# Anyone on Statins.



## postman (24 Oct 2017)

If you are, how long have you been taking them.Have you been told you are at risk of type 2 diabetes.just wondering after today, and a new report.It's just that only yesterday i was told i am at risk.This might be nothing but i have been on EZITIMBE for about three years.
It does not mean to say it's linked,because someone near to me,who is not on any STATINS has just been told she has diabetes.I would just like a few personal reactions,thanks.


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## PK99 (24 Oct 2017)

I'm on ezitimibe also. Atorvastatin produced a lupus like rash and I was switched.

ezitimibe is not a statin and works in a very different way. it sits in the gut wall and slows uptake whereas statins reduce production of cholesterol.

ezitimibe is very expensive £500pa iirc.

diabetes is not on my everlenghthening list of problems. I'm up to 5 routine meds!


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## Threevok (24 Oct 2017)

STATINS nearly killed my mother. She was prescribed them while on medication for arthritis and the combination of both completely stripped her immune system.

She was in hospital for weeks and the family were "called" on several occasions.

Took them ages to diagnose the problem - at one point they thought it was AIDS


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## gavroche (24 Oct 2017)

Have been on atorvastatin for over 10 years now with no side effects. I have a blood test every 6 months and all is well.


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## Fnaar (24 Oct 2017)

17 years on Atorvastatin (familial hypercholesterolaemia). No side effects, and better chol levels than Johnny Public


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## mjr (24 Oct 2017)

PK99 said:


> ezitimibe is very expensive £500pa iirc.


That's nothing compared to the £10+kpa for Repatha or Praluent, the PCSK9 inhibitors.

Statins don't directly inhibit cholesterol production. They inhibit HMG-Coenzyme A reductase, which is needed to produce cholesterol, but it does other things too.

I was on statins for years. Never told of diabetes risk and glucose figures were rock steady. Stopped because I kept getting severe joint pain and cramp while cycling and we felt cycling probably does more good than cholesterol reduction through inhibiting production. I'm betting my life on it...


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## slowmotion (24 Oct 2017)

Five years on atorvastatin, ezetimibe, ramipril and bisoprolol fumarate. No side effects at all. My BP and cholesterol are both a lot lower now compared to before. I was extremely reluctant to start taking them but it doesn't bother me in the slightest now.


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## Spiderweb (24 Oct 2017)

My mother in law was taken off them 2 weeks ago as she was testing as ‘pre diabetic’.


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## midlife (24 Oct 2017)

Spiderweb said:


> My mother in law was taken off them 2 weeks ago as she was testing as ‘pre diabetic’.



Statins increase blood glucose if memory serves. So can "cause" pre diabetes or make type 2 worse. Usual trick in the past was to give Metformin as well as a Statin but might have changed nowadays.


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## Vantage (24 Oct 2017)

S**t stirring from the media as usual. This was known way back in 2012. Probably earlier too. Not exactly breaking news.
https://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/statins-and-diabetes/
I've been type 1 for 37 years and on 80mg Atorvastatin for the last 4 years. I haven't noticed any increase in my glucose levels through statins.


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## Fab Foodie (24 Oct 2017)

Long term user here. No known side-effects.


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## midlife (24 Oct 2017)

Vantage said:


> S**t stirring from the media as usual. This was known way back in 2012. Probably earlier too. Not exactly breaking news.
> https://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/statins-and-diabetes/
> I've been type 1 for 37 years and on 80mg Atorvastatin for the last 4 years. I haven't noticed any increase in my glucose levels through statins.



Not the media the FDA

https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm293101.htm

And in the BNF. See under common or very common

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/atorvastatin.html

*For ATORVASTATIN*
*Common or very common*
Back pain; epistaxis; hyperglycaemia; nasopharyngitis; pharyngeolaryngeal pain


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## Vantage (24 Oct 2017)

Regardless of who released the info, it isn't new or unheard off. It's been known for years and I'm sure the docs know what they're doing.
I'd be dead by now if they didn't.


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## postman (24 Oct 2017)

Thanks one and all.


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## PaulSB (24 Oct 2017)

Atorvastatin 80mg for two years since heart attack. No side effects I’m aware of and my GP advises I stick with them providing there are no adverse reactions.

All my bloods came back perfect a couple of months ago.

I’m interested by Threevok’s remarks re his mother as I’m discussing arthritis in my hip with my GP and how to treat it.


