Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Anybody else take a statin drug for

high cholesterol?

The first one I took Zocor made feel like I got hit by a Mack Truck. The next one Atorvastatin makes me get angry over minor things. I literally start throwing things in my shop! Been off it for several days and the temper tantrums are over.

I think it's time to get back into regular exercise to reduce my cholesterol naturally. Do have an indoor swim spa now, weight machine, and hope to get a threadmill, and rowing machine soon. Used to go to a gym, but tough to do when you're a sole proprietership.

With one out of four Americans on statin drugs it makes me wonder how many are ticking time bombs like I was. I could see the one I was on causing road rage.

Cecil, a bit off topic, but when you burn the pile in front of the house make sure the wind is blowing towards the highway!! It's getting a bit large..........

(I drove past there on Friday )

No worries. Nothing even close to the pile. We're waiting for a heavy snowfall and calm day to burn. Might even get the fire department to do it for a donation.

CB, I am on statins but fortunately haven't experienced your side effects. Of course, I'm grumpy most of the time anyway, so it's hard to tell!

If I could suggest something that might help even more than exercise, it would be eating grapefruit. Yes, grapefruit. It has been found to have rather substantial anti-cholesterol and anti- diabetic effects.

There's one hitch: Grapefruit interacts badly with some drugs. It accelerates their action, which can lead to very bad things. So you should carefully check out your medications/supplements ahead of time to make sure you don't run into problems.

Good luck -- and keep exercising! Good for the brain as well as cholesterol.

As with all medical decisions, I would consult with your primary doctor. He is familiar with all aspects of your unique individual case. If you are unhappy with the side effects talk about other options, but please for the sake of your health keep your doctor in the loop.

On top of what I do for a living I also am a Diving Medical Technician/ Emergency Medical Tech. If things go well with my test tomorrow I will then be an EMT Advanced.

But seriously, please make the time to do what is best for your long term health. Consult with your doctor, also might want to talk to him about an exercise regimen you plan on starting. Depending on what your levels are at he may advise you to start slow and work up to what your goals are.

Good advice, DC. Always check with your doctor before making major changes. Grapefruit can cause serious interactions with medications, it is powerful stuff for a food.

Interesting thing about statins, I'm not aware of a study, but I suspect quite a high percentage of MDs are taking them. I deal with heart surgeons as part of my job. One of the surgeons I was working with mentioned to me that he was taking them. He was one of those workout fanatics, so I asked him if his cholesterol was that high. He said no, but lower is always better. So, I asked several more heart surgeons, they were all taking it, pretty much all for the same reason. So the next time I had my physical, I asked my MD if he took them. Sure enough,many I know he was one of those hard core road biking guys. I said, well put me on them. That has to have been five or six years ago. I just had my cholesterol checked, it was 150 or something like that. With the bad cholesterol being low, and the ratio they look at being low also. I don't know if it's from the statins or my limited exercise program. I guess I've joined the same school of thought, lower is better.
FYI, I've always heard the main side effect from statins was the effect it had on liver function. They always do a test when I get my physical to make sure it's not being effected.
Just my $.02. About what it's worth. I guess I'll stay on it, until the next study comes out that says it contributes to memory loss. Something must be causing that with me. Ha

Thanks for the responses! Was definitely planning on consulting with my doctor. However wanted to stop taking the statin drug as an experiment for a short period of time to see if it was the culprit. I believe my doctor would have done the same thing. I needed to do something stat.

I also find it interesting that my blood pressure went up about the same time as I started taking the statin drug. Never had high blood pressure before. One of the possible side effects is increased blood pressure. I was put on a beta blocker which brought it down.

I have a major health screening every October and have noticed a one point a year increase in blood glucose levels. Statin drugs may increase blood glucose levels and some studies even show it could cause diabetes. My dad developed type II in his 60's.

And no I'm not a hypochondriac or one of those people that tries to second guess his doctor. LOL I have some medical background as I am one semester short of being an RN. Decided to be self employed instead.

Cecil, from all you have posted here, I think you are just getting older lol. At 63, I am falling apart and seems you have many of the same things going on. When you were in your teens, do you ever remember saying "that grippy old Bas...." Will now u might be him And the statins and the Beta Blockers and high blood glucose levels, etc,etc. Welcome to growing older All of the above sucks, but it's better than the alternative of not growing older. And with me the most likely thing to happen next is liver failure from all the crap they have me on, along with all the experimental mind blowing stuff I took in my teens

Tracy

Ha Ha Tracy, no doubt getting older is a factor!

But have you ever gotten so mad at something, that was trivial in retrospect, that you growled like a dog!

