Funny, I thought one of the risks of statins was dementia, and now it seems it might prevent it?
I am so confused. What do you do?
Well, atherosclerosis is a major risk factor for strokes and stroke is itself a major cause of vascular dementia.
My H said he doesn’t think statin is a major risk for dementia.
Maybe the best answer for someone who is not high risk is low dosage statins, what you’re doing. What dosage are you taking, for them to consider it low dosage?
I can’t tolerate statins. When I take them even thinking about the pool causes leg and foot cramps. Since the pool is my main exercise I let them go. And I’m not sure they’re proven to significantly help women, or is there new data?
We are on 10mg atorvastatin.
They prescribe it up to 80mg.
@MACmiracle if you have no cardiac risk factors, why do you have a cardiologist?
@busdriver11 This is more or less my thought as well. I’m visiting my family now (my mom has life ending cancer) and looking around at the various meal tables I realize just how much I’ve changed my diet since departing for college on (that being back in the '80s). It’s helped at least delay diabetes (based upon genetics). My dad had his first heart attack at 47. His dad died from one in his mid 60s. My mom has a stent. Three of my four grandparents had heart issues of some sort or another.
It makes it difficult to know what to do looking forward. I wonder how easy it is to check for damage building vs just making a guess off blood tests. VLDL is in the normal range, but I read that’s just an estimate based off triglycerides and not an actual test itself. Since my trigs are in the normal range, that made sense, but I only read it once so… hopefully it was an up to date source. It wasn’t the main focus of my search and with that result being in the normal range, it seems fine either way.
@GTalum I have a pregnancy triggered dysautonomia like postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, so my nervous system does not always regulate my heart rate and blood pressure well. It’s considered benign and has become much better over time. The cardiologist checks me every year. I’ve had a lot of cardiac testing and they can’t find anything else wrong.
My primary care doctor does worry about it more than my cardiologist, so that might be influencing his thinking.
If
both grandmothers had very high cholesterol and lived until 88 and 91
but they both died of heart attacks after a time of dementia (one developed dementia after the trauma of my uncle dying; the other after a broken hip)
and no one else in my family since that generation had heart attacks,
it doesn’t seem like I should be that worried.
Right?
This limitation on exercise that does not seem to change when you push it may be something for you and your physicians to look at with higher priority. Being unable to do more than light physical activity can be very limiting in daily life (climbing stairs or a hill, or moving a moderately heavy object around, can make heart rate go higher than that), as well as limiting the potential of using exercise as a non-drug way of managing health risks like blood lipids, diabetes risk, etc…
The traditional lipid panel doesn’t tell the whole story. While the HDL/LDL ratio is important (triglycerides/HDL even more so), what is also important is the makeup of the cholesterol particles in your blood stream - whether they are small and dense (bad) or large and fluffy (good). And in particular, what your Lp(a) level is, as this is the most inflammatory of all LDL particles. There are tests to measure this, like the VAP test or the NMR Lipo test.
There are other methods of lowering cholesterol that I personally would try before statins, like niacin supplements or (for me personally, it apparently doesn’t work for everyone) omega-3 supplementation from fish oil.
There are many other factors that can affect heart disease, it’s unfortunate that so much emphasis is put on cholesterol. Things like fasting glucose level, homocysteine level, CRP level, vitamin D level, insufficient vitamin K, testosterone level in men.
Cholesterol is vital to life. It’s required by every cell in the body. The brain in particular relies on sufficient cholesterol. Having too low cholesterol is not healthy. Of course, the experts disagree on just how low is “too low.”
Research has been showing for years that the main cause of heart disease is oxidative stress, i.e. “inflammation.” When a person has high levels of the small dense LDL particles (vs. large, fluffy LDL particles), that is revealing that the person is in an inflammatory state. It’s a symptom of the problem, not the cause of problems.
Statins certainly do “lower cholesterol,” but do they actually prevent heart attacks or prolong life on any significant scale if oxidative stress is not addressed? There are many researchers who would argue that it doesn’t.
There are a lot of books about cholesterol and the issues surrounding it on the market, written by doctors, scientists, and researchers. Before I ever took a statin, I would read at least a couple of them. That’s just my .02.
True.
There are people who have hereditary conditions that cause their cholesterol levels to be really REALLY high. These people have to be treated and looked at differently than your average Joe.
@Nrdsb4 What is really, really high?
Doesn’t C- reactive protein levels reflect inflammation level in the body ?
@MACmiracle, there are some inherited disorders that can cause cholesterol levels in the 300s, 400’s, 600s, and sometimes higher. These people have to take medications to address this as no lifestyle changes are going to make a significant dent.