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## The Jogger (24 Oct 2017)

No, I use to be but realised that I don't want to take a drug that does away with something that the body needs. Just as many people have heart attacks with so called normal cholesterol than raised cholesterol.


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## Alan O (25 Oct 2017)

Atorvastatin for me too, 20mg per day for a bit over 10 years. Familial hypercholesterolaemia was discovered after my heart attack - I can have a totally vegan diet containing zero cholesterol, and still get abnormally high blood cholesterol levels.

I've had no adverse effects, and nobody mentioned diabetes - but there's never been anything abnormal in my regular blood tests.


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## slowmotion (25 Oct 2017)

Alan O said:


> Atorvastatin for me too, 20mg per day for a bit over 10 years. Familial hypercholesterolaemia was discovered after my heart attack - I can have a totally vegan diet containing zero cholesterol, and still get abnormally high blood cholesterol levels.
> 
> I've had no adverse effects, and nobody mentioned diabetes - but there's never been anything abnormal in my regular blood tests.


Blimey! I'm on 80mg a day.


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## albion (25 Oct 2017)

Once a day for me.

A large bowl of porridge works.


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## Alan O (25 Oct 2017)

slowmotion said:


> Blimey! I'm on 80mg a day.


I was initially on 80mg (as, I believe, are a lot of people), but after a while the doc reduced it while monitoring my cholesterol to see if a smaller dose would be effective, and 20mg seems to be sufficient for me.

The other one that was tried on me was Simvastatin as it's it was a lot cheaper (which is fine by me if it works), but it didn't appear to work for me as my cholesterol climbed right back up again - so the doc put me back on Atorvastatin.


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## Alan O (25 Oct 2017)

The Jogger said:


> No, I use to be but realised that I don't want to take a drug that does away with something that the body needs. Just as many people have heart attacks with so called normal cholesterol than raised cholesterol.


Well, it doesn't actually do away with cholesterol, it just lowers the level to something within the usual range - there's still plenty there for fulfilling its function.


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## Threevok (25 Oct 2017)

PaulSB said:


> Atorvastatin 80mg for two years since heart attack. No side effects I’m aware of and my GP advises I stick with them providing there are no adverse reactions.
> 
> All my bloods came back perfect a couple of months ago.
> 
> I’m interested by Threevok’s remarks re his mother as I’m discussing arthritis in my hip with my GP and how to treat it.



Hopefully it's common knowledge now, so they should know which meds they can and can't mix with them.


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## PK99 (25 Oct 2017)

Threevok said:


> Hopefully it's common knowledge now, so they should know which meds they can and can't mix with them.



My GP's computerized prescription system recently flagged up a potential conflict between a new (to me) antibiotic and allopurinol - there should be no need to rely on doctors' memories.


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## Threevok (25 Oct 2017)

PK99 said:


> My GP's computerized prescription system recently flagged up a potential conflict between a new (to me) antibiotic and allopurinol - there should be no need to rely on doctors' memories.



Sorry, I meant in the data sense, not the medical community as such


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## Alan O (25 Oct 2017)

Threevok said:


> STATINS nearly killed my mother. She was prescribed them while on medication for arthritis and the combination of both completely stripped her immune system.


I had a strange reaction to one of my heart-related drugs (an ACE inhibitor, but I can't remember which one), in that apparently it can affect the immune system in people who are genetically deficient in a specific enzyme that moderates the immune cascade reaction. The result was a night in A&E with anaphylaxis.


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## vickster (25 Oct 2017)

Threevok said:


> Hopefully it's common knowledge now, so they should know which meds they can and can't mix with them.


What med was it? Steroids?


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## Threevok (25 Oct 2017)

vickster said:


> What med was it? Steroids?



I'd have to ask her, but it was a drug for her arthritis.


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## vickster (25 Oct 2017)

Threevok said:


> I'd have to ask her, but it was a drug for her arthritis.


There are lots and different types of arthritis  I take a few pills myself  , but as I'm not on statins I'm not aware of that interaction


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## buzzy-beans (25 Oct 2017)

I have high cholesterol readings, when living in France on I was put onto Statins but I didn't like taking them and so I opted to take myself off them, an action which was much to my French doctors dismay!
Some months after doing this and whilst still having monthly blood tests, I had a replacement hip opp at the Clinique du Sport at Merignac Bordeaux which is the top clinic of its' type in the whole of France. To say the Clinique was thorough is a profound understatement because prior to my opp I had to undergo numerous tests and checks one of which, because of my cholesterol levels, was an ultra sound as well as a CT scan of my heart, the results of which quite frankly amazed the consultant undertaking the tests, the reason being that I have absolutely zero furring up of any of my arteries.

