Medications reduced further

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wallycorker

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Type 2
Further to my latest test results reported elsewhere on this forum, I visited my GP yesterday and told him that I was now more concerned about the medications that I take than I was about my diet. Arising out of that conversation, he has started be what I consider to a fairly significant reduction in the medications that I am still taking.

Metformin down from 2000 mg per day to 1000 mg per day immediately.

Blood pressure medications - bisoprolol reduced last year from 5 mg to 2.5 mg was further reduced today to 1.25 mg per day. No change in the 1.25 mg of ramipril that I take each day.

As regards simvastatin, I registered my concerns that muscle/joint problems that I'm experiencing i.e. ache in my left shoulder, sharp pain in my upper right arm that people tell me sounds like frozen shoulder, stiffness in the hips when rising from having been seated - might be being caused by the 40 mg of simvastatin that I take every day. He did acknowledge that it could be the statins that were causing my problems. However, he hasn't reduced that immediately because first of all he wanted to arrange that I have a blood test for something he called myalgia.

Overall, compared with the enthusiasm he showed when we were discussing the good that had resulted from changing my diet, he seemed far less receptive to the fact that I was now questioning the harm that might be being done by the medications. It was a very different conversation indeed.

Anyway, overall, I'm very pleased with the way things are going so far.

Long may my improvement continue!
 
The problems with Simvastatin are well known and there are plenty of alternatives to it. The only reason that doctors insist on poisoning their patients with Simvastatin is that they are cheap. Whatever the outcome I would ask for a different medication to Simvastatin.
 
Great news on the meds reduction John! 🙂 This might be a silly question, but is it possible that your diet might be lacking in some way and contributing to your problems? Do you take any supplements? I take a multivitamin each day just to be on the safe side. Of course, it's quite possible that it is the simvastatin. What's your cholesterol like? I wonder if your doctor would let you stopor reduce them for a couple of weeks if the myalgia test is not conclusive? That might give you an indication as to whether a change of statin might be an idea.
 
Hi Northerner,

I know that you always seem to have some concerns about my diet being unhealthy but I have no concerns whatsoever. My diet is the healthiest that it's been at any time in my life as far as I can tell. What's more I consider that my continuing ongoing improved numbers back up my view - they are all a million miles away from the unhealthy levels they were at various times in the past.

As reported in another thread my total cholesterol is 3.7 - with LDL 1.8, HDL 1.52 with a ratio of 2.4 and triglycerides at 0.93. All very healthy levels by any standards that I'm aware of!

Yes - I take a few supplements these days but never took anything in the past. I've taken a multivitamin and an omega 3 for around a year now and recently added a Vitamin D plus calcium tablet for no other reason than my wife started to take them. I doubt whether any of them have any significant effect on my health or numbers I don't mind taking such supplements because they are very cheap and could just offer me some advantage.

Any aches and pains that I have are very minor and no real concern at present. However, I'll be pushing to get off the simvastatin irrespective of what the myalgia test shows - or at least move to a significant reduction in strength or a different type. However, I can't imagine that I'd ever change my medications without discussing it fully with my GP first.

As I said in my original post, I'm quite happy with the way that things are going at this stage.

John
 
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Well done for being so proactive. I too had problems with statins and tried 2 different ones. Once I stopped them on suggestion from my doctor it took about 6 months for liver enzymes to revert to normal and all the aching and pains in feet and legs to go. I think I feel more alert without them. I'm sure for some they may be good but for me they caused too many problems. I have forgotten what my cholesterol was on the last test but it was below 5 and my doctor said it was acceptable.
 
That's very good wallycorker, I seem to remember that you consume around 150g of carbohydrate per day, is this still the case or have you lowered your intake further?
 
toby said:
That's very good wallycorker, I seem to remember that you consume around 150g of carbohydrate per day, is this still the case or have you lowered your intake further?
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Hi Toby,

I've stopped adding up what I eat these days - however, I doubt whether I have reduced it further. I guess I'm still eating between 100g and 200g per day.

As I always say, I eat very little starchy carbohydrate (i.e. cereals, bread, potatoes, pasta and rice) but I eat quite a lot in the form of fruit and vegetables - particularly fruit.

Best wishes - John
 
wallycorker said:
Hi Toby,

I've stopped adding up what I eat these days - however, I doubt whether I have reduced it further. I guess I'm still eating between 100g and 200g per day.

As I always say, I eat very little starchy carbohydrate (i.e. cereals, bread, potatoes, pasta and rice) but I eat quite a lot in the form of fruit and vegetables - particularly fruit.

Best wishes - John
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Wow that's a lot of carbs wallycorker to eat and still get such a low a1c, but do like the sound of your diet which sounds very healthy. I wish I didn't have to count carbs and guess instead, but sadly this isn't possible using insulin! Thanks.
 
toby said:
Wow that's a lot of carbs wallycorker to eat and still get such a low a1c, but do like the sound of your diet which sounds very healthy. I wish I didn't have to count carbs and guess instead, but sadly this isn't possible using insulin! Thanks.
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Hi again Toby,

I'd guess that I eat around 100g or so a day on average - as I say most of it as fruit in small quantities and well spaced out.

Fruit doesn't seem to take me high my tests show that my blood glucose levels are relatively unaffected by fruit as long as I eat it in small quantities and well spaced out. That seems to be the key for me - I seem to be lucky in that respect compared with what other diabetics tell me happens to them.

John
 
Yet another reduction in medications!

Yet another reduction in medications!

I saw my GP this week and he agreed to cut my dosage of simvastatin from 40mg to 20mg.

He arranged for me to go back in a month for another HbA1c and cholesterol check with a view to cutting my dosage of simvastatin and metformin yet further. I think that I may be on my way to stopping taking these two medications altogether.

If I achieve that it will feel like a tremendous achievement!

John
 
wallycorker said:
Yet another reduction in medications!

I saw my GP this week and he agreed to cut my dosage of simvastatin from 40mg to 20mg.

He arranged for me to go back in a month for another HbA1c and cholesterol check with a view to cutting my dosage of simvastatin and metformin yet further. I think that I may be on my way to stopping taking these two medications altogether.

If I achieve that it will feel like a tremendous achievement!

John
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good stuff wally ... you are a star !!x🙂
 
well done m8 ,the best thing that ever happened with me and my diabetes was when i was taken off simvastatin ,that drug should never have passed testing ,
 
I hope one day to have my simvastatin reduced from 40m to 20mg. I do hope that i won't have to go on medication for blood pressure as at the moment i am bordering OK to high with BP but i have to lose the 10lbs that i have gained in weight (plus more) by the time i see the DN in 6 months time so it all depends on that.
 
carina62 said:
..........I hope one day to have my simvastatin reduced from 40m to 20mg..........
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I'm hoping to have my simvastatin reduced from 40mg to zero. Also, I'm hoping to have my metformin reduced from 2000mg to zero. What's more, I'm confident that I'm going to achieve those goals.

Two years ago, I was getting quite near to having to start injecting insulin.

That seems a million miles away today!

John
 
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