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Anyone else on here taking statins? I started taking Atorvastatin a week ago, & I feel f***ing dreadful. Tired, sluggish - feel like I'm swimming through treacle - and my mind is full of fog - finding it difficult to concentrate, keep having to remind myself what I'm supposed to be doing. Bit like being stoned, but without the chilled-out bit.

GP says I don't have much choice - cholesterol levels have risen, over the last 2 years, beyond what can be managed through diet; gave very strongly worded recommendations to cut down drinking (not that I drink massively now anyway), & stop smoking.

I'd be grateful to hear others' experiences of statins; thanks.

hey up mart my advice get ioff the fekkers my brother is tuype 1 diabetic and couldnt walk after these took months to cure after stopping them my dad who is type 2 has exactly the same issues. Do a google matey they are posin IMHO Nursey will know more but my understanding from them is that they were both ok until the ones that they were on were dongraded to some 3rd world ripemoff copies and that is when issues started.

Plus the homeopathic brigade would rip your liver out if they knew you were taking them

MartDude wrote: Bit like being stoned, but without the chilled-out bit.

Sorry to hear of thr side affects you are having mart, but your post did tickle me

first off, I am not privy to mart's medical records so - it would be unfair and unprofessional to comment on him specifically

second, there are several different, but similar drugs in the statin family - you can have a sensitivity to one, but not others - so talk about it with your GP

next up - keep a diary - of what you do, what you eat, what you drink and how you feel - it may well high light other things that are causing the problem

if you are getting the smoking lecture, and it is now directly impacting your health - then stop smoking

look at your diet closely - not just what you eat, but how it is prepared

yes do your research, - but do it wisely - for every person who says "- took X and my leg fell off, there as many who will say the exact opposite....


ignore bullshit in the press - the daily fascist - sorry mail is really good at horror stories - but guess what - they need to sell papers so bad news is good....

Sorry to hear of the health issues Mart and the reaction to medication.

Unfortunately I have nothing constructive to add.

Though on an unconstructive note I did have a chuckle at an image created by nursie's response ....

Aladinsaneuk wrote: yes do your research, - but do it wisely - for every person who says "- took X and my leg fell off, there as many who will say the exact opposite....

...... those that took the meds and found that their detached leg miraculously reattached itself .............

The wonders of modern medicine .............

ok - am bang to rights andy
(I think it was Python's Meaning of Life where some one asked if his leg was just going to grow back after the tiger had eaten it...)

but the press annoys me - case in point - MRSA or as the press call it - the flesh eating bug....

I refuse to get excited about MRSA - we lost the battle with it 20 odd years ago - I do sympathise with those who have problems with it - ie a wound that does not heal, but folk should remember that 30% of all folk are actually carrying it - so no point in getting excited!

now - the real flesh eating bug is called necrotising fasciitis - I have seen it once ... its not nice.....

Jack Daniels will cure most things.



Apart from Cancer, although I think thats merely a dosage issue..



Hope it works out for you, I'm sure it will.. there is always someone with an ology who will sort something out when you stamp your feet and get past the GPs..

Statins. My GP put me on a statin a few years ago and I felt pretty much the way you do Mart, so I told her I was going to stop taking it. It's my life and the risk is up to me - I couldn't see the point of taking something now that makes me feel ill, in order to prevent myself falling ill with something that may or may not happen.

GP wanted me to try other sorts but you have to try them for 3 months or so to see if your body will adapt - so that's ANOTHER 3 months out of my life, when the arthritis clock is ticking and I know I've got a limited time to enjoy doing the things I want to do like triking and camping. And if the next one's no good, that'll be 9 months!

I lost some weight - (a stone but I've found half of it again), I sometimes eat those yogurts and/or spreads that are supposed to help, I avoid saturated fats for much (but not all) of the time, I eat porridge for breakfast - but not EVERY day. We eat a lot of organic veggies, eat red meat but only now and then, in fact we eat all the things that are supposed to be bad for you, but only occasionally.

Life is for living and ENJOYING! Anything that makes me feel bad and stops me enjoying life is not helping me.

Also if you do the research you'll find that statins don't lower cholesterol as much as the PR would have you believe!

Cholesterol levels seem to be a strange thing. My doctor can never understand why my cholesterol levels are particularly low - not that I'm complaining on that score - particularly if it helps me avoid those nights-in-white statins

evry time mine is measured it s ok or slightly low The Benewcol type youghurts etc only work whilst you are taking them not when you arent so they supress the cholesterol. I would in my non expert way suggest that in a lot of cases lifestyle can definitewly help.

Silly things like white wine instead of red for example is meant to be less aggravating for arthritis inflamed joints

But red is good for the heart - and tastes better too!

not good for the heart in the massive quantities that some imbibe it ... unless your heart can swim

When I had my broken leg my surgeon said "Red wine is good for fractures - up to the point where it causes them! "

Update.

That doctor was obviously talking bollocks. I gave up on the statins - couldn't be doing with the side effects - and have eaten rather more carefully for the last 2 and a bit years. Now, the figure has dropped from 7.something to 5.1, low enough, in my current GP's opinion, not to be worth worrying about.

I celebrated the good news with bacon & egg bap, followed by a Cornish pasty.

So, say no to drugs (unless they're nice ones that make you happy, then that's OK)

Interesting read. I have just been recommended statins on the basis of a 5.3 reading. Doc says that my risk of a heart attack in the next ten years without statins is 17% but she cant / wont say what the risk is with them.

However I came across a big American study on the internbet and that allowed you to add up the risk factors to get to a prediction. In my case my score was 13 points for a 12% risk but the key issue was that age was 11 of the 13 points. So are statins going to make me younger.

Anyway I had a long chat with an old school pal who was a GP until retirement and he agreed that the benefit of statins was small for someone with my level of cholesterol. But he was adamant that the side effects of statins were very small indeed - trials with statins and placebos gave just as many side effects for the placebos as the statins. In other words its all in peoples imagination based on a bad rep. So the debate is small risk of side effects for small benefit anyway.

Then I dug a bit further. The problem isnt your cholesterol level per se. The problem is whether it hyas built up to clog your arteries. And that depends on the size of your cholesterol particles. It also depends on other factors which is why women with higher cholesterol than men have fewer heart problems. Obvious thing then is to get your arteries checked out to see if they are free flowing - but that costs £500 and you wont get it on the NHS unless your situation is serious.

Last comment. NICE have just altered their guidance which is why more of us are now being advised statins by our doctors.