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Statins and your blood sugar levels

Ged

Ged

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
At risk of diabetes
Since I have been taking Pravastatin sodium my blood sugar has risen from 39 to 42mmol and filtration rate to 71, both results seem to be directly linked to the statins, which worries me. I'm in two minds to stop statins and have maybe a trial run of say 3 months. Last time I tried this, my cholesterol rose again, but my HbA1c went down, and filtration rate was normal. I'm confused, any advice would be appreciated, as my Doctor is saying that getting my cholesterol down with statins outweighs the concerns of my blood sugar and filtration rate
 
I take Atorvastatin and it has had no impact on my diabetes.
That said, a rise from 39 to 42 is a relatively small rise and may not be due to the statins - it could be due to a slight cold or some stress. I expect it feels worse because it has tipped you in the the pre-diabetic range.
Are you able to make other adjustments such as a tweak to your diet to reduce your blood glucose if you are concerned?
 
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Without knowing your cholesterol results before the statin and now it would be difficult to comment, but your diabetes risk is pretty low at 42 and with some dietary changes to counteract that very slight rise from 39, you should be able to bring it back down without stopping the statins.
I don't know anything about filtration rate. I am guessing that is perhaps kidney function?
 
helli said:
I take Atorvastatin and it has had no impact on my diabetes.
That said, a rise from 39 to 42 is a relatively small rise and may not be due to the statins - it could be due to a slight cold or some stress. I expect is feels worse because it has tipped you in the the pre-diabetic range.
Are you able to make other adjustments such as a tweak to your diet to reduce your blood glucose if you are concerned?
Click to expand...
Thanks -- being a new kid on the block, I'm learning
 
rebrascora said:
Without knowing your cholesterol results before the statin and now it would be difficult to comment, but your diabetes risk is pretty low at 42 and with some dietary changes to counteract that very slight rise from 39, you should be able to bring it back down without stopping the statins.
I don't know anything about filtration rate. I am guessing that is perhaps kidney function?
Click to expand...
Hello and thanks, the rate of blood processed by filtering the waste, the kidneys can be affected by statins and slow down the process and possibly cause some damage? But then again, what doesn't cause damage these days? My cholesterol was 6.5 before statins, and looking back, I think my Doctor was a bit too quick to put me on them without going through other alternatives like diet and exercise first
 
Ged said:
Since I have been taking Pravastatin sodium my blood sugar has risen from 39 to 42mmol and filtration rate to 71, both results seem to be directly linked to the statins, which worries me. I'm in two minds to stop statins and have maybe a trial run of say 3 months. Last time I tried this, my cholesterol rose again, but my HbA1c went down, and filtration rate was normal. I'm confused, any advice would be appreciated, as my Doctor is saying that getting my cholesterol down with statins outweighs the concerns of my blood sugar and filtration rate
Click to expand...
Your egfr filtration is maybe a bit low for your age but still shows good kidney function.
HbA1C also looks fine for your age but a bit tighter on diet you could drop it down a bit if you want.
It depends on what your cholesterol actually is no, yes over 6 was a lot higher than they like people to be which is below 4 but I think it unlikely that the statin would make a big difference to your HbA1C if you are being careful about carb intake.
There are some fats which are regarded as healthy as they contribute to reducing cholesterol.
 
On filtration rate: statins should have no more than a small clinically irrelevant impact, either way. If a bit worse, highly unlikely to be due to kidney damage, rather just clinically meaningless bloodflow changes. If there are bigger eFGR changes, no doubt due to something else.

On HbA1c: diff between 39 and 42 is also clinically meaningless.

On the other hand: every 1.0 mmol/l decrease in LDL-C reduces CV risk by 20% on average over 5 years, with risk reduction increasing as you look further out. And statins are highly effective at reducing LDL-C.
 
I've had one stroke and will be staying on my Atorvastatin's no matter what it does to my Hba1c score. There are other ways to get that score down than risk another stroke
 
I am not on any statins @Ged but I am aware that other types of statins can be prescribed if you don't get on with atorvastatin.
I expect the diabetes nurse at the medical practice will discuss statins with me in October at my next review. I will be interested to see what my cholesterol and lipids results are then. They have dropped over the last 2 years so fingers crossed.
 
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I'm on Atorvastatin. Had my annual HbA1c 4 months after starting and there had been no impact, HbA1c had fallen 1mmol/mo. My Cholesterol levels were unchanged - but (touch wood) they have never been an issue. I did wonder if i was taking a placebo.
 
I don't want another stroke either so will continue taking, but I keep forgetting because they have to be taken separately which is a pain. 🙄
 
silver minion said:
I am not on any statins @Ged but I am aware that other types of statins can be prescribed if you don't get on with atorvastatin.
I expect the diabetes nurse at the medical practice will discuss statins with me in October at my next review. I will be interested to see what my cholesterol and lipids results are then. They have dropped over the last 2 years so fingers crossed.
Click to expand...
Let's hope it's all good news, and thanks for your reply, I'll keep an eye out as I've just bought a Vivachek monitor.
 
martindt1606 said:
I'm on Atorvastatin. Had my annual HbA1c 4 months after starting and there had been no impact, HbA1c had fallen 1mmol/mo. My Cholesterol levels were unchanged - but (touch wood) they have never been an issue. I did wonder if i was taking a placebo
Click to expand...

martindt1606 said:
I'm on Atorvastatin. Had my annual HbA1c 4 months after starting and there had been no impact, HbA1c had fallen 1mmol/mo. My Cholesterol levels were unchanged - but (touch wood) they have never been an issue. I did wonder if i was taking a placebo.
Click to expand...
I think you need to congratulate yourself first before giving any credence to what might be or not be a placebo-- good health to you
 
Leadinglights said:
Your egfr filtration is maybe a bit low for your age but still shows good kidney function.
HbA1C also looks fine for your age but a bit tighter on diet you could drop it down a bit if you want.
It depends on what your cholesterol actually is no, yes over 6 was a lot higher than they like people to be which is below 4 but I think it unlikely that the statin would make a big difference to your HbA1C if you are being careful about carb intake.
There are some fats which are regarded as healthy as they contribute to reducing cholesterol.
Click to expand...
A really good informative reply, I found it very intelligent and helpful. Good health to you, and thank you
 
@Ged sorry to hear about your problem but fully get the issue. My cholesterol in January this year was also 6.5 and they wanted to put me on statins which I refused and said I would try diet and exercise first. The two things I did work on were initially were diet, reducing my full fat Greek yogurt so that I eat 0% fat yoghurt more regularly, cutting my full fat down to just over a 100g for breakfast and most importantly, I drink a Benecol every morning with my breakfast. Cholesterol in June was down to 4.9.
Exercise wise, I moved from three 4 mile runs a week to one 6 mile and 2 fours, but not sure if everyone is up to doing something like that, but maybe ding a slightly longer walk twice a week might have a similar impact.
My kidneys are in good nick so there were no concerns in my latest test around them.
 
Thanks, and well done to you. My exercises need rethinking as I have problems with my right foot, so running and long walks are out. Now, I'm focusing on indoor exercises. My diet is more stable now -- you run a lot of miles, so keep it up. Maybe you should train for the next marathon
 
Maybe ask to switch to a different statin @Ged ?

There are several varieties available. 🙂
 
I have a job walking mate as I've got Dystonia in my foot following a stroke, reason I had to retire. I found going up a down on a stair takes it out of me, I do a hundred at a time and it gets me puffing
 
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