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Do statins raise blood sugar levels?

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Kathy1960

Kathy1960

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hello everyone - haven't been on here for a while, but have a little look now and again and always find it so informative. Because of this forum, I test my sugars all the time and try to keep carbs low. I was diagnosed early 2016 and prescribed statins and metformin. I haven't taken the statins cos I'm really not sure about them in terms of the side effects and how much difference they actually make to the risk of heart attack or stroke. It's so confusing! Anyway, I was talking to my GP yesterday and she's really encouraging me to take them - said "it's important". So I thought I should give them a go. I came home and read the enclosed leaflet with all the possible side effects(!!!) - one of which is can raise blood sugars! I then did a bit of googling and read that there is a chance statins can increase the risk of developing diabetes. So if you already have it - do they make it worse? When I'm working so hard to keep my sugars under control, I don't want to take something that will make them worse! On the other hand, you feel like you want to reduce risk of cardiac event. Apparently when they put my info into the calculator thing - my risk is 20%. Oh - and I'm 57 and still overweight - although going in the right direction. What's the best thing to do? Any advice/ knowledge would be gratefully received. Thanks guys x

Ps - I still take 4 x 500mg metformin everyday which seems quite a lot compared to others on here.
 
I've never taken a statin so can't advise, but I gather that if you try one and don't get on with it there are often a number of alternative types you can opt for which might suit you better if you decide statins are a sensible precaution.

20% risk does sound a bit scary. What time-frame was it measured over?
 
I had a suggestion yesterday that I take statins as my cholesterol is 11, which she said i is 1 above the normal limit. From what you’ve said I’m not going to. I’m trying to do at least 30 minutes walking a day and have just joined the local council walks too. The other difficulty is recommendations are to reduce fat which I have more of and I think is inevitable when doing low carb! Definitely try exercising though as that’s supposed to help.
 
Kathy1960 said:
Hello everyone - haven't been on here for a while, but have a little look now and again and always find it so informative. Because of this forum, I test my sugars all the time and try to keep carbs low. I was diagnosed early 2016 and prescribed statins and metformin. I haven't taken the statins cos I'm really not sure about them in terms of the side effects and how much difference they actually make to the risk of heart attack or stroke. It's so confusing! Anyway, I was talking to my GP yesterday and she's really encouraging me to take them - said "it's important". So I thought I should give them a go. I came home and read the enclosed leaflet with all the possible side effects(!!!) - one of which is can raise blood sugars! I then did a bit of googling and read that there is a chance statins can increase the risk of developing diabetes. So if you already have it - do they make it worse? When I'm working so hard to keep my sugars under control, I don't want to take something that will make them worse! On the other hand, you feel like you want to reduce risk of cardiac event. Apparently when they put my info into the calculator thing - my risk is 20%. Oh - and I'm 57 and still overweight - although going in the right direction. What's the best thing to do? Any advice/ knowledge would be gratefully received. Thanks guys x

Ps - I still take 4 x 500mg metformin everyday which seems quite a lot compared to others on here.
Click to expand...
Only you can make that decision. Have you read into them it maybe worth your while.
Sally W said:
I had a suggestion yesterday that I take statins as my cholesterol is 11, which she said i is 1 above the normal limit. From what you’ve said I’m not going to. I’m trying to do at least 30 minutes walking a day and have just joined the local council walks too. The other difficulty is recommendations are to reduce fat which I have more of and I think is inevitable when doing low carb! Definitely try exercising though as that’s supposed to help.
Click to expand...
Are you sure your cholesterol was 11, as it was suggested to me at a lower level.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
I've never taken a statin so can't advise, but I gather that if you try one and don't get on with it there are often a number of alternative types you can opt for which might suit you better if you decide statins are a sensible precaution.

20% risk does sound a bit scary. What time-frame was it measured over?
Click to expand...
Have you ever plugged in your details to the QRISK calculator?
https://qrisk.org/2016/index.php
As soon as you admit to Diabetes, it ups your risk, irrespective of how long you've had it or whether you're well controlled or not ( it doesn't give you the chance to say)
I came out at 4.4% risk (over 10 years) when I didn't tick the diabetes box. Curiously enough, when I admitted to Type1, it put my risk up to 14.3%, but when I tried it saying I was Type 2, it only increased it to 8.9%.
You also have to fill in your post code, as as we all know, postcode areas can contain a wide variety of social and living conditions.
 
