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I saw my GP today to discuss my cholesterol. My last reading was 5.8 and i mentioned that my reading was 4.2 on my home cholesterol monitor. I am on 80mg of simvastatin, she just said that we'll see what my reading is the next time so will have to now wait and see before any medication can be changed. I also mentioned to her about changing from simvastatin to atvorstatin but she was reluctant to change. Didn't someone mention that atvorstatin is more expensive so doctors don't like to prescribe it much plus it is a much better statin?
I believe it is more expensive Carina, but I doubt if that would be a reason not to prescribe it. I think I read that atorvastatin can come with more side-effects at higher doses, so that may be a reason for keeping you on simvastatin and seeing how things go. Hopefully, things will have imprved by next time so there won't be any decisions that need to be made.
Did she comment at all on you using a home tester?
Atorvastatin is more expensive than Simvastatin. People tend to be started in Simvastatin because of this, i'm afraid in the modern heath service the difference in price is taken into account. Obviously if a certain drug is more expensive but much better than this is more likely to be a first line treatment (ie tried first) but Atorvastatin isn't significantly "better" than Simvastatin and isn't considered to be worth the extra cost. Unless you have had a bad reaction to simvastatin, or the simvastatin for whatever reason doesn't work, in which case it's the second statin of choice.
Most drugs have side effects, as Atorvastatin works over a longer period than Simvastatin it may suit you better, but chances are that your dr will try simvastatin first.
I saw my GP today to discuss my cholesterol. My last reading was 5.8 and i mentioned that my reading was 4.2 on my home cholesterol monitor. I am on 80mg of simvastatin, she just said that we'll see what my reading is the next time so will have to now wait and see before any medication can be changed. I also mentioned to her about changing from simvastatin to atvorstatin but she was reluctant to change. Didn't someone mention that atvorstatin is more expensive so doctors don't like to prescribe it much plus it is a much better statin?
Atorvastatin has been shown to be one of the superior statins.
But it is more expensive than others.
research has shown that 40mg of Simvastatin produces the same effect as 20 mg of Ator so 40mg of Sim seems to have become the gold standard as far as the NHS is concerned and T2s have been switched over to it from Ator on pure costs grounds.
If you are on 80mg of Sim and still struggling to get your chols down then another thing might be added ( e.g. Niacin). Its not unusual for T2 diabetics with Diabetic Dyslipidemia to need two or three meds to control their rising cholesterol and the balnace between LDL,HDL and Trigs.
Important for T2s to get the Total Chol under 4 because chols of 4 is the point at which heart disease among Diabetics accelerates significantly. Non-diabetics don't reach that critical take off point for heart disease until they hit 5 TC.
Even then 4 is not a particularly good number ( its just an easy hurdle to reach without too much effort or expenditure) - hunter-gatherers ( taken to be pure humans in a natural state ) have TCs of 2.5 to 3 and no evidence of heart disease even into their 80s.
I hope you get sorted soon Carina. Please mention any unexplained pains that you might be experiencing on the high dose. It might be that your G.P. is waiting until the Atorvastatin becomes cheaper next month.
Mcdonagh47 : that is very interesting what you have posted about hunter gatherers and TC, my question is, is there evidence that our cavemen ancestors lived long lives and had no problems with heart disease? can we go as far back as that with evidence?
Mcdonagh47 : that is very interesting what you have posted about hunter gatherers and TC, my question is, is there evidence that our cavemen ancestors lived long lives and had no problems with heart disease? can we go as far back as that with evidence?
There are still hunter-gatherer communities today of course... But there are those that find a Palaeo-style diet (very few if any grains, low carb, no processed/refined foods) helps their management of T2 enormously - and the reduction in carb intake often seems to lead to lower TC and better splits despite more saturated fat being eaten. Not an approach everyone would find easy though.
Be aware Carina that Atorvastatin has different doses for the same effect, as do other ranges of drugs. I was originally on 10mg Ator, but that was cahnged to 20mg of Sim, which was in effect the same dose. So maybe 40mg of Sim is only 20mg of Ator, in which case maybe the side effects wouldn't be great. I certainly had none at all with Ator and definitely did with Sim. I asked to go back on it - GP refused point blank - so I stopped taking them.
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I've written it down for him.
