine, shortening, etc..

The US CDC's minimum guidelines for exercise for adults are 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week, plus muscle strengthening activities (e.g. weight training or body weight exercises working all major muscle groups) twice per week. For even greater benefits, they suggest twice or more aerobic activity compared to the minimum.

For high triglycerides, try cutting back on sugar, high glycemic carbohydrates, and alcohol, and increasing consumption of fatty fish.

jenj770

I think it depends on one's inclination - Allopathic or Alternative. Personally, I don't want the side effects that go along with meds, so I do alternative type protocols. Also, most cardiologists are very conservative. Words like "High" and "Severe", in terms of your numbers, could be researched further.

There have been a number of discussions on this board about how to determine the severity of one's results. If you post your results here there are some very savvy people who could help you decipher them and exactly where you stand. It may be that your results are indeed "severe", but then you still have a choice as to how to proceed with treatment.

All the best!

Tenacious

My husbands results VERY considerably between being tested at Work with one of those box type testers to being tested by blood a week later (I mentioend this to the lady who does the testing at work & she said HDL can change considerably day to day?? Is this true?). Ok,
Testing at work: (these results are from virtually no meds 2 months ago-sometimes he took an occasional 10mg simivesatin if he ate poorly ) , some exercsing
HDL 26
Chole # 187
LDL 131
Tri's 150
Ratio 7.1

Now, Testing through Blood work less than a week later (ALL NUMBERS way different!)
HDL 39
Chole # 248
LDL 166
Tri's 214
Ratio 6.4

He hardly eats anything sweet, he is already thin (weighs 150 for a man). We try to exercise, but probably not enough.

Now with taking 20mg of simivestan a night, these are his latest numbers (with the TESTER at work last week--but how reliable is this ??):

HDL 36
Chole # 143
LDL 79
Tri 140
ratio 4.0

He will get another Blood draw in Dec from the Docs, I know just a year ago, he took just 10mg EVREY OTHER DAY of simivestatin and his blood levels were better then -than they are now --with 20 mg, is this due to age, is this due to our body becoming reliant on the drug. Thanks for all of your help

tjlhb

As far as thinness goes, is his body fat within the healthy range? Some light people have too high a percentage of body fat, which can lead to the same health problems that obviously fat people have. (In contrast, some athletes may be "overweight" by the usual ranges or BMI indices, but have a low percentage of body fat and no additional health risks, since their extra weight is muscle.) If too high a body fat percentage is a problem, the usual remedy is to try to gain muscle through strength building exercises (weight training, body weight exercises, exercises using resistance bands, etc.). Of course, the added exercise is likely to help the HDL levels.

150 pounds may actually not be that thin, depending on height. Although it may seem to be extremely thin if most people around you are fat.

Tenacious

He gets his BMI or whatever that is at work, he is normal, not underweight, not overweight, but normal. He is 5'10. He has tried lighting weights, has not seemed to help him much, he has low but normal testosterone levels also (range of 330- 500 usually). Building muscle just seems to be a problem for him, but again he is not actively doing the weight training either.

tjlhb

BMI is a formula of height in meters and weight in kg: weight / height^2

It does not tell whether the person has high or low body fat. There are various formulae for estimating body fat percentage, based on additional measurements, such as waist size, skinfold pinches, electrical impedance measurements, displacement of air or water, weight under water, etc..

One simple proxy is to compare one's waistline measured at navel level to one's height. Generally, waistline should be less than half of height.

There is a short academic paper called "The Y-Y Paradox" by Yajnik and Yudkin, where the authors describe their own body compositions. Basically, they both have BMI of 22.3 (near the midpoint of the "desirable" range of 19 to 25), but one has 9.1% body fat, while the other has 21.2% body fat (both are men; 9.1% body fat is athlete level, while 21.2% body fat is getting close to the "too much body fat" range).

AThena53

To get back to the OP's question: my Dad is in his late 70s and has been on statins for years- no problems. I started on them last year (age 56) and ended up with tendinitis so bad that some days I had to eat with my left hand- right elbow tendons were so inflamed that I couldn't lift a spoon, or put up my hair or floss my teeth without extreme pain. I threw the darn pills out and 2 months later did a triathlon. I still get twinges in the elbow but it's about 98% better. Never again.

