Cholesterol tablets

popa smurf

Anyone on these doctor suggests that I should go on them' colestrol has always been up and down. I am a little shocked as I think I live reasonable healthy. I am 46 year old , doctor seem to think these are a wonder drug he is on them himself he said life is too short to be living like a monk but I am a bit worried about side effects and was never a lad for the tablets

longshanks

Once you're on them you're​ on them for life is what I was told the last time i had a check up. There seems to be more evidence coming to light that they are not very effective. Look at your diet maybe.

Harry Palmr

Cholesterol is medically treated by statins - in Ireland it's Ezetrol 10mg that's most likely to be prescribed, I've been on them for over a decade without any side effects (I'm 52).

The whole issue of statins is mired in bar talk level medical knowledge and people who swear blind they know someone who was nearly killed by them type BS, while others just have an ideological view and refuse to take them preferring other methods like stopping smoking (well duh!), diet, omega three, other fish oils and so on. That may work but it may not, sometimes a life style change makes no measurable difference unfortunately.

I'd not be worried if I were you, but I'm not!

Liam McPoyle

popa smurf wrote: »

Anyone on these doctor suggests that I should go on them' colestrol has always been up and down. I am a little shocked as I think I live reasonable healthy. I am 46 year old , doctor seem to think these are a wonder drug he is on them himself he said life is too short to be living like a monk but I am a bit worried about side effects and was never a lad for the tablets

There are two types of cholesterol, one that can be controlled by diet and exercise, one that has to be controlled by prescription. I have the former.

It came to light when I had a health check at work about 3 years ago when at the time it was 7.9 (very high).

I didn't want to start taking a scrip so did some research and discovered that what I have can be brought down by using plant sterols, you can buy them over the counter in the likes of Boots or I get ones on Amazon. Of course the diet and exercise has to improve too. After 4 to 5 months it was down to around 4.5.

I was in for a check up recently and I had admittedly let the diet and exercise go by the wayside and it had crept back up to around 5 so Im back taking the sterols and watching what I eat.

Im a hure for things like sausages which are about as bad as you can eat for cholesterol but other than that its grand.

Im 37 btw.

Walter Sobchak III

55 year old here. On the tablets for the last four years. No side effects. Get my bloods done and check up with GP every 6 months. Cholesterol level below 4 everytime. No big changes to diet. I just eat less and move more.

Nonoperational

popa smurf wrote: »

Anyone on these doctor suggests that I should go on them' colestrol has always been up and down. I am a little shocked as I think I live reasonable healthy. I am 46 year old , doctor seem to think these are a wonder drug he is on them himself he said life is too short to be living like a monk but I am a bit worried about side effects and was never a lad for the tablets

Depends on your risk and how high your cholesterol is.

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Cholesterol is medically treated by statins - in Ireland it's Ezetrol 10mg that's most likely to be prescribed, I've been on them for over a decade without any side effects (I'm 52).

The whole issue of statins is mired in bar talk level medical knowledge and people who swear blind they know someone who was nearly killed by them type BS, while others just have an ideological view and refuse to take them preferring other methods like stopping smoking (well duh!), diet, omega three, other fish oils and so on. That may work but it may not, sometimes a life style change makes no measurable difference unfortunately.

I'd not be worried if I were you, but I'm not!

To be precise Ezetrol isn't a statin. Your point is a fair one though.

popa smurf

Thanks guys for feed back .I think I am going to give myself 6 months and see can I control it naturally taking those yougart drinks and control my diet I don't pig out that often maybe ounce a week and I am not over weight, it's just in the genes as they say.

Harry Palmr

Fresh tuna sandwiches and red wine

drunkmonkey

Try porridge for breakfast for a few weeks.

looperman1000

Porridge definitely wouldn't be an answer. You'd be better eating nothing. Sugary cholesterol lowering drinks are no good either.
Statins are mostly effective for people that have had a heart event. There's more at play than what your total cholesterol was. Like what were your full blood results like?
How high were your triglycerides?
How was hdl (good) and lol (bad)

Check out a guy called Ivor Cummins...the Fat Emperor on YouTube. He has a video on the cholesterol myth which explains things really well

looperman1000

Why cholesterol is no longer a nutrient of concern..