@notrichenough (or anyone), how does this affect things? My fasting glucose rate has always been > 100 (<120) since as long as I can remember (back to college or pregnancy days? whenever it was first measured - my youngest is a college senior now). That’s pure “normal” for me. Ha1c has never been high, so I was told it’s fine. I’ve never delved into that more on google or otherwise.
@ucbalumnus I agree that my physical decline is annoying/frustrating. I thought that was explained due to “asthma” as I got medically discharged from the AF three decades ago after they did a test showing I had it (and it was the reason I couldn’t complete a mandatory fitness run). They told me then that it would get worse with age. I quit running and forgot about it - no other issues whatsoever - though long NP hikes up mountains, plenty of chores on a farm, scuba diving, and more. Relatively recently I finally decided they were right and “it got worse with age” so went to the doctor to see what could be done about it. Lung testing revealed I don’t have asthma (thank you Navy - Navy hospital albeit for AF testing) for making me totally change my life over a mistake 30 years ago! (sigh)
There was one really “off” result with the lung testing, but the conclusion I received was “all is well, you’re just out of shape.” Med school lad couldn’t figure it out over Christmas break - seems it’s pretty unusual to have just what I have wrong - but suggested vascular testing telling me that the two are intertwined a bit. I haven’t had time to even think about asking for further thoughts from my medical folks. I’ve only tried increasing what I do a little bit to see if it helps, but it definitely doesn’t. Donating blood made it worse (though that seems understandable from my Bio knowledge - less blood = less oxygen circulating). In general, I figure I’ve had that going on long enough thinking it was “explained,” don’t have high BP or other cautionary worries making me think it’s a high priority, the pulse usually returns to normal pretty quickly once I stop the extra exertion, and was specifically told it’s merely an “out of shape” thing, so will deal with that in the future when I have more time (most likely after my mom passes away). I can bring it up in April’s appt, but doubt it will be taken seriously if it’s similar to before.
To add a personal vent from someone who prefers being active, anytime my pulse gets > 115 my breathing is affected, even moreso at 125 and it doesn’t take much to get there. If I keep everything less than that, even I can’t tell anything is wrong, so… easy fix for now. I push the 115 a few times per day (a couple flights of stairs, small hills on walks, farm chores) to “keep” in shape, but all that stuff I’ve always done too. If I’m out of shape, I’ve “lost” it by aging, not by inactivity. To make it even more interesting, if I stop being active at my typical level, it all gets worse after a couple of days (discovered that taking care of older relatives). Med school lad did an Allen’s test (I think that’s what he called it) after 2-3 days of inactivity and told me I’m the first person he’s seen who’s failed it. I pass when I keep active though (walking a few thousand steps per day - try for 10K - but 4 or 5K is enough for that) so again, an easy fix - keep walking.
It’s all weird when I allow myself to think about it, so I keep my brain active on other things too.
(I can hear my pulse, supposedly a side effect left over from radiation, so try not to think I’m obsessed with it. It’s just easy to “know” once I stop if there isn’t outside noise drowning something out.)
I’ve written far more than intended - sorry about that - just letting the brain ramble though my fingers! We’re off to watch Menopause (the show) tonight. I haven’t seen it yet, but my mom assures me it’s hilarious so it should make for a fun evening. Those are treasured moments at this stage in our lives.
@SouthJerseyChessMom I have no idea. My forte is Physics/Math/Chem and I can handle high school level Bio when needed. All sorts of medical stuff beyond that I’m learning as I go along to be honest.
Nutrition I keep up with on the side because I prefer natural types of keeping the body well and committed in my youth to doing better than my relatives with diet, etc.
Read up on it - there are many studies saying that statins are not safe or effective for women.
Check your inflammation - it’s called your C-Reactive Protein and perhaps get a calcium ct score as well.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20371451
For fasting blood glucose (mg/dl):
< 100 = normal
100-125 = prediabetic
[QUOTE=""]
125 = diabetic if seen on two separate tests
[/QUOTE]
For HbA1c (%):
< 5.7 = normal
5.7-6.4 = prediabetic
[QUOTE=""]
= 6.5 = diabetic if seen on two separate tests
[/QUOTE]
Note that some studies have found that statins are associated with increased risk of diabetes, so if you are in the prediabetic range, that is an additional reason for caution with statins.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319832.php
https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20150304/statins-linked-to-raised-risk-of-type-2-diabetes#1
Here’s the thing about statins – they absolutely reduce cholesterol. What’s not decided is whether cholesterol at X level for a person with no known heart issue has any impact.