Statins

[Notsurehowthathappened]

I have a history of relatively high Cholesterol readings - previous high 6.8 and have tried a number of Statins to control the problem.

Early attempts - Lipitor and Simvastatin were stopped because of issues with my Liver profile readings. Last year I tried Pravastatin which initially dropped my reading from 6.8 to 5.8. The levels slowly started to rise again (up to 6.5) and I then stopped taking them three months ago because I was having dreadful stomach pains and IBS. Although I couldn't be certain either were caused by the Statin, I was quite suspicious that was the case. Sure enough in the last three months those problems have slowly gone away

Today I got a phone call from my Doctors surgery to say that my Cholesterol level, in a recent blood test, was 9.

Can I ask if anyone has had simiar issues trying to find a Statin that suits them and if so how did they resolve it? What brand did they end up taking?

A few things to think about:

• your cholesterol is not what is important. What is important is avoiding getting heart disease. High cholesterol is something that adds to your risk but it is only one of a number of things. To get a proper picture of your risk you use a risk calculator. This puts together all the relevant the facts about you and gives you the chances you will get heart disease in the next 10 years.
• Just Google QRISK2 and you can find a risk calculator online. Type in all you know. It will tell you your risk. One slightly confusing thing is that it asks for your cholesterol/HDL ratio. This means it wants to know your cholesterol level divided by your "good cholesterol" (HDL) level. If you don't know your HDL, just divide the 6.8 by 1.3 (that's about average).
• This is important because if you are a 30 year old non-smoker without any other health problems then your chances of getting heart disease in the next 10 years are next to nothing (even with a cholesterol of 6.8). So don't panic. Maybe you don't want to bother with statins. But if you are a 65 year old with diabetes who smokes the situation is very different. I would strongly suggest you persevere!

• Stomach pains and IBS are common. Taking statins is common. Just because both happen at the same time does not mean one causes the other.
• Drugs are tested in clinical trials where patients don't know if they are taking the real drug or a dummy pill. It turns out that with statins, the various aches and pains were reported just as commonly by people taking the dummy pill as the real drug. The only exception of a tiny number of people who get severe muscle problems. The problem with liver tests is also well recognised.

That is what the research says (apologies if that is a bit academic, but it is what I do for a living).

If you want a personal anecdote I also take a statin daily. I have done so for 3 years. I have never noticed any side effects and I have completed 3 marathons on statins.

^fantastic reply