Well, I made it to 66 without any regular medications but am starting on a statin (atorvastatin) Monday. My cholesterol starting creeping up in the last couple of years and it was over 200 late in 2024 but doc agreed to see if I could make diet changes. To be frank, I didn’t try that hard - now it’s a little higher.
I don’t eat badly, just could do better. I exercise plenty. Family history of high cholesterol. I talked to my doc and she agreed I could start on a 3x/week regime, lower dose. And we will see if that and some diet changes help. She is also prescribing a coenzyme for me to take daily - if I understand correctly this can help with statin side effects like muscle aches? And be beneficial to heart health?
So any tips of the cholesterol meds trade I should know? Do you take a coenzyme with your statin? I know many people who started and stopped because of the side effects. I am mentally seeing this as a heart healthy step that is low lift - I hope!
I also only have a script that will last me 12 weeks - will I need to get labs at each refill time???
I take atorvastatin. My older brother and sister take it too. I have not had any problems with it. I don’t take coenzyme. Do you have family members who take a statin?
Not that I’m currently aware of. My parents did but they both are gone. I guess I could check with my sibs. We are all states away from each other and cholesterol isn’t something that we have discussed!
I also take atorvastatin daily. I have no issues at all.
No one in my husband’s family can take a statin…it causes significant memory loss.
I think you should check with extended family, and do monitor yourself as you take this med.
My RX is for six months. I also take Lisinaprol. My PCP has blood work done every six months to check liver function…I don’t remember which drug could cause problems.
I have a very strong family history of hyperchloestrolemia.
I’ve taken simvastatin (Zocor) for almost 20 years now. It’s been very effective for me. I used to take 20mg daily, but then I moved in with vegetarians and drastically reduced my meat intake. (Not no meat, but maybe only 2-4 x/week counting all meals. I do eat full fat dairy and eggs regularly.) Currently I only take 10 mg daily.
Never taken a co-enzyme with it.
I get a blood panel every 6 months to check on liver function.
The first month I was on statins was very rough and I very nearly asked my doctor to take me off it. I didn’t have muscle pain, but I did have some pretty constant pain in my liver area . I said I would give it the 30 days before I quit it, and, lo and behold, exactly 3 days before I was going to call my internist and insist on discontinuing it–all the pain…just stopped. It hasn’t come back since. My doctor and I have discussed switching to one of the newer statins, but since I have no problems taking simvastatin he recommended not changing my prescription in case I couldn’t tolerate a different statin and then might not be able to tolerate the simvastatin if I went back on it. Apparently that happens.
The husband of a co-worker had to discontinue his statin use because he developed severe depression after starting it. I understand that depression is not an uncommon side effect.
I was told by my internist that it’s more effective to take your statin in the evening before bed. So I do.
Welcome to the club. Been taking it for year’s and just a few months ago started Coq10. I guess I do get some muscle aches but never attributed it to the statin but I am well aware of the side effects.
Your doctor is doing a trial run and why you’re going back for labs in such a short time. It can affect your liver enzymes to rise. It’s a very smart and prudent move. Always listen to your doctor and not the crazies on social media (no crazies here )….. Fun fact I was on Lipitor year’s ago but it raised my liver enzymes high. So they took me off it. Shoot. It’s like the only thing that works for me plus a combination of Zetia.
Anyway, now that I am a young 64 for whatever reasons it works well and I haven’t had a rise in my liver enzymes.
But taking the meds isn’t an excuse not to eat better. Talk to your doctor about the proper diet or way of eating. Good luck.
I’m good to go with how to eat. I eat well, but I also know I can do 10% better. 95%+ of our meals are prepared at home - by me - and I’m not one to grab fast food - probably less than once a month.
And I def do “what the doctor orders” - but am not afraid to speak up and offer some compromises - an I am also at the beginning of this journey so while I have not listened before it is helpful to learn from others who are doing similar - but know well that we are individuals and that “the right thing” varies from person to person.
I’ve been taking atorvastatin for about 6 years I think. Started at 20mg, went to 40 and at some point I told doc I was going back to 20 or off it. I’ve been at 20mg for a few years now. It’s tolerable.
My sister can’t take it at all. She was on it and almost pasted out walking down the street.
I took it but had terrible muscle pain. I remember a doctor asking me — it was like working out really hard at the gym? And my answer was, no—it’s like take me to the ER to amputate my arm.
So, I don’t take it any more!
probably genetic, as my mother got terribly high liver enzyme elevations when she was on statins.
in case, your doctor or pharmacist hasn’t mentioned it–grapefruit and grapefruit juice negatively interacts with atorvastatin (and several other statin drugs) by inhibiting the breakdown of the drug in your intestinal tract.
Eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice can increase the likelihood of muscle pain.
This made me sad, as I love grapefruit and haven’t been able to eat it for more than a decade.
A relative using statins got the muscle pain side effect and rotated through different statins before dropping them and changing to a different type of blood lipid drug. After dropping statins, blood sugar / HbA1c also went down – statins are known to raise blood sugar / HbA1c, so those who have T2 diabetes or whose blood sugar / HbA1c is on the edge of T2 diabetes may want to take that into account.
Yes I have actually read this info from Mayo. To me it seemed that this supplement could be beneficial - but I sort of wondered why I hadn’t heard of it before or why more people weren’t taking it.
I’ve heard of it for over a decade and took it for a while until my gyn asked me why I was taking it (pre statin prescription) and I said because it sounded like something I needed…saw a bunch of commercials on tv and I was into supplements. I do take statins now and my doctor has never prescribed CoQ10 and I did have to get off my first prescription of Lipitor because I had the severe muscle aches across the shoulders. It was quite bad, I could not deal with pain at all. I was then put on Pravastatin and have had no issues. I’d like to get off it all…it works like a dream on me.
No side effects all from Atorvastatin for me on 40mg. But I did not expect to have any side effects because my bro and sis also take it and don’t have any problems. I also take the same blood pressure med as my sis. When the doc wanted to put me on a blood pressure med I told her my sis takes Lisinopril and she said let’s start with that then. As siblings we share a lot of the same genetics (hence the high blood pressure and high cholesterol) so it only makes sense that the same meds might work.
)….. Fun fact I was on Lipitor year’s ago but it raised my liver enzymes high. So they took me off it. Shoot. It’s like the only thing that works for me plus a combination of Zetia.