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The recommended cholesterol levels are 5 or under for non-diabetics and 4 or under for diabetics.
 
Sally W said:
I had a suggestion yesterday that I take statins as my cholesterol is 11, which she said i is 1 above the normal limit. From what you’ve said I’m not going to. I’m trying to do at least 30 minutes walking a day and have just joined the local council walks too. The other difficulty is recommendations are to reduce fat which I have more of and I think is inevitable when doing low carb! Definitely try exercising though as that’s supposed to help.
Click to expand...
You’d better take something- a fibrate, perhaps. 11 isn’t just slightly high, it’s dangerously high in the long term. There nothing normal about a limit of 10.
 
Last time I had my cholesterol tested in March it was 6.2 - trig - 2.2 - LDL - 3.8 - HDL - 1.4
 
Robin said:
Have you ever plugged in your details to the QRISK calculator?
https://qrisk.org/2016/index.php
As soon as you admit to Diabetes, it ups your risk, irrespective of how long you've had it or whether you're well controlled or not ( it doesn't give you the chance to say)
I came out at 4.4% risk (over 10 years) when I didn't tick the diabetes box. Curiously enough, when I admitted to Type1, it put my risk up to 14.3%, but when I tried it saying I was Type 2, it only increased it to 8.9%.
You also have to fill in your post code, as as we all know, postcode areas can contain a wide variety of social and living conditions.
Click to expand...

From what I've been told risk calculators don't work well for T1s unfortunately. The specifics of T1 that add extra risk are not counteracted from some of the factors that QRISK would take as reducing risk in non-T1s, and the data they used to create the calculations were from non-T1 stats (I'm not sure if they included T2 or not).
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
I've never taken a statin so can't advise, but I gather that if you try one and don't get on with it there are often a number of alternative types you can opt for which might suit you better if you decide statins are a sensible precaution.

20% risk does sound a bit scary. What time-frame was it measured over?
Click to expand...

Sorry Mike - I don't know the time frame.
 
mikeyB said:
You’d better take something- a fibrate, perhaps. 11 isn’t just slightly high, it’s dangerously high in the long term. There nothing normal about a limit of 10.
Click to expand...
Oh dear Mike. GP said 11% and anything over10% needed monitoring - have I got the figure wrong & is 10% different?
 
I just did the risk calculator myself and it came out at 13.2. The 20 was what the practice nurse told me when she did it in March. Not sure how that happened ????
 
I also did it Kathy & got 7.7% but did it without blood pressure and cholesterol measurements. Have you tried HIT? I wonder if that might help...
 
That's over 10 years
 
Thanks Sally - what is HIT?
 
Kathy1960 said:
Thanks Sally - what is HIT?
Click to expand...
Ah my risk at 11% was over 10 years dr said. HIT is high intensity training. So if you’ve not time for lots doing short bursts of exercise. Walking 40 paces really quickly, alternating with slow is supposed to be very good. Although I do think it might be important to check with a doctor first if your weight is high. Michael Mosley has a book called The Fast Exercise Diet which explains it. I’m doing plenty now but I only work part time so can get away with longer exercise of lower intensity. There is an article in ‘What the doctors don’t tell you’ magazine about statins this month. Maybe you could get a 2nd opinion from another doctor too?
 
When you start a LCHF diet, initially cholesterol can raise slightly, but once established it should start going down. Dietary cholesterol only plays a small part in our total cholesterol levels as our liver produces cholesterol. Also the breakdown is very important. The total figure is meaningless. And to confuse matters worse, there are two types of LDL, Small & dense or light & fluffy. Small & dense is bad. Light & fluffy is good. Most blood tests won't show this. I personally haven't been offered statins as my breakdown is good, but I won't take them anyway.
 
Thanks Mark. Very informative. I don’t discuss low carb with my GP because they tell me coconut flour is bad for me. After much investigation I decided to restrict carbs and my HBA1c is now 34 so I’m happy with that.
So much info to absorb and I’m learning every day.
PS: I’ve come across this recipe which I’m going to try as an alternative Christmas cake in case you’re interested
https://freefromfairy.com/2015/12/6267.html
 
It uses her own brand of flour. Interesting, but expensive. And would be a waste if it still spikes. Though could probably be adapted to use coconut or almond flour. Thanks for the link.
 
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