I was prescribed statins in April, for a cholesterol level of 7.1.
I didn't take them as I was scared of possible side effects (mostly liver damage and type 2 diabetes).
I'm 54, taking Evorel Sequi. I am overweight, mainly due to my tibia not being aligned after a break and causing ankle arthritis. I had a fusion, but have been on crutches since and the pain is getting worse.
My sister has had T2 diabetes since her late 20s. My Dbro and dad had T2 diabetes since late teens (bro) and early 30s (dad).
I had a blood test last week. My HBA1C is 38, so at the moment I am not pre-diabetic.
I have tried low impact exercise over the last few months and eating more salads (I already don't eat meat), though cannot give up chocolate at night.
My cholesterol levels now are as follows:
serum cholesterol: 6.4
serum HDL: 1.9
serum cholesterol/HDL ratio: 3.4
serum LDL: 3.6
serum triglycerides: 2.0
serum non-HDL: 4.5
I've looked online and can't see this as being that bad, but I maybe reading it wrong.
The pharmacist wants me to take statins, but as the LFT blood test showed high ALP, he wants to do a blood test in a month to check liver (the rest of the LFT results were normal, just high ALP).
My QRisk is 7.
My dad had a TIA in his 70s. My brother was 'thought' to have had a stroke in his mid 40s, as he had symptoms and an MRI showed something on his brain. He was let out a day later with no effects. However he then started getting paralysis throughout his body, which worsened over months, until he could no longer swallow and died of aspiration pneumonia. The doctors don't think he had a stroke at all.
So I'm basically asking if my levels are worryingly high? I'm willing to take the statins, as I've also been taking high strength sterols and sterol drinks but it's only reduced a tiny bit.