A comment on @Creekland’s issue with the medical providers and finding solutions, I have two minor health inconveniences which I have had for decades and asked physicians about, been given meds etc., with no great solution. Fast forward 30 years, DD is an MD, but DD also has a couple of the same genetic tendencies and she works out what she thinks the baseline issue is. She was right and her Tx ideas worked for two things that are totally inconvenient and uncomfortable, such that I am now able to avoid exacerbating either one of those issues by using her Dx of the root causes.
Your physician is great at trying to save your life, but not so great at helping you be more comfortable each day, which, once you know you are not going to die, truly becomes your priority, feeling good each day! Once Creekland rules out fatal risk causes, then she is in that place where doctors may not really know what to do to make your life better.
Blood results are already in, all but Ha1c - they are very quick. I gotta admire them!
Cholesterol is still high, but dropped from 6 months ago.
Total 233 vs 247 in March
HDL 46 vs 49 in March (I’m aware that higher is better with that one, but the results are what I got)
LDL 169 vs 179
Trig 88 vs 95
That hardly draws conclusive “need to try statins” results for me - either way to answer it. I had hoped for something easier to get an answer from TBH.
The only other thing out of line is fasting glucose at 109 (down from 114), but that’s been high since my college or at least pregnancy days. Ha1c has never (yet) been out of line, but that’s the one I don’t have yet. For better or worse, my body runs high on fasting blood sugar. We’ve (personally) mused whether that is the cause that I’m awake and active in the morning - always, no matter how little sleep I get - and others need time to “wake up.” I have the energy in my blood stream and they need to add it - or caffeine. 
Total Bilirubin is usually high, but for once it’s just at the high level marker of 1.0 instead of a more typical 1.4 so seems to have moved in the correct direction.
Everything else of the 30+ tests is in the normal range - very typical numbers. I see nothing to be concerned about, but will await the diabetic test because that’s very genetic in my lineage (and at a young age), so sooner or later, could cross the line. I like to think my diet has staved it off so far.
So… I suspect I’m going to have to decide whether to do statins anyway or not, and if not, my guess is this cardiologist won’t want me to stay as his patient - that guess based upon his pro statin discussion yesterday. If he’s not willing to test out the irregular heartbeat thing with exercise (as that honestly seems like the best guess at this point), I’m not sure there’s a reason to stick with him other than I like him personally (well, professionally, but meaning his “bedside manner” - I don’t actually know him personally).
He wanted 30 days at 20mg, then retest levels. Worth it to try or not?
He warned about the chief side effect being muscle pains. I experienced that when trying an Fe supplement and quickly ditched the Fe along with (most) Iron fortified foods once I put two and two together that it was cause/effect. If this is similar, there’s no way I’m taking it, but of course, I don’t know if it is unless I try it.
Any other cons anyone knows about?
@Himom There really isn’t any test outside of blood tests that I think I can get on my own even with OOP paying for them.
If I could, I’d definitely be trying the heart monitor to see what that recorded both with normal activity and giving it a decent “reach my end” workout. I can hear my pulse, but I’m not sure I can hear any abnormality considering how far my ear is from the heart. I have to just be hearing blood pulsing through an artery near the ear - not the actual heart working. What my med school lad has proposed is interesting to me - worth it to track down - esp since NIH says it’s a possibility. I just can’t do that one on my own and that’s frustrating (sigh). I’d love to try it and just hand the results over to someone who knew what to do with it if anything showed up - being content to know it’s just a dead end brainstorm if nothing abnormal were there. I don’t have that option. Not that I know of anyway. Anyone can feel free to point me elsewhere if I just haven’t discovered a place for it.
@BunsenBurner We jog ponies for videos here. They’re short videos, so probably less than a tenth of a mile at a pony trot, so around 8mph. I used to be able to do that easily in the past even without doing it weekly. The last time I did it was last fall. Three ponies, six short jogs. Totally normal for our farm. The results of that showed me the drastic change that sent me to the pulmonologist in the first place seeing how much it affected me and coming shortly after our Jordan/Petra trip showing me similar decline. Those are the things it takes a couple days for my pulse to return to < 90 with. I can’t really fathom trying it now except you can bet it would be on that heart monitor if I could actually get one. I’ve tested single short runs (like from barn to house in rain) without lasting problems, so somewhere between those is the tipping point.
