Have you been prescribed or recommended to take a Statin drug?

Have you ever been prescribed or recommended to take a statin drug?

  • Yes

    Votes: 5 62.5%

  • No

    Votes: 3 37.5%
  • Total voters
    8
Ken Anderson

Ken Anderson

Greeter
Staff member
I had a doctor once who said that everyone 40 or older should be taking a statin drug. This seemed to be nonsense to me, yet nearly everyone I know who is 60 or older is either on a statin drug or complains that their doctor wants them to take a statin drug. Have you ever been recommended to take or prescribed a statin drug? Although my doctor is no longer nagging me about statins, she has tried to get me to take them in the past, as have my last three or four doctors, and I did take statins in the past, so I'll be answering yes.
 
Think you already know my answer to that question Ken. I am still moving better now. I can not decide if I should just take half a dose of 20 mg or just stay off of it period. I will catch all kinds of backlash if I take half and even more if not the full dose.
 
I was advised to do so some time ago. and for a short period I took one (Lipitor, I think) at a very low dose, There was no change in my lipids, so I just stopped. Statins were developed from Chinese medicine Red Yeast Rice extract. Originally it was used as an anti-inflammatory but when it was noted by the drug companies that it lower lipid levels in most people, the active ingredient was immediately patented and that battle continues to this day I think over whether traditional Chinese medicine can be patented. I attended a long lecture by the developers of one of the early statins and they painted it as a solution to all one's problems and as a life extender. I asked if they had compared it to other more conventional and already marketed anti-inflammatories and you should have seen the looks I received from the researchers. No comparisons have ever been done against simple things like turmeric if comparable dosages. Total cholesterol was the original target, but it has now been shown that total cholesterol level makes no difference, so the emphasis has now moved to LDL levels, but as a posted video demonstrated, the type, density and size of the LDL is what matters, not the level. Sooooooo now we go on to other things and some studies have shown that stain administration has no effect on life expectancy, some show that it extends life a bit, and still other studies show that all-cause mortality is higher among statin users that a comparable study of non statin users. You can make your own decisions based on your levels, medical advice, and your own research. Just be aware that most of the research is financed by Big Pharma and any study that shows drugs in a bad lightr usually dos not get published, as least in the U.S. and many Western nations.

Here is a link to what WebMD says about Red Yeast Extract.
 
When I picked up my insulin a few years ago, the pharmacy clerk handed me a bottle of pills. I asked, "What's that?" He said "A statin; your doctor recommended it." I said, "Interesting - he just sends a prescription to the pharmacy without mentioning it to me....no blood test, nothing. No thanks."
By the way, he's not really "my" doctor; I've never met him or spoken to him; I only have a telephone chat with the receptionist to renew my Rx for insulin every few months. His office tells me what time they will call & the receptionist asks me a couple of silly rehearsed questions - "What do you eat for breakfast, how often do you use insulin," etc. Like I need their advice after 15 years of diabetes management. The phone conversation costs me $189.00, but they won't renew my Rx without it.
 
Hoot Crawford said:
Been taking lipitor for about 25 years. Currently on 40mg dose
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Way longer than that for me. I'm at 20mg. When I go off of it, my cholesterol skyrockets. When I had a TIA (small stroke), the cardiologist increased my Lipitor to 40mg because it has the side effect of preventing your platelets from sticking to each other. Then he said "I'm not sure you even had a stroke" but refused to cut my dose back to 20mg. Apparently, the risk of damage caused by statins is incurred at any dose, with larger doses not representing larger risk.

I started cutting the 40mg in half on my own, and when my numbers were OK I had my GP write me a proper 20mg script. My total cholesterol is now below 170 so I'm thinking of cutting my 20mg in half...I started off at 10mg years ago.
 
I took Lipitor and a couple of other statins for a while, and I couldn't stand the cramping and the restless leg syndrome discomfort. I quit taking the statins even before my cholesterol levels moved further into the normal range. As it was, they were, according to my doctor, in the high range of normal, so I figured the high range of normal is normal.
 
Ken Anderson said:
I took Lipitor and a couple of other statins for a while, and I couldn't stand the cramping and the restless leg syndrome discomfort. I quit taking the statins even before my cholesterol levels moved further into the normal range. As it was, they were, according to my doctor, in the high range of normal, so I figured the high range of normal is normal.
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I've always tolerated Lipitor well. A long time ago my then-GP decided to switch me to Crestor. It have me horrible shoulder pain. I made him switch me back. For a while I tried to control my cholesterol with niacin (B3.) You take large doses and it causes significant flushing to the point that your clothes touching your skin hurt. It wasn't worth continuing.

I guess everyone knows to take CoQ10 with their statins to reduce/eliminate the muscle damage.
 
Exercise and diet brought my cholesterol levels back to a mid-normal range, and I think the natural way of accomplishing a medical goal is always better than the medicinal one, which isn't to say that medicines don't have a place. Still, getting vitamins naturally through diet and sunlight is better than through tablets, and so on. That may not always be possible for everyone, but doctors tend to ignore the better alternatives altogether.
 
It has been two weeks off of the Lipitor and made a very noticeable difference. So I took only 10 mgt last night.
I kid you not, I can barley move today from neck down, tight muscles, and pain. That is the only difference, so it had to be that med. I do question only 10 mg, I could tolerate that dosage at one time. Guess I want be doing much today.:(
 
Hedi Mitchell said:
It has been two weeks off of the Lipitor and made a very noticeable difference. So I took only 10 mgt last night.
I kid you not, I can barley move today from neck down, tight muscles, and pain. That is the only difference, so it had to be that med. I do question only 10 mg, I could tolerate that dosage at one time. Guess I want be doing much today.:(
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Don't forget to take CoQ10. It helps with the muscle aches. And maybe you could tolerate a different statin better. I commented that my GP once took my off Lipitor (which I tolerate well) and put me on Crestor "just because," and the pain was so great I made him switch me back.
 
John Brunner said:
Don't forget to take CoQ10. It helps with the muscle aches. And maybe you could tolerate a different statin better. I commented that my GP once took my off Lipitor (which I tolerate well) and put me on Crestor "just because," and the pain was so great I made him switch me back.
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Crestor is still on patent.
 
Hubby is on a statin. I definitely don't want him to have a stroke and he was told he had a-fib. He had a-fib ONE TIME after the infectious disease surgeon did not show up till the next night after hubby's trip to the ER. Hubby had a severe infection in his foot and was told by his podiatrist to get to the ER.
grrrrrr
I told him to stay on it for a bit but would prefer he change his diet and get on nattokinase which he did. He lost some weight and some numbers improved...
I am on nothing and my doctor might suggest something if I went to see him but would not prescribe. I am old. I am fine. If I have some symptoms....
 
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