Creekland, have you ever had an echocardiogram or stress test?
Yes, it is unclear whether taking statins just to drive down your cholesterol actually has any significant effect:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513492/
That’s just one paper I picked at random, there are many others saying more or less the same thing.
Other studies show otherwise:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513492/
I’ve seen other studies that say statins only have a positive effect when used after a coronary event like a heart attack.
So who knows.
This article is interesting:
https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/health/statins-guidelines-conflict-study/index.html
With statin drug sales at around $20 billion per year and growing, and many studies and doctors funded by drug companies, it is difficult to pick out objective information.
Creekland, whatever you do, consult your doctors and do your own research. Do not take medical advice from an anonymous forum.
Creekland - do you have exercise induced asthma?
I have problematic cholesterol with a significant family history. My brother died a sudden cardiac arrest at 56 (he was an athlete) and my dad had a quadruple bypass. I am also very statin intolerant. I take 5 mg of Atorvastatin twice a week and I need to take about 2-3 days off a month due to myalgias (genetic tests show I am 17x more likely to suffer myalgias with statins). But, that small dose brings my cholesterol down about 30% I think the drug just stays around in my system longer which also leads to uptake in muscles causing myalgias. It’s strange, both my parents took daily statins without physical complaints. They do both have dementia.
@GTalum Does CoQ10 help with myalgia or is that just a protective thing people who are on statins can take for heart reasons?
My primary care doctor recommended tge twice a week dosing if I were start statins.
To start with, I personally think Menopause (the musical) should be required viewing for all once they hit upper 40s or lower 50s. It was hilarious! I’m glad my mom suggested we go (she’s a season ticket holder at her local theater). It fits “aging” life so well and we love good, fun comedy. Kudos to the writer!
Back to “real” life (sigh), yes, I’ve had an EKG and stress test about 4 1/2 years ago when a benign brain tumor was discovered and it was suggested to make sure everything else was fine. (It may have been oodles of years since I’d seen a doctor at that point and with heart health history in my family’s past…they checked a few “typical” things.)
I shouldn’t have exercised induced asthma because that’s what the Navy tested for 3 decades ago and said was fine, leading them to come to the conclusion I had “regular” asthma. In hindsight (post new test) it’s thought that they believed asthma was there and were just testing for exercise induced rather than checking for things with a clean slate. I’m still rather miffed at the mistake considering just how much it changed my life. At 20 years of age, I hardly knew to challenge their results even with being incredulous at the time wondering how I had it and never had it affect me (through being on the school’s track team, showing horses, living on a farm, having completed officer boot camp, etc). I still look back and wonder just how dumb I was to be so trusting.
Which leads to this comment:
I find doing my own research with a combo of reputable sites and personal experiences to be well worth my time. Then I feel “educated” with making decisions vs just trusting my life to someone who only sees me for 20 minutes or so once or twice per year (if that). Their experience/knowledge counts, but so does mine and others’. Blindly trusting when it comes to things as unknown as parts of medicine/health is not something I can do anymore. I’ve seen too much go wrong. My own mother wouldn’t be alive today if she had blindly trusted her PCP. He told her all of her issues were stress. She pressed for a Lyme test (grasping at straws at that point). That test had her called back to the hospital as an emergency before she even got home from it (since she was so weak she had to rest multiple times to get back to her car and attempting to drive home). No Lyme, but internal bleeding had her hemoglobin level down to 6. The stress ended up being cancer.
I don’t think I have cancer - this story is just to show that I’ve seen how blind trust can be very life changing and potentially deadly. I prefer being educated about pros and cons and making decisions that way. I could still guess wrong, but at least I won’t feel so dumb about doing so. It will merely be the odds not working out.
Happened to see this in google news about ldl ( I customized my google news feed to include ldl news feed )
@MACmiracle I did not find much improvement with CoQ10. The literature does not support the belief of decreased myalgias with statins. Keeping a high Vitamin D does.
The Harvard wellness newsletter says, if indicated, take statins to protect your brain. But it’s hard to find unified thinking. There’s more to consider than cholesterol numbers, BP, diabetes, incl exercise, overweight, family history, stress, etc. I’ve read a number of studies and alternative med sites and they really don’t know if lowering LDL is it. They point to the Mediterranean Diet. They talk about statins depleting CoQ10, but don’t know the exact mechanism. Some say that affects cortisol, which can affect inflammation. On top of that, some studies hint statins more effective for those who’ve had a heart incident.
It’s confusing. The consensus just isn’t there yet. My numbers are borderline bad, so I’m trying it all and get retested in a few weeks. I don’t want to go on statins.
@lookingforward It sounds like you and I are in the same boat trying to decipher what’s out there and what’s best.
Best wishes to you.
I’m still undecided myself other than tweaking my diet more between now and when I’ll likely need to decide. I know I’ll see if they’ll do the C Reactive Protein test or not. Beyond that? Pure fog.
Perhaps we should compare notes after a few weeks…
Anyone with BTDT thoughts (yourself or those you personally know), feel free to contribute. It’s not exactly a poll or vote, but it does provide things to consider.
C Reactive Protein is a basic test so you shouldn’t have any problem getting it done. My primary always includes it in annual blood work. My D always has it included in her blood work, too.
My cardiologist seemed to put a lot of weight on it.
@Creekland, have you come to a decision about statins?
I’m retesting in a month. I’ve added good things to my diet and shifted things around, so I’m happy about that. But sometimes I feel deprived and wonder if anything is going to make a difference.
When I was reading things about the Mediterranean diet for example, it seems to help men more than women. With women, stress seems to be a big factor in heart disease and some of that is out of our control as moms.