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/health/cholesterol-food-1.3394391



"available evidence shows no appreciable relationship" between eating cholesterol and blood levels of cholesterol.


www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3394391

quadrifoglio verde

looperman1000 wrote: »

Porridge definitely wouldn't be an answer. You'd be better eating nothing.

Beta glucan found in oats has been shown to be quite effective at reducing ldl cholesterol levels

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21631511

Penn

Most of my family (including myself) have Familial Hypercholesterolemia, which means we retain LDL cholesterol more easily (genetic condition which means it's not just diet related). I've been on statins since I was about 15 and at one point got my cholesterol to nearly within normal limits, however I fell out of the habit of taking the statins for a few years and now my cholesterol is very high, so I'm back on the statins again and likely will be for the rest of my life (as a previous poster said, in some cases and particularly when your cholesterol is affected by a condition more so than just diet, you'll likely be on statins for life).

That being said when I was properly taking which I did pretty religiously for about 8 years, I never felt any side effects from them at all. Only thing was the ones I was on meant you couldn't take them with grapefruit juice, but I doubt that's a major concern.

If your doctor is prescribing them, why not take them for a while anyway and see how it goes. If you're planning on changing your diet etc to reduce your cholesterol, doing it with the statins will lower your cholesterol quicker than just doing one thing, and you might be able to get off the statins altogether in the future if your cholesterol is diet-related rather than a condition like I have.

Sn@kebite

Statins are to lower the cholesterol I think. My mother is on them. The thing is cholesterol builds up anyway in a person's circulatory system with age, and can be genetic, it is not necessarily a reflection on your diet.

However statins I would presume should be a short term solution and necessary changes (notably more excercise) might be advised. The goal of staying on statins for the rest of one's life would be an odd decision especially if not necessary?

minterno

looperman1000 wrote:

Porridge definitely wouldn't be an answer. You'd be better eating nothing. Sugary cholesterol lowering drinks are no good either. Statins are mostly effective for people that have had a heart event. There's more at play than what your total cholesterol was. Like what were your full blood results like? How high were your triglycerides? How was hdl (good) and lol (bad)

First educated answer.
Its all about your total cholesterol.
HDL = good. Which depends on genitics. Theres nothing on the market to increase it. Exersise helps a little but no meds available to increase it. Mine is very low hence 14 stents put in at 48 about 8 yrs ago.
LDL= bad. Which can be reduced by diet, exercise, lifestyle as well as by plant steroils and stations.
Im on 10mg crestor and have no issues with it.
Whatever you decide to do get the cholesterol under control by whatever means either lifestyle or a combo with the meds

zoobizoo

We have a history of heart issues in our family and my dad had a bypass at50.

I'm 44 and have high cholesterol

Tried reducing it by diet but hard to do.

Doctor put all my data into a programme on his pc and said if you don't take statins, you'll have a 1 in 10 chance of heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years.

If you take them, it's a 1 in 100 chance.

I take them now and I eat less **** food and exercise regularly.

Seth Brundle

popa smurf wrote: »

Anyone on these doctor suggests that I should go on them' colestrol has always been up and down. I am a little shocked as I think I live reasonable healthy. I am 46 year old , doctor seem to think these are a wonder drug he is on them himself he said life is too short to be living like a monk but I am a bit worried about side effects and was never a lad for the tablets

I'm 45 in about a week. 18 months ago I had a massive heart attack with my LAD artery 100% blocked. I'm lucky though. On various standard medication now including atorvastatin (40mg atorvastatin calcium trihydrate), down from an initial 80mg.
When I had the event (during my parents 50th anniversary dinner) I was fit and healthy. I had been off the smokes for about 2 years. In terms of exercise, I cycled almost an hour each night, pushing myself fairly hard.

Anyhow, diet, smokes, etc had nothing really to do with it. It was a gradual build up over the years years and I was completely unaware. It was all down to genetics (cardiologist's view).

If your doc puts you on them, I'd listen to them. You don't need to live the life of a monk. I now go to the gym frequently and continue to push myself. I eat sensibly but I'm happy not going to McD's. We might have a chinese every fortnight or whatever. I keep an eye on salt intake. Other than that, life is pretty normal.

To be perfectly honest, at this point the only downside to taking daily meds is that I can never have grapefruit again as it mucks up the processing the statin in the liver.

looperman1000 wrote: »

How was hdl (good) and lol (bad)

I presume you mean LDL.
Lols are good (laughter being the best medicine)