@LeastComplicated Blood test results seemed normal (see above). It amazes me that what seems super logical to me also isn’t to doctors. Everyone else I talk with follows my logic. Even today getting the vascular testing done the technician agreed it’d be worth a try considering the only time there are issues are with exercise.
The vascular test is normal BTW. The technician said it couldn’t get more normal. That’s hardly a surprise to me, but she did say it could have been out of line, so I’m not at all opposed to the doctor having wanted it. (I’m well aware that the technician wasn’t supposed to give me results… such is life in a small town with nice camaraderie. I’ll deny it ever happened if anyone wants to get annoyed about it.)
This may not be a cardio vascular issue I suppose, but why leave the one path unchecked? Test “something” with exercise. All tests have been without. Why? I feel perfectly normal* without. I’ll admit to appreciating the heart cath “just in case” considering my dad died six days later from a heart issue, but now that that’s been checked, let me push the issue with something recording things to see if all is normal or not. (sigh) If it is, that at least adds to it merely being a radiation issue - brain signal to heart being off or similar.
- perfectly normal means just with this issue, not counting trigeminal nerve stuff or hearing pulse, etc. Those are constant throughout life. This is only constant with exercise beyond walking on flat ground.
Hmm… does normal vascular testing also align with skipping statins? Just brainstorming…
Consider buying an apple watch and you can Enroll in the cardiac study with STANFORD FREE! If they something concerning, they’ll send you FREE long term monitor and analyze.
@HImom - I recall you recommending that before now that you mention it again. It’s suddenly become far more appealing. Thanks for sharing it (again)!
AND that option died fast.
Oh well. That’s my fault. I should have paid attention the first time HImom mentioned it. Such is life.
You are aware of the risk of increased blood glucose levels with statins?
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/278164.php
@Creekland , but why were you taking iron supplements? And now you’re not eating iron fortified foods? Seriouslyy, the description I read when researching anemia made me think immediately of you because I think it said something like “some people might not experience symptoms with everyday activities, but may become short of breath when climbing stairs or doing other physical activities that usually caused them no problems.”
I can’t remember if you’ve already explained all that, but it was fresh in my mind.
@Creekland are you saying it takes a DAY for your pulse to get back under 90 after one of your pony jogs or similar?
That sounds like a perfect reason to order a Holter monitor. I had one for much less troublesome symptoms.
@ucbalumnus No, but now I recall someone mentioning it before. I just got my Ha1c result back and that was 5.9 - the highest it’s ever been. It sort of makes sense with the way things have been lately with summer and so much travel to see relatives (who don’t eat the same way we choose) plus the kids being home. I’m going to insist on things returning to normal (or more normal anyway) with my diet over the next 6 months, see what that next number does, then go from there with that one. I’m inclined to ditch the statins for the next 6 months for the same reason. Those numbers even went down with the diet being more off.
@LeastComplicated The Fe supplements were a suggestion from my PCP due to one flagged low Fe Sat number in these normal blood checks. Things get monitored a fair bit due to the radiation and brain tumor. Radiation could have caused something (forgot what) and adding Fe was supposed to help. It made sense, so I tried it. Conditions deteriorated quickly. I had never been tired, but was after adding Fe. Joints hurt. Chest pains increased and hardly ever went away. It was actually kinda scary at the time because I assumed it was bad. We added more Fe. More trouble. At one point (a couple months in) I realized all the new stuff started with adding the Fe, so I tried dropping it. Improvement was relatively immediate and all but some of the chest pains disappeared eventually.
Once cardiac things were cleared chest pain wise my mind meandered back to wondering if Fe was still the cause of those. I know the difference between the occasional heartburn and what I had, but when I was on extra Fe it felt the same as what I still sometimes get. I googled high Fe foods to see what I might cut back - and discovered fortified foods (like some cereals). I’ve dropped those. It’s too recent to know if that’s entirely my solution, but so far, it’s worked.
Fe numbers on the recent blood tests were just fine. (99 with a range of 65-175 for Fe, %Sat was 22 with a range of 20-55 - this was the low number before, transferrin was 322 with a range of 189-335) I’m not tired with anything I do (except when I should be at night or with some of the extended extra exercise that I more or less avoid at the moment out of caution). My body is getting enough or keeping enough or whatever even with less intake. I have not cut all meat or spinach, etc. I’ve cut back significantly - though actually increasing spinach while decreasing more meat. It’s something I’m paying attention to. Taking Fe is not an option though. Neither will statins be if they were to do the same thing.
@surfcity Well, it was the Petra one that first caught my attention, but yeah… something seems off with it. Doing what I do every day even when it causes the breathing to get more difficult (like basement to second floor carrying a laundry basket) has the pulse getting into the 120s, but returning to the 60s or at least 80s quickly. Doing the six pony jogs and walking Petra for a day had it only dropping into the 90s until a bit more time had passed - at least 24 hours. I have no idea why, but when one is sitting around listening to it, it catches your attention. Both of those caused chest pains that lasted for a while too, but I’ve no way of checking to see if that was due to extra Fe consumption via what I ate or the exercise. Someday I’ll be brave and try something that extended again. I just wanted to check to be sure I wasn’t playing with fire by doing so once someone said it could be cardiac (in another thread). At the time, I just assumed it was the Navy diagnosed asthma catching up with me as I aged - annoying, but no big deal. Get around to making a doctor appt and get some inhalers or something like most folks who have asthma. Then it wasn’t asthma… so… well, that’s where I’m at.
At the moment… all of my stuff is going on hold (next actual appt isn’t until late Oct anyway). My mom isn’t doing well with her cancer (thank you CDiff - and chemo), so I’m currently in pack up mode to leave tomorrow. I’m very grateful my youngest decided to come home after college and is a terrific farm hand. I’ll have my computer and time to look things up or ponder. I won’t have access to any particular doctors and I’m not picking up the statins from the pharmacy. I will be checking out those steps along the river up the hill (likely Friday). I want to see if what I experienced last week is the new normal with that or not. I don’t mind pushing what I do normally. None of that has killed me yet and the heart cath was fine. I’m afraid if I stop doing what I’ve been doing I’ll lose that too.
Beware that HbA1c in the 5.7-6.4% range is considered prediabetes:
https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/guide/glycated-hemoglobin-test-hba1c
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/a1c-test/about/pac-20384643
@ucbalumnus Agreed. That’s why I’m putting off statins for now. A year ago the Ha1c was 5.3. Six months ago it was on the edge at 5.7. The increase is either inevitable due to genetics and age or reversible if I use the results to explain why I’m sticking more with my traditional diet rather than joining in as much elsewhere when we travel - plus I add a bit more in soda for the caffeine when we travel. I can cut that switching for unsweetened tea (not as tasty, but definitely healthier). I’m going to try the latter first. If it doesn’t work, then meds are probably needed. No harm trying.
Then I’ll figure out how statins work in. At mom’s I’ll send a message to the doctor letting him know I’m not starting statins now (and why). He can decide to let me proceed with my plans or let me know if he’d prefer I find someone else. If the latter, it’s not a good match doctor-wise for me anyway. I prefer letting the body help itself via diet and exercise if possible and only if that fails going with meds.
Creekland - I guess I don’t understand why you would be concerned about a 120 HR going up a couple flights of stairs? My resting HR is high 30s/max 185. I’m 62 and run competive masters track (Running 30-40 miles a week) and my HR can approach 120 plus by going up one office floor of stairs. If I walk on an incline of 15 degrees on a treadmill at 3.5 mph my heart rate probably averages 130. I don’t know your fitness level but I could easily see how a less fit individual could approach 130-140 going up stairs or walking up a hill. If I run a hill longer than 100 meters I’m easily 170 plus.
I’ve read this thread for months and kind of wondered the same thing as Ohiopublic. My resting pulse isn’t as good as the above…generally around 65, but my HR can go to 120 with a fight or two of stairs, or a slow jog on a treadmill, a fast paced bikeride…lots of things. It also comes down rapidly to normal after the exertion stops. I’m in my early 60s. Between 50 and now my glucose did a slow rise from the 80s into the 90s…so many things that just have to do with the fact I’m 10 years older. I hope you and your body can find some peace! I don’t disagree with balancing the rising glucose with statin treatment…a higher dose of statins has been shown to raise blood glucose. At this point in my life I’ve decided it’s all about “risk management”!
