Statins

[Frowningprovidence]

Does anyone know if you should have any tests other than cholesterol before starting statins.

The nhs website says liver function and possibly thyroid but my GP hasn't offered them. I just got a text message asking if I wanted statins and then another text saying pick them up.

Unusual text from your surgery if you haven't had a consultation with the GP. You need to speak with your GP before taking Statins.

Did you have bloods taken to diagnose you with high cholesterol? They may have done a liver function and thyroid blood test at the same time and are going off those results.

@goingtotown Ihaven't seen the gp. I requested the cholesterol test as my brother has high cholesterol. I did it via a form. I then got a texts as described.

@Nursemumma92 they haven't done any other tests as I can see all my results on the nhs app and the nurse taking the blood just got consent for one test.

I just wondered if anyone had any experiences.

You should have a blood test to know your starting point, surely?

I get an annual blood test to see where things are, which includes liver function (which so far, after several years, has always been fine.) Cholesterol results are much better since taking statins.

They can test for a number of things from one test, though.

They always explain what tests you are having though and the results are always on the nhs app. The nurse clearly said it was for cholesterol only and there is no trace of any other texts on the app.

Thank you. Did you find the statins OK if you dont mind me asking.

they raise your risk of developing diabetes so it is worth being aware of the risk/benefit of high cholesterol Vs diabetes in terms of your personal health.

Yes, no problems. I already have T2 diabetes, before starting statins.

I was reluctant to take statins because my cholestrol wasn't high and I have multiple health conditions and am already on a lot of drugs. However they don't just look at your cholestrol, they look at other factors and come up with a risk evaluation of cardiac event (qrisk).
I agreed to a low dose. Zero side effects and it dropped my cholestrol despite being half the normal dose.

That's really helpful thank you.

I think id be more confident if I could speak to a doctor.

What's the downside of taking statins? I'm at the age where I guess I may be offered these at some point. Parents - one died at 60 of a heart attack and the other developed T2 diabetes.

My mum had very painful muscles and stomach issues from them so stopped them
. So I was just hoping to get a better understanding of pros and cons. And things like the number of peoole they they actually help.

Also advice on whether I could lower levels naturally.

I personally haven't had any downsides.
They have a reputation for various aches and pains but a study showed that those with placebo reported the same as those on the drug. Also there are different types if one doesn't suit.

I contacted my GP about statins after taking part in a research project which flashed up that my cholesterol level was high. She ordered a full range of blood tests, and on discovering that my thyroid was borderline, put me on thyroxine for three months first, as low thyroid can lead to high cholesterol. That only brought my cholesterol down by a tiny bit, so another GP in the practice has now put me on statins. This is my third day taking them.

The night after my first dose, I had the most awful and disturbing nightmare. This is apparently a rare side effect of the one I'm on. I was worried about going to sleep last night, but fortunately it didn't happen again. But if this becomes regular I'll ask to change to something else.

There are very few downsides medically and if you have T2DM and a FH of raised cholesterol the calculation that your GP has done is likely to advise them. Look up QRisk 3 and plumb in your numbers. Occasionally statins irritate the liver so there is an argument for having a pretreatment baseline figure handy particularly as it is really common for those with T2DM to be overweight and have a bit of fatty liver.

I started on statins 6 months ago - had a blood test after I'd been on a few months to check cholesterol levels ( they were down well within normal limits) glucose and liver function which was all normal. Absolutely no side effects - happy to take them forever!

i just came across this thread as i know the pharmacist is talking statins but the Qrisk 3 is 9.1% which seems low
so thank you for that