I have high cholesterol (225) but my HDL is 99, so my doc is fine not treating me. Like some of you, I’m also thin and very fit. Cholesterol is half genetic luck!
My husband has radiation induced CAD, so is on pravastatin, even though his family has low cholesterol, and his has never topped 157.
If you’re on the fence, have a calcium scan. That should tell you whether there’s enough damage in your coronary arteries to warrant taking a statin.
And if you do take statins, take Co Q10 to offset possible muscle damage.
@MACmiracle I honestly haven’t had much time to think about my issues lately, other than to ignore stuff I probably shouldn’t be ignoring, but it hasn’t killed me yet. Tomorrow we take off on my mom’s (probable) last trip with all of us. We’ve only been home 5 days since being at her place and some of that I’ve been pretending I still work at school (at least it’s part time).
When that trip is done and April is here, I’ll have to start focusing. My preference at this point is to have other tests done to see if it’s necessary, but I’m batting close to zero at any of my requests getting honored in the past couple of years. Well wait, not zero, they did lung function testing to prove docs screwed up my life with a wrong diagnosis 30 years ago… leaving me with the mystery of why I get out of breath so easily when I thought that one had an answer. I’ve been told I’m out of shape. Samsung tells me I’m almost always in the Top 10-15% for my age, but what do they know?
I suspect it’s a vascular issue. I’ve suspected that for a couple of years now, but like I said, I’m batting close to zero aside from the lung testing. It could match high cholesterol problems, so what I need to figure out is if statins and lowering cholesterol are likely to help I suppose.
Is this an insurance issue? Or maybe you need a new doctor.
No - nothing to do with insurance or payment. Everything to do with a previous brain tumor and a belief on their end that everything else is stress or caused by radiation - mainly because symptoms (like hearing pulse) don’t “fit” anything else/common. They’ve checked for common things. It isn’t those.
I bought the stress idea for 6 months to a year. 'Taint stress, but I refuse to cry and take a tissue box in with me to an appt or bring my dh along so a “man” can support what I say, both suggestions co-workers and friends have suggested, but both make me bristle. I just quit going to the dr and figured que sera, sera.
BUT, reason had me sign on with a new (to me) local doctor because there are “obvious” things one might want a doctor for - stitches, vaccines, whatever - something no one disputes is an issue. This doctor is a parent of students at school so I thought I might also have more credibility (though I barely knew her students).
Last fall when traipsing through Petra in Jordan (on vacation) I had to admit my breathing is considerably worse and it was time to address it. It seemed logical due to an old asthma diagnosis 30 years ago and my being told at the time that it would get worse with age. I’m 30 years older… She did lung function testing. That didn’t show asthma. The only flagged number off are airways resistance numbers (161% of predicted Raw, 32% Gaw) - no clue what those mean, but I was told everything is fine and I’m just out of shape.
That seemed awfully close to being told it’s all stress, so I gave up on that too, but did add a little more exercise - just in case she was correct. No change.
It’s pretty much a running joke in our family that “mom is stressed and out of shape” esp since no one in my family or circles “sees” either. Well, I’m not in shape to run a race, but I really can’t figure out how I “lost” shape to do everyday things that my more desk job and older hubby has no problem doing - like going from our basement to second floor when doing laundry something common for me to be doing. Stress has no effect on the issues or progression of them. They get no worse (or better) during times of stress than without.
So… my plan was to wait until middle son learns enough in med school. He is a perfectionist and knows “me.” I don’t need to convince him. He just needs to learn more. From what he’s seen so far, most things point to vascular “something,” though not necessarily cardiac (low BP - heart seems to do exactly what it should with ramping up/down with needs).
I had asked a couple of years ago to have vascular tested and was told no. That was at Johns Hopkins. I have a tough time thinking others will do things differently. I look fine. As long as I’m not trying to do things like stairs/hills, I feel fine - most of the time (having gotten used to various things). Chest pains are there sometimes - that’s when I pause and wonder - but no increase in pulse from it or any other “signs” one should look for and it’s right side, not left. If I opt to become a couch potato as happens when I’m with my mom, I fail an Allen’s (?) test med school son did - no surprise to me - but that won’t ever happen in a doctor’s office as adrenaline picks up. As long as I keep walking/active I pass the test even at home. That’s what I do - a home remedy of sorts I suppose.
My mom’s cancer has had me wondering if it’s something along those lines… but if so, catching it early sure isn’t happening, so I’m not really sure I want to know at this point.
We all live with something as we grow older. That’s what I default to - that and my lad being brilliant once he has enough background. If anyone can figure it out - he will be able to.
So for now… go with statins as suggested after my last test results and these being worse (making me think I will get the same suggestion at the next regular appt) or change diet more or try to get this new doctor to check more things? I’ll have time to think about it in April. She might be willing to test more - or she might default to JH’s diagnosis of stress. Who knows?
Yes, kiddo, we’ve aged. Muscles lose strength faster, when we don’t engage in an exercise plan. Just the former normal things don’t do it, it’s supposed to be “sustained.” Stairs? Could be as simple as your quads/thigh musles need work. Been there. Best wishes with all this.
I’ll probably get tomatoes thrown and I am aware I see things through my own perspective being influenced by connective tissue disorders. But I remember you having a history of cough variant asthma from another forum. Maybe I’m misremembering? Anyway, the lung functions tests for whatever reason for me thinking about laryngomalacia in a very mild form. It would fit the asthma-like symptoms and the symptoms you experience with exertion.
And I did read that hearing your pulse should be investigated. And I agree with you on the stress thing. The pulse might have other explanations but the exertion problem has lasted thirty years. It’s hard to believe you’ve been stressed that long.