@ohiopublic and @momofthreeboys Don’t read too much into that part of the story. This thread is about statins - something two different doctors have been suggesting I start using due to cholesterol numbers. The other is a puzzle I’m trying to figure out. The only reason pulse figures into it at all is because when I did blood oxygen testing last fall as part of testing lungs, the technician doing the test was amazed at my pulse going into the 140s so easily. She’s the one who said that’s not normal. Maybe it is. I don’t know. It’s not normal among those I do things with, but that’s a small segment of our population. My background is Physics/Math and Psychology (Organizational). I know Bio enough to teach it at a high school level because I filled in for a co-worker while she was on maternity leave. All medical “stuff” outside of First Aid, Nutrition, and High School Bio I’m learning as I come across it. For decades I’ll admit to never giving a hoot. Getting diagnosed with a brain tumor changed life - and then having aging parents and reaching middle age ourselves (H and I).
What my family and I do know is oodles of things I used to be able to do (exercise related) I’m gradually losing and no one else my age is. Maybe I did just get the shallow end of the exercise gene pool. Who knows? For the past 4 years we’ve blamed it on asthma getting worse because the Navy diagnosed that three decades ago - getting me medically discharged from the AF - and said it would get worse as I aged. We all assumed it was that and didn’t worry. The Navy told me the only reason I’d been able to complete Field Training in the AF and oodles of things in the Corps of Cadets was because I had stayed in shape. The summer before I couldn’t complete a mile and a half run leading to the test I’d gotten married and did less working out than before. It all made sense to a naive young twenty something. It all made sense to my 45+ year old self when it started “getting worse,” even though there was no sign of it in between those two times. It’s only not made sense to us after tests last fall said there’s nothing wrong with the lungs and there probably never was asthma. Then it becomes a puzzle. “If not that, then what?”
In a different thread last April or May I’d asked if it could have come about from radiation based upon a doctor’s suggestion (due to a brain tumor radiated in early 2014). Folks on that thread suggested possibly cardiac. Some even suggested I skip my lad’s college graduation to get things tested (I didn’t). My thought back then was if it had been cardiac it’d have already killed me - mainly because I was still following the Navy’s thoughts of “what you don’t keep using you’ll lose.” I don’t regret getting cardiac tested in hindsight because my dad died of a heart issue of some sort 6 days after my heart cath - and it could have been an issue TBH. The peace of mind is definitely nice. But if there’s still one cardiac possibility, it only makes common sense (to me) to check that. I’m a science person. I firmly believe there’s a cause for everything and it’s highly unlikely to be an ex student with a voodoo doll. I like having solved puzzles that make sense. I don’t like not knowing reasons for things. Radiation sort of makes sense, I suppose, but… eh, they blame my being able to hear my pulse on it and the trigeminal nerve pain on it (those don’t make sense to me, but such is life), so sure, add one more.
If it isn’t cardiac, it isn’t. If it’s radiation, so be it. I can’t stop that and I doubt there’s any sort of fix. I’ll adjust as much as I can and whenever things get below a quality of life I like, life ends. (That’s not now.)
On a more fun note, we were talking with neighbors yesterday as part of going to my mom’s today. We all decided going out with a heart attack is actually our preferred method (comparing to cancer and Alzheimers - the first going on with my mom plus some of their relatives and the other with my MIL - all things we’re not home for lengthy periods of time this past year). I think we’ve all decided to make Burger King and Bacon regular “health” foods. Going quickly as my dad did certainly has its pros. We’re now not so sure why we’re trying to prevent that one…
Creekland, my TC is similar to yours. The other numbers are a little different with a higher HDL and lower LDL. As I said above my primary isn’t pushing a statin now that my TC is is that range.
Six months ago, when I asked my cardiologist what statin and dose I should ask for I should I ask for if I ever decided to go along with my primary’s recommendation, me mentioned Lipitor and maybe Crestor as options and said the LOWEST DOSE because I am at low risk. So the 40 your cardiologist prescribed seems high for someone in your situation unless there is some other risk factor he’s taking into account.
Exercise is important for healthy glucose metabolism so I would be reluctant to give that up.
Since you’ve experiencing those issues, you could think about a low dose statin to see if it would help. You could always stop if it causes problems with your A1C. But I wonder if a statin helps someone exercise better if that would be from the anti-inflammatory effect rather that cholesterol lowering???
I’m with @surfcity about the holter monitor. It seems strange that it wasn’t done. Whether me or my kids, that’s the first thing that’s been done.
@MACmiracle If I typed 40, that was a typo. He suggested starting at 20 to see if that made a difference.