On my return to living once more in the UK, when in conversation with my local GP in Wales, I told him about my cholesterol levels and the tests that had been carried out and his reaction was a real eye opener as he started banging his desk whilst saying "YES, YES, YES" etc.!
It turned out that prior to becoming a GP he had worked for a long time with a study group at Cambridge University, he said their research had revealed a sizeable majority of people who are on Statins do not need to be, he also told me of a remote tribal group somewhere in Africa they had found all of whom had exceptionally high cholesterol and yet they were existing on a nigh on perfect diet with virtually no fats or sugars, very high levels of exercise and on checking this entire remote group, they didn't find a single person with any signs of furred up arteries.

So if you are on Statins, do you really have to be on them?


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## Johnsop99 (25 Oct 2017)

Threevok said:


> STATINS nearly killed my mother. She was prescribed them while on medication for arthritis and the combination of both completely stripped her immune system.
> 
> She was in hospital for weeks and the family were "called" on several occasions.
> 
> Took them ages to diagnose the problem - at one point they thought it was AIDS



About a year ago a friend of ours in his early 70's who appeared reasonably fit and healthy suddenly started losing weight and generally feeling lethargic. Loads of tests were done over about 3-4 months and they could not diagnose what was wrong. He continued to lose weight and ended up in a wheel chair looking like he was going to pop his clogs at any moment. Eventually it came to light that it was a reaction to the statins he had started taking just before he became ill. He stopped taking them and is now making a slow recovery although nearly a year on he is still well under weight but at least the wheelchair's gone. He told me that apparently 1 in 5 people could react to statins in this way, if this is the case how come it took them so long to diagnose the problem?
ps I don't know what other medication if any he was taking at the time, but it has certainly put me off statins.


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## mjr (25 Oct 2017)

PaulSB said:


> Atorvastatin 80mg for two years since heart attack. No side effects I’m aware of and my GP advises I stick with them providing there are no adverse reactions.


It took GPs something like 5 years to track down my side effects and link them to Atorvastatin. I really don't want to be treated for this by an over-confident GP ever again. I'd much rather take a half-day or two every year to get reviewed by the specialists at the hospital and fortunately my current GP seems comfortable with that.



Alan O said:


> Well, it doesn't actually do away with cholesterol, it just lowers the level to something within the usual range - there's still plenty there for fulfilling its function.


One drawback for FH patients with a shortage of working removal receptors is that the cholesterol left by statins is probably older than in a normal person because statins reduce production rather than increase removal rate. I suspect we don't know all the consequences of that yet.


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## mjr (25 Oct 2017)

buzzy-beans said:


> It turned out that prior to becoming a GP he had worked for a long time with a study group at Cambridge University, he said their research had revealed a sizeable majority of people who are on Statins do not need to be, he also told me of a remote tribal group somewhere in Africa they had found, who all had exceptionally high cholesterol and yet they were existing on a nigh on perfect diet with virtually no fats or sugars, very high levels of exercise and on checking this entire remote group, they didn't find a single person with any signs of furred up arteries.


Well that's fine if you're a member of a remote tribal group somewhere in Africa that someone on a cycling forum heard about second hand... I'm pretty sure I'm not - how about you?


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## Threevok (25 Oct 2017)

Johnsop99 said:


> About a year ago a friend of ours in his early 70's who appeared reasonably fit and healthy suddenly started losing weight and generally feeling lethargic. Loads of tests were done over about 3-4 months and they could not diagnose what was wrong. He continued to lose weight and ended up in a wheel chair looking like he was going to pop his clogs at any moment. Eventually it came to light that it was a reaction to the statins he had started taking just before he became ill. He stopped taking them and is now making a slow recovery although nearly a year on he is still well under weight but at least the wheelchair's gone. He told me that apparently 1 in 5 people could react to statins in this way, if this is the case how come it took them so long to diagnose the problem?
> ps I don't know what other medication if any he was taking at the time, but it has certainly put me off statins.





Me too.


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## slowmotion (25 Oct 2017)

Alan O said:


> I was initially on 80mg (as, I believe, are a lot of people), but after a while the doc reduced it while monitoring my cholesterol to see if a smaller dose would be effective, and 20mg seems to be sufficient for me.
> 
> The other one that was tried on me was Simvastatin as it's a lot cheaper (which is fine by me if it works), but it didn't appear to work for me as my cholesterol climbed right back up again - so the doc put me back on Atorvastatin.


