Share your thoughts on statins

Parent Cafe
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If it were just us traveling, there wouldn’t be as many problems. I figure out exercise and can eat normal (for me) amounts, so the only thing I need to adjust for is the additional calories stuffed into restaurant food.

Essentially what I think happened is I conditioned my body to need very little when I delightfully used the fact that I never get hungry to lose a bunch of weight (by not eating) right after radiation. (Big Loser style for anyone who has read about those effects.) I wish I had known at the time about that sort of permanent reconditioning as I didn’t have to do it, but… such is life.

At home, I always make time to eat breakfast - either a bagel/toast if in a hurry or two fried eggs with a sauteed mixture of potatoes (switched out for yellow squash in season), mushrooms, all sorts of peppers, onions, and spinach. Lunch is usually non-existent, but can be a couple of dark chocolate covered almonds or something very light. If at school it’s fruit and yogurt. Dinner is usually something fairly healthy and low cal with small portions for me. When I’ve kept track on an app before it’s always under 1500 calories and probably a fair bit under as the app didn’t allow one to go very low with portion sizes. Exercise is always a minimum of 10K steps and daily motion is pretty common with the various things on the farm. If I eat a true lunch, I’ll skip supper instead. I can do three light meals if needed (happens when kids are home). We go out to eat a couple of times per week, but even that doesn’t put on pounds for more than a day (typical variance).

But when traveling, it’s not just dh and I most of the time and we rarely cook. Our families/kids expect to eat three meals per day - full meals - and many of those are at restaurants. Even when they’re at one of their houses, it’s more like a feast than a meal. If I opt to get nothing or very little I get lectures about how unhealthy that is - not just at the meal - but at any particular time of the day when it might come up. (This is mostly from my parents, never my kids.) Even taking the lecture part out of the equation, have you seen the calorie count at restaurants? I can easily get more than what my body needs just with breakfast at a fast food place. Then 3 hours later they’ll be pulling into a Chinese buffet (just happened - last trip) saying it’s time for lunch (HOW can anyone be hungry so quickly after that breakfast???). Then there’s supper later - Hardees anyone (what, more food? seriously?)? I eat as light as I can to still be sociable, but it’s far more than home - then remove the exercise - it can be difficult to even get 2000 steps in and the rest is mostly sitting. Weight comes on quickly and I feel incredibly stuffed always wondering how folks can eat so much, but such is life. Their metabolism is set up for it. Mine used to handle it too. I naively ruined it - and getting older probably has a part as well.

When it is just hubby and I traveling (for fun), we like trying local specialties, and I’m not looking to change that. We don’t worry about whether it’s healthy or not. It’s temporary. I’ll mostly skip breakfast then (hotel offerings are usually lacking for my non-sweet/white bread taste buds anyway) and we’ll have one main meal of the day - often lunch. I’m sure he gets hungry, but he’ll scrounge and find some things or we’ll stop for gas and he can get something at the store there. I gain some, but nothing compared to traveling with others. The worst part there is I switch to full sugar sodas (for the caffeine) since it’s tough to brew tea and I don’t care for cold teas.

I’ve never really been a smoothie person - not even here at home. I have a blender, but it hasn’t been used in eons.

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@SouthJerseyChessMom LDL total is down, most of the LDL that I do have is the big fluffy type, and HDL is also up. So improvement on all fronts.

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Congrats on the number improvements!

So the way statins work is that they block the pathway in the liver that makes cholesterol. BUT, CoQ10 is also made in this pathway so statins end up lowering CoQ10 levels. Talk to your doctor about supplementing with CoQ10. There is some evidence that it may help with muscle pain caused by statins. CoQ10 is in all our cells, so having healthy levels is really important.

104

Had a physical today. My doc says some are now Rx statins in 2 or 3 x week instead of every day, if a person is reluctant to take one. I don’t think I am at that point yet.

How does one test for this? My doctor mentioned the large fluffy vs dense particles to me but said the testing is not usually paid for by insurance. I don’t even know what it is called.

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It is done by NMR.

https://drjockers.com/nmr-heart-disease-risk/

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@BunsenBurner Thanks! I am curious if people have done these tests via the internet kits or if they have had them done by their doctor. I see the price ranges all over the spectrum online.

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The annual bloodwork my doctor orders includes the LDL particle sizes and it is always covered by our insurance which is similar to an HMO.

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@surfcity my doctor had it done in place of the regular ldl/hdl/triglycerides one.

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Just read our BCBS policy paper on NMR testing and CVD risk. The paper states the evidence is not yet conclusive on how useful the distinction between LDL types are so I’m pretty sure they will use their policy paper to deny coverage of the NMR testing. The paper says policyholders can opt specifically to pay for this or other testing (out of their own pockets).

110

My insurance always paid for a VAP test, which I think is cheaper than the NMR version.

