Statin

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Roses

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi I'm type 2 , Diet controlled but with high cholesterol of 6.6 (1.6 gd) now being advised to take a statin but concerned about muscle pain etc
 
Hi and welcome.

What do you do, diet wise, to manage your Type 2 and what have you tried to reduce your cholesterol. Has it just recently gone up or has it always been that high.
Statins are safe for a lot of people who don't get any noticeable side effects, but if you find that you get joint pain as a result of taking them you can stop and try a different type of statin or try again with dietary measures. For me that means ensuring I have plenty of soluble fibre in my diet rather than not eating fat.... I follow a low carb higher fat way of eating, so I eat a lot of cheese and cream and fatty meat and nuts. My cholesterol has actually reduced since I started eating more fat, but that also coincides with eating less carbs and more fibre and keeping my body fit.

If you are actively losing weight to manage your diabetes, that can sometimes cause cholesterol levels to increase during the weight loss phase, so it may be that one you reach your target weight your cholesterol levels come down a bit, but if you are not losing weight at the moment then clearly that is not contributing to your raised levels.
 
Been on statins for years and no problems at all.
 
I'm afraid that all people with Diabetes are likely to be advised to take a statin.
Also most people with high cholesterol are advised a statin. It's difficult to define high since it keeps getting lower.

I had fairly minor muscle aches and a severe skin rash on Simvastatin (rash confirmed to be statin induced by dermatologist at hospital after biopsy.
Then I suffered raised Blood Glucose and mild brain fog on Atorvastatin after which I declined further statins.
I don't want to scare people about side effects which they may not experience, but the brain fog was potentially the worst because sometimes that can be mis-diagnosed as early onset dementia.
 
Thanks all , seems just depends on each person , difficult to decide to take or not to take. Diet controlled since 2016 not much change in cholesterol levels. Exercise etc , will read up more and keep going,
 
Welcome to the forum @Roses

A consultant once told me there is only so much you can do to reduce cholesterol through diet.

The vast majority of the clinical evidence supports statin use for people with diabetes, particularly those with elevated cholesterol levels (even only modestly so).

Most people have few if any side effects from statins, including muscle pain. And those who get a reaction with one often can tolerate a different type.

Why not give them a go and see how you get on?

I’ve been taking a statin for a couple of years now, and have no side effects at all, but my cholesterol components are now much more in line with the levels they used to recommend.
 
I'm afraid that all people with Diabetes are likely to be advised to take a statin.
Also most people with high cholesterol are advised a statin. It's difficult to define high since it keeps getting lower.
All people with diabetes?

Despite having being very overweight for quite some time prior to my diagnosis (I have lost quite a bit since diagnosis) my cholesterol is surprisingly normal, I'm not sure that I would want to take a statin whilst it remains in the normal range tbh.

My blood pressure is also somewhat on the low side too.
 
Insulin resistance leads to overproduction of cholesterol by the liver and also stops the metabolising of fats.
Hence why people with T2 diabetes are recommended to take statins.

My cholesterol is different in every blood test I have, despite diet being the same. Sometimes it's up a little sometimes it's down.
 
Insulin resistance leads to overproduction of cholesterol by the liver and also stops the metabolising of fats.
Hence why people with T2 diabetes are recommended to take statins.

My cholesterol is different in every blood test I have, despite diet being the same. Sometimes it's up a little sometimes it's down.
Oh ok, I didn't know that, no one has suggested I take a statin though.
 
Hi I'm type 2 , Diet controlled but with high cholesterol of 6.6 (1.6 gd) now being advised to take a statin but concerned about muscle pain etc
My cholestrol refused to play ball . So after some dietry changes, I decided to see what Statins could do. Four weeks later and no side effects. A blood test in Feb will show me the value or not of continuing the Statin and also if it has increased my hba1c. It took me a while and some research to agree to take it.
 
Hi I'm type 2 , Diet controlled but with high cholesterol of 6.6 (1.6 gd) now being advised to take a statin but concerned about muscle pain etc

Very few people suffer side effects despite scaremongering stories on Internet & few grifters saying otherwise.

statins have been around long time now & most be one of the most researched drugs around, consensus is they are considered safe & very effective at preventing cardiovascular events so obvious choice would be to take them in your position, that's my thoughts anyway.
 
Very few people suffer side effects despite scaremongering stories on Internet & few grifters saying otherwise.

statins have been around long time now & most be one of the most researched drugs around, consensus is they are considered safe & very effective at preventing cardiovascular events so obvious choice would be to take them in your position, that's my thoughts anyway.
Respectfully, I disagree that only a very few suffer from side effects of statins. A minority certainly, but not even a few. much less a very few.

One of the biggest proponents of statins in the UK Prof. Rory Collins claims that around 10% of statin users get side effects. Yet he devised a test which can predict whether somebody will get statin side effects or not. He sold the right (for millions of dollars) and the company that now owns it advertises claiming that Prof. Collins research show up to 25% of people who try statins get side effects. So what's the correct figure?

It's well known that the later statin studies all weeded out those who were intolerant to statins, so as to make the figures look better. One method was for candidates to take the statin for 3 months, then stop the stain for 6 months and only those who lasted 3 months in the first place made it onto the trial proper.
 
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