So- a year ago total cholesterol was 259. Statins brought it down to 229. Six months later, with green tea capsules, oatmeal for breakfast, fish oil and being careful about fats (although I always have been), I got the following: Total 233, HDL 77 (was 78 on statins), Triglycerides 76 (was 92 on statins), LDL 140 (was 129 on statins). The recent test was a health fair at work (12-hour fasting), but I was VERY encouraged. I intend to go back to the regular doc in a month or so and verify it but I'm off statins forever. The "improvement" over using supplements and watching fat intake wasn't worth the risk for me.

Tenacious

You are very lucky to be able to have HDL that high, in no way would you ever need statins with HDL like that. Even with exercise at least 5 days a week -20 minutes at a time, plus not having an office job, but having to WALK alot on the job, my husband can still not get his HDL over 44 , that is just the way it is --for him, unfortunetly. The highest it has ever been is 44 I think, last test was 39. For this reason more than any other, this is why he takes the statins -because of this low HDL and I worry -for him.

thisworld

your readings are almost just like my. im 60 years old. lost my husband last Nov. gain weight and didnt exercise. bp was a little high. no meds. started back to gym and watching how i eat. blood pressure is fine now. lost 15 lbs. and still trying. Total 234 HDL 79, trig. 69 Ldl 141. heard too much about statins also. i dont like to take meds. iv order krill oil last week. been taking fish oil. but been reading about this. so going to try. also garlic pills and grape seed . im trying natural rememdys first. let me know when you get your results from blood work next month.

Lulubells

In my case they caused me more problems. It took years for the statins to even effect my cholesterol numbers but the side effects were immediate and crippeling. The damage is done though and I will pay the rest of my life for taking that stuff for the 5 to 6 years I was on it. I was just about completely non functional towards the end before I quit taking it... I am still paying the price of taking it 4 years off of it.. One of the problems I am dealing with now is low testosterone levels and for a woman, that is not pleasant. Statin drugs ARE known to lower testosterone, I had no idea that was statin drug related until I saw Dr. Golombs video on her research about the side effects of statins.

For some of us, taking those drugs will caused us lifelong problems and as for saving lives, 100 people have to take the drug for 3 years to prevent ONE heart attack. The drug companies are laughing all the way to the bank...

Tenacious

I have searched alot about statin use and testosterone and everything I have read shows that once you quit, your levels go back up--so they say?? Can you use testosterone cream at all ? I know men can not do the cream thing, they need a Doctor to prescribe special shots, patches, etc, but I thought when women needed this hormone , it was less of a concern , not as detrimental as Men needing it. I feel my husband sex drive has went down some on the statins also (even 10-20 mg ) , even I started taking 10mg a day, and it seems after 2 weeks, I am not as "in the mood". I think I will take a test and see if that changes if I stop the statins for about 2-3 weeks. How much statins was you taking, how many miligrams and what brand -and how high is your cholesterol when not taking them? Are you concerned , do you have bad family history?

ACE28

Statins do not raise HDL, and if so very little. The benefit of statins is to lower Total and LDL cholesterol. Statins also lower C-Reactive Protein (Inflammation) in the arteries. Many believe that this is the real reason why statins are so effective against MI and stroke. CRP is much worse than high cholesterol levels. This is one reason why over 75% of people with low/normal cholesterol have heart attacks. The other culprit is known as "homocysteine". Vitamin B complex or Vitamin B6, Folic Acid and B12 are the only supplements known to lower these dangerous levels. If you can adjust to taking Niacin (B3), your HDL will rise dramatically. Nothing available can raise HDL higher than Niacin. Doctors prescribe a prescription Niacin called NIASPAN. If you take Niacin, you can probably stop taking statins. Niacin improves every aspect of the blood lipid panel, and as a bonus it lowers C-Reactive Protein, and lowers another marker for heart disease called lpA.