If you decide to get this test on your own and insurance won’t cover it, do not get it through your doctor or you could wind up paying the full retail, ridiculously high no-one-ever-pays-this price.

Find a local testing site online (they are everywhere) and get their non-insurance price, you can save a lot of money.

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A bit off-topic, but if you are on a statin, you should be taking coQ10. It can prevent some of the nasty muscular side effects.

My husband has low cholesterol (157) but had radiation to the chest, which has caused radiation-induced coronary artery disease. He’s on pravastatin and takes coQ10 to offset the side effects.

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CoQ10 can change INR levels, so if one is on a statin, talk to your cardiologist first. Not all cardiologists agree on this, however.

113

I stopped taking statins. My cholesterol has always been high, a genetic predisposition. In 2009 I tried a year of low dose 10 mg zocor and it worked wonders. But I also lost about 30% of my hair and it never grew back after I stopped the meds. My identical twin, same story.
Here was my reasoning:
1.I could find no concrete evidence or studies that show that statins work effectively for women as a preventive measure. Perhaps new studies show differently.
2. high cholest. is my only risk factor for heart disease and I do have high levels of the small dense LDL particles–blood tests done through my health plan as requested by my primary care phys. No add’l cost (annual physical).
3. The docs always ask if I have a family history of heart disease. Yes, my father had heart disease, but he also smoked, ate poorly, didn’t exercise, suffered terrible stress --stricken in his 40’s with heart attacks, died at 59 from a stroke.

4. I figure statins are a risk, maybe more of a risk than high cholesterol if you’re having to get your liver tested every 6 months.
5. I’ve continued to watch what I eat, lightly exercise every day, don’t smoke, have low-normal blood pressure, normal glucose, and limited stress. For what it’s worth I’ve added antioxidant rich foods to my diet. I could lose 10 pounds, prob not gonna happen.
What’s right for me may not be right for someone else but I’d rather not take meds if i can avoid them.

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@JRNMom Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m still undecided and will see what Sept’s numbers bring before feeling I need to make a decision. My family heart disease can’t be blamed on smoking or lack of exercise. Diet is possible. It certainly didn’t help, but like you, I’ve made other choices.

Theoretically I was going to push to get cardiac/vascular checked due to all the other issues, but I haven’t brought myself to do it as of yet. I’m really not sure I will, though on some bad days I still toy with the idea, and of course it crosses my mind with the constant stuff. The peace of mind would be nice, but dr appts are the only thing that really give me stress so it’s more appealing to just take my chances, esp knowing I’m not terribly likely to be successful anyway and knowing my issues truly could be just radiation caused - bad brain signal rather than bad heart/vascular issue.

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Last year my doctor said that my numbers met the criteria for statins. I asked her about side effects and what she thought and she said there are definitely side effects and it was up to me. I declined.

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I’ll guess the periodic need for liver testing is MD preference, probably more frequently when statins are initially started. I’ve been on statins since early 90s; I’ve taken highest daily dose for approx. 20 years and only have blood work, including liver testing, once a year in conjunction with annual physical. I have no known side effects from taking statins, but that’s not to say other people don’t/won’t have side effects, some quite serious.

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@surfcity

I don’t like statins, but have taken mine successfully for years now with no side-effects. I don’t take mine everyday, though – I’d say I take it 4 - 5 times/week. My doctor knows about this.

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I was prescribed because while my total cholesterol was always well under 200 the good cholesterol was out of desired range as it is with every family member of mine. I take a low dose and it has never bothered me. I argued with my doc for well over a year since my family has no history of heart disease but could never find any research that said it would hurt me and I have never had any muscle issues as long as I stick with the brand I use. I did notice some odd muscle things shortly after my insurance forced a switch to a different generic a number of years ago. Once I switched back to the branded the symptoms stopped. I feel alittle but like a medical guinea pig but yet I haven’t stopped taking it.

119

My cholesterol was borderline, never really high, and my doctor suggested I go on a statin. I resisted for several years and finally started taking Pravastatin (later, the generic Pravacol) about 13 or 14? years ago. My doctor here in NC was also in favor of my taking a statin to keep my cholesterol readings low. So… 1 year ago prompted by a number of factors I changed my diet. I eat vegan at home (no dairy, no meat), but I added fish to the diet. When I go out I usually settle for vegetarian and eat cheese. We eat fish including shellfish 2 or 3 times a week. 6 months into this diet all my numbers improved and my doc suggested I stop taking the statin. Today I saw him after 6 months of no statin and my cholesterol was higher, as expected, but not at all a problem, and he was pleased and I will stay off the statin. My A1C has dropped from 6.2 to 5.6. He was skeptical about the statin’s role in elevating A1C, but we are all pleased with the current situation.

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Statins have been implicated in higher blood sugar levels: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/278164.php