Had an impatient driver honk his horn at me for not pulling onto another road right away. I growled like dog and showed my teeth in the rear vew mirror. Poor guy never pulled out as far as I could see once I pulled out. Just sat there until I couldn't see him anymore. I have no doubt if it came to blows I was going to show him what I learned in the military, and attending military schools as a military dependent.

Cecil, high cholesterol runs in my family (both sides), from the high 200's to the high 300's. Weight is not an issue for my folks or 3 brothers.

Back in '08 mine was 290 and the Dr. short of insisted on putting me on statins. Being one who's anit-drug unless absolutely necessary I asked how to bring it down and the answer was diet, exercise and ELIMINATE processed foods. It wasn't an aggressive plan I went on, just an eliptical machine and better eating habits and I have also ELIMINATED any processed foods! No frozen food, dinners or anything processed. Meats from the meat department (including bacon) and fruits and veggies from the produce dept. In 4 months I brought it down to 229.

Then in 2013 the Dr. convinced me everyone should be on a statin so I started with Simvistatin. Within a week I was falling asleep at my desk in the middle of the day (along with muscle aches). A week later I was given samples of Crestor to try. I wasn't falling asleep but I didn't feel like me. So I stopped and haven't taken any since.

Jumping ahead to today, I started exercising 2 months before my trip with Fatih, using a treadmill (twice a day, 30 minutes each) and drinking at least 2 veggie/fruit drinks per day (kale, spinach and berries). Having a checkup right before we left my cholesterol was 185, first time ever under 200!

My dad who's 78 was acting very strange about 6 months ago. Constant chills, no appetite and somewhat lethargic, we knew something was wrong. And after 20+ years of seeing the same GP, we all switched to a new one. I went with dad and all of his 8 daily meds thinking there's a chemical reaction going on. And through process of elimination, discovered it was the statin. The doctor's comment was "as much as I believe in statins, would you rather live the next 10 years feeling like crap, or the next 5 feeling good and enjoying life, if in-fact clogged arteries from high cholesterol cause a heart attack? He's down to 1 med, a memory pill (beginning stages of dimentia).

The change for both of us was like night and day!

So in summary, everyone's genetic makeup is different and will have different reactions from different drugs, let alone how they react with each other if several are taken, including just more than one. I've also been told, even though we fast prior to having our cholesterol checked, it can be very different from one week to the next.

Maybe it was just our first GP, but after going in for an ailment, it always seemed like the script-pad was the doctors cure for everything. To me it's like putting a bucket under a leak instead of finding the source and fixing it.

I make my juices with a Nutri Ninja and have since bought a second one that I took to the office so the folks are drinking them now too, as none of us are good enough healthy eaters. This way we're at least getting more fruits and veggies every day. The biggest difference I've seen with the juices is energy and alertness.

Again, everyone's different, but this has worked for me. I'm 53 and am currently on no meds. Other than the occasion treadmill workout. I could/should eat better, but I love to cook and prepare my own meals.

Look at the chemicals in processed foods and decide for yourself, but I personally think this is the reason for so many ailments!

I wished I could get my folks off the processed foods but the convenience overcomes the desire to prepare their own meals. I cook for them a lot, but can't be there for every meal.

Sorry for the long story, this is just mine.

Keith, I think u r right about the foods we eat and I also think juicing is good for you if you research what to juice. And Cecil, I have never shown my teeth at another driver but I have given the middle finger hand jester more than once. I always present the jester with a big smile Woops, I guess I am showing my teeth

Tracy

Do they use byproducts from Condello strain RE to produce the Statins?

Interesting thread, thanks for sharing. My bad cholesterol is normal, but the good is low so I have a bad ratio. The doc thinks it isn't worth the risk of side effects since nobody in my family has heart issues from cholesterol. Most died from smoking before clogged arteries could get them.

My current rate of inactivity isn't helping me. This crazy weather is keeping me from skiing.

Cecil I am old also, going on 82, and my whole life has been about health. As a scrawny kid at 16 my aunt gave me a set of barbells and in my early 20's I was benching pressing 300lb at 150lb body weight. A 2 to one ratio that few ever achieve. When I was 40 I built my own gym onto my house. So this is me 10 years ago.

So I'm healthy. Right. NO! Too many cheese burgers all of my life. Clogged arteries. My score for a Coranary Calcium Scan is 410. Flunked really bad. Good is 0. This scan only cost $50. Get one. So what do I do. Walk 3 miles a day. Get your body weight at what it was in high school. Take a 81 baby aspirin everyday. Take a statin if you can, but do what you can. And this is the biggy. Most people will not do this but in my life time experience this it the most important. Go vegan. No meat, no oils. And read the book I listed below.


Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease challenges conventional cardiology by posing a compelling, revolutionary idea-that we can, in fact, abolish the heart disease epidemic in this country by changing our diets. Drawing on the groundbreaking results of his twenty-year nutritional study, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr.