Statins

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Carla Hollingsbee

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Good morning,
I just wanted to get some advice about statins which I have been advised to take not due to cholesterol but being type 1.
I just wanted more info please and someone mentioned to ask on here.
Many thanks
 
Carla Hollingsbee said:
Good morning,
I just wanted to get some advice about statins which I have been advised to take not due to cholesterol but being type 1.
I just wanted more info please and someone mentioned to ask on here.
Many thanks
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum, the issue of statins is a hot topic. GPs seem to want everybody who is in an 'at risk' category which people with diabetes among others are in regardless of their cholesterol or other lipid profiles.
The best thing is to do your own research and make your own mind up, at the end of the day it is your choice.
Many take them with no issues but other find they need to try different ones to avoid side effects.
If you use the search there are lots of threads discussing the pros and cons of statins.
 
Good morning. I was put on statins the day I was diagnosed!!! just because I was diabetic even though my cholesterol was 4. GP's explanation was that diabetics are more likely to have heart problems!!! I wasn't happy but I take them with no side effects.
 
I currently refuse statins. If I wasn't diabetic my cholesterol levels would be considered fine.... mid 4s and lower than when I was first diagnosed.... but they like us diabetics to be below 4.
My reasoning is that I am fitter and healthier and slimmer than I was pre diagnosis and my diabetes is well managed and I am healthier than many of my friends of the same age who are not on statins, so I see no reason why I should take them. Diabetes only affects my BG levels and if I manage those well, I see no reason why I should take extra medication that my peers are not prescribed. Added to that I follow a low carb higher fat way of eating and it seems immoral to eat cheese and have cream in my coffee every morning and fatty meat and then take aa statin. It seems a bit like taking an inhaler whilst continuing to smoke.... except that I don't see my diet as unhealthy like smoking is, so probably not the best analogy, but hopefully you follow my drift. I have no intention of changing my low carb higher fat way of eating because it has resolved a number of other serious health issues.

I am not trying to influence you and if my cholesterol levels were higher say 6 or above I may well reconsider taking statins but for the past 5 years since adopting this way of eating, my cholesterol has been pretty stable and under 5, so I see no reason to take them.

It is important to understand that cholesterol has important functions within the body and whilst too high is not good, neither is too low. I personally believe that my levels are about right for my body. Do some research and make your own mind up about your individual situation. Knowing and understanding your current lipid results is import in making that decision.

My main bug bear is that they are prescribed without taking an individual's situation into account.... ie blanket prescribing and I don't like that and personally don't want to take any medication that I don't need to.
 
Chris88 said:
QRISK3 is used by GPs to decide who should be offered statin alongside NICE guidance.
Google it to find out more
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Yes, but in my opinion, diabetes is broadly and heavily weighted in the Q risk and it is this which I object to. My diabetes is well managed because I work hard at it and CGM means that we have a much better insight into what well managed actually means rather than HbA1c which could include huge variations of highs and lows to still produce a good end result. TIR and glucose variability mean we can me more confident of our diabetes being well managed.
 
I agree, that is why statins should be offered then the patient has a choice whether to accept or decline
 
This is the qrisk calculator

Be aware it is a bit of a blunt tool, and does not take into account any finer details, eg for type 2 diabetes at makes no distinction of how high sugars are, and there is no factoring in of overall health or meds taken.

Ticking the ckd stage 3,4 or 5 box my results were
Your risk of having a heart attack or stroke within the next 10 years is: 6.8%​
Your QRISK®3 Healthy Heart Age*** 64​

My ckd is stage 3 .. if I untick that box so ckd is not factored in the results change to
Your risk of having a heart attack or stroke within the next 10 years is: 4.6%​
Your QRISK®3 Healthy Heart Age*** 59​

So yes, quite a blunt tool .. how can ckd stage 3 have the same heart risks as ckd stage 5 lol
 
So yup, basically as @rebrascora says

So if you play with that qrisk tool, don't stress, I know that my heart was given the all clear in 2021 - with the exception of the ectopic heartbeat, which is not factored in in the qrisk tool (I don't believe a PVC counts as atrial fibrillation)

And in case you miss it - it says at the top ...
"This calculator is only valid if you do not already have a diagnosis of coronary heart disease (including angina or heart attack) or stroke/transient ischaemic attack."
 