I’m not giving up what I do. I can’t fathom becoming a couch potato. We all get to make our own decisions about quality of life and what we’re willing to live with or how we feel about ending life in general, but that’s one I’m firm about. I’ll move to flat land if necessary and take it slow when traveling to NPs, etc, in the same manner as I’ve slowed down the past 4 years, but when I have to stop, that’s a whole different setting. I know others in my group (not family) feel they’ll just accidentally slip off a mountain when the time comes. I’m not at all interested in their choice of method, but the idea is the same. Old age or health issues will hit us all at some point. Such is life. What we do about it is entirely our choice.
Even being here at mom’s I get bored with so much time on the computer (she’s not awake yet, so I’m being quiet - going on my third hour…). She sleeps on the couch by her door so sneaking out for a walk is impossible - then too - not being here when she wakes up is not helpful. She’s dealing with Cdiff and chemo effects making it easy for me to see why my dad’s departure due to heart issues is more preferable for me. It’s also a good idea to note how helpful it would be to have a bedroom on the first floor for when one gets older. Life lessons. She’s chosen chemo to extend her life as long as possible. Her choice. I support her. I’d be out gazing at as many beaches and fishies until I couldn’t anymore. My choice.
@Creekland, a lot of the problems you mention - the elevated glucose, shortness of breath with minimal exertion - any possibility these are related to being overweight? I noticed back at the beginning you mentioned a high BMI that you were working on. I know life has been very stressful for you lately, but is it possible that you could see some improvements with some weight loss? As someone who has lost over 100 pounds (and I’m not suggesting you need to lose 100 pounds), I can tell you I feel a lot better than I did 9 years ago and I am confident I truly do need a statin at this point. Just a thought and if it’s been mentioned previously and isn’t a factor, my apologies for bringing it up.
@sabaray - who knows? If I drop 30lbs, I’m fully in the normal range with BMI. I just checked.
I got a message back from the cardiologist making it seem like he’s willing to discuss things (statins + possibility of an irregular heartbeat only with exercise) when I’m back in town. That’s good enough for me. I’ve no idea when I’ll be back in town though. My mom lives alone. No one should be living alone while on the chemo she’s taking. I’m more or less relocating for an undetermined amount of time. Mom’s worth it and I don’t feel anything needs to be addressed immediately, including the statin question.
Tomorrow morning I’m hoping to try the steps along the walk though. Can’t stop the brain from being curious and mom doesn’t get up until late morning.
“Interesting” turn of events here that I’m just now working to process, so any additional thoughts preferably with reasoning or sites to read to back them up are welcome.
Irregular heartbeat turned out to not be an issue with a stress test, so all really seemed perfect cardiac-wise. Terrific cath, terrific extremities test, normal BP, low resting heart rate (albeit higher than average with exercise), so only the cholesterol being high was left as a “take statins” recommendation. Couple that with diabetic numbers that have always been just a nick on the low side of borderline high and it was a no brainer to me that statins are potentially more harmful than helpful. However, the dr suggested a calcium scan just to make sure. No problem. That one is out of pocket, but it’s definitely not a big drain on the budget.
That score came back at 175. I’m told that’s in the >90% for my age (51) and it really should have been zero. I’m trying to figure out how in the world it got that high. No smoking - ever. Exercise - moderate, yes, practically daily - since my youth. BP/resting heart rate normal. Blood sugar is borderline, but always a nick on the low side of borderline, not touching the pre-diabetic range except for always high fasting rates (Ha1C is always fine). Diet is mostly healthy and veggie based - has been for years. BMI is just under 30, so while overweight, not excessively so according to him or my relatives/friends. Stress is pretty non-existent, esp again, compared to pretty much everyone I know. Type B personality - not even close to Type A. All blood tests except cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, and total bilirubin come back fine. That last one is borderline high, but never raised red flags from drs - just noted on the tests.
Genetics are certainly possible from my dad’s side.
So my google searches over the next few days - should have a bit of time this weekend - will include “Can one lower coronary calcium levels” and whatever I can think of related to statins vs diabetes.
Med school lad hasn’t had this topic yet, but plans to look at things + ask around so we can discuss further over Thanksgiving.
I’m also starting to let my mind explore further and wonder if this could be at all related to hearing pulse and/or extremity numbishness when still (though the extremity circulation test was supposed to mean that one was fine cardiac-wise).
So much to start to figure out - so anything y’all want to add - feel free. I still have that “take statins or not” decision to make - soon. I guess at this point I’m starting to lean yes, but I’ll admit some concern that my mom told me she got horrible joint pain when she tried them. She had to stop. I wonder how much that runs in the family too.