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rebrascora said:
It is important to understand that cholesterol has important functions within the body and whilst too high is not good, neither is too low.
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The cholesterol in the blood is part waste on it's way to the liver (via HDL particles), and part of the structure of lipoproteins that carry fat around the body (VLDL, IDL and LDL particles). Cholesterol is part of the 'scaffolding' that holds the particle together. Blood plasma cholesterol has little to no biological function beyond that. Every cell in the human body can manufacture it's own cholesterol - too much of it in fact, which is why HDL particles are necessary to pick up waste cholesterol and bring it back to the liver.

It is practically impossible for blood plasma cholesterol to be made 'too low' though use of a medication such as a statin, at approved dosage levels, in any sense that could cause health problems. Yes, low total blood plasma cholesterol is associated with health problems, though as a symptom not a cause. Malnutrition for example can cause low total cholesterol, though the associated health problems would be due to the malnutrition, not the low total blood cholesterol. The 'cholesterol has important functions in the body' bit is very true, though statins don't do much to get in the way of those important functions.

For anyone who would like to learn more this series of video interviews with lipidologist Dr. Thomas Dayspring is very informative - links to this YouTube videos are on this page - Link. Be warned though there's six and a half hours of material and the interviewer has his own biases - they do cover a lot of ground though and there's no question Dayspring actually knows what he's talking about.
 
s'nic said:
my heart was given the all clear in 2021 - with the exception of the ectopic heartbeat
Click to expand...
Same here, though a little earlier - 2014. ECG, heart monitor, echocardiogram and in the end they found nothing wrong bar something described as 'trivial' in the letter from the Consultant.
 
I took Atorvastatin and Metformin for a few weeks after diagnosis.
Very soon I became forgetful, lost a lot of my memory, was creaking like an old farm gate and by 5 weeks was suicidal. My reaction to most medications is over the top, but the explosive faecal incontinence was horrible.
I stopped taking the tablets and found I was no longer in the diabetes range, then not even prediabetic, but it was another year after that point that my last aching muscle faded, and it has taken years to regain mental activity.
 
Basically all diabetics over age 40 are recommended to take them, thankfully I’m under 40 so I don’t but my consultant always writes that on the letters as the reason I don’t need them
 
Lucyr said:
Basically all diabetics over age 40 are recommended to take them, thankfully I’m under 40 so I don’t but my consultant always writes that on the letters as the reason I don’t need them
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No one's ever suggested to me that I should take statins, and I'm well over 40.
 
Carla Hollingsbee said:
Good morning,
I just wanted to get some advice about statins which I have been advised to take not due to cholesterol but being type 1.
I just wanted more info please and someone mentioned to ask on here.
Many thanks
Click to expand...
I have posted loads recently about my Statin adventure. My cholestrol is high7.2, so I decided to give statins a try. They worked wonders with my cholestrol it dropped to 3.2 with no noticeable side effects However, when I had a 3 monthly liver function test my liver enzymes were slightly elevated ( I wasn't given much info about what constitutes slightly, my GP is a man of few words...). The GP took me off them immediately and after a series of blood tests the liver function was '...perfectly normalised' . Annoying as the Statin gave with one hand and took with the other. However I am glad I tried it.
 
I know lots of people who take them with no problems. I know one or two who cannot tolerate them at all. A friend of mine cannot tolerate them and had to be taken off them. Her husband has taken them for years with no effects whatsoever.

If I was told I needed them because I was at risk of a stroke I would take them having seen the effects of a serious stroke on my late Mom in Law. I would not take them because I am a certain age but only if GP thought I was at high risk.
 
Carla Hollingsbee said:
I think it’s for type 1s
Click to expand...
Possibly, but Diabetes UK doesn't make that distinction:-

"Statins are a commonly used medication and are often prescribed for people with diabetes to help them manage their condition".

So I think @Lucyr might be correct in what she posted.
 
Martin.A said:
Possibly, but Diabetes UK doesn't make that distinction:-

"Statins are a commonly used medication and are often prescribed for people with diabetes to help them manage their condition".

So I think @Lucyr might be correct in what she posted.
Click to expand...
GP notebook suggests it’s all type 1s over 40 that should be recommended them, and to use the QRisk tool in type 2

gpnotebook.com

NICE guidance - hyperlipidaemia management in type II diabetes – GPnotebook

An article from the cardiovascular medicine section of GPnotebook: NICE guidance - hyperlipidaemia management in type II diabetes.
gpnotebook.com
 
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