Atorvastatin came out of patent five years ago. The generic version which became available only cost about £2 per month rather than £28 for the patented one.


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## Salar (25 Oct 2017)

Been taking them for years, no problems, mostly for cholesterol.

What I didn't know was that you are supposed to take them before going to bed as they work better when you are sleeping.


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## BoldonLad (25 Oct 2017)

Been on Atorvastatin 10mg / day for 20 years. 

Was initially prescribed Simvastatin, but, it produced hang-over type side effects, without the benefit of alcohol.

No side effects I am aware of. Initially, my GP wanted to increase the dose, but, I resisted this. His alternative suggestion was to increase physical activity levels (which is one reason why I returned to cycling at age 50), this has had the desired effect, ie 10Mg dose, plus regular exercise, and a little bit of attention to diet. By desired effect, I mean Cholesterol within guideline levels.


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## dave r (25 Oct 2017)

Atorvastatin 80mg, Aspirin 75mg, Bisoprolol1.25mg, Clopidogrel 75mg. Been taking these since my heart attack last November, before that I was supposed to be taking aspirin and a statin but hadn't for about 12 months, I got a major rollicking when I was in hospital, I'm having no side effects from the tablets so I'm happy to keep taking them.


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## Vantage (25 Oct 2017)

I've taken none of my pills for about 3 months...sort of fell out of the habit. 

I really do need a good kick up the orriface.


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## youngoldbloke (25 Oct 2017)

First prescribed statins in the early 1990s, and have since tried every variety produced, but I have reacted badly to all of them, muscle pain and cramps, numbness and pins and needles, lethargy etc. I was referred to a Lipid clinic at the local hospital, but none of the statin regimes was tolerable. I was on Ezetimibe for a long time too, but it was relatively ineffective and my GP agreed that I should stop and try plant sterols, which I now take 3 times daily. I haven't had a cholesterol test for some time so can't say how effective or otherwise these are. I wish I could take statins, as they were very effective at lowering my cholesterol levels, but the side effects were unbearable.


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## Alan O (25 Oct 2017)

slowmotion said:


> Atorvastatin came out of patent five years ago. The generic version which became available only cost about £2 per month rather than £28 for the patented one.


Ah, interesting - it was approx 10 years ago that I started on it, so the same thing wouldn't occur now.


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## mjr (26 Oct 2017)

youngoldbloke said:


> First prescribed statins in the early 1990s, and have since tried every variety produced, but I have reacted badly to all of them, muscle pain and cramps, numbness and pins and needles, lethargy etc. I was referred to a Lipid clinic at the local hospital, but none of the statin regimes was tolerable. I was on Ezetimibe for a long time too, but it was relatively ineffective and my GP agreed that I should stop and try plant sterols, which I now take 3 times daily. I haven't had a cholesterol test for some time so can't say how effective or otherwise these are. I wish I could take statins, as they were very effective at lowering my cholesterol levels, but the side effects were unbearable.


Ever tried sequestrants or the armolipid plus combo pill?


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## youngoldbloke (26 Oct 2017)

mjr said:


> Ever tried sequestrants or the armolipid plus combo pill?


Sequestrants, yes (Cholestyramine), not very effective given the hassle of using it. Armolipid - no.


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## The Jogger (26 Oct 2017)

I believe this guy.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuhW4e-Ych0


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## PaulSB (26 Oct 2017)

mjr said:


> It took GPs something like 5 years to track down my side effects and link them to Atorvastatin. I really don't want to be treated for this by an over-confident GP ever again. I'd much rather take a half-day or two every year to get reviewed by the specialists at the hospital and fortunately my current GP seems comfortable with that.



If I’m not intruding could you expand on your comments re the specialist reviews? I’m fully discharged after my heart attack so only see my GP and practice nurse. 

I must say I feel fully confident in both and it’s been made very clear to me if I’m at all concerned, feel unwell or anything unusual about my body I should ask to be seen ASAP. I’m fortunate to be with a relatively rural practice and appreciate my situation is far better than others experience.


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## mjr (27 Oct 2017)

PaulSB said:


> If I’m not intruding could you expand on your comments re the specialist reviews? I’m fully discharged after my heart attack so only see my GP and practice nurse.


Every so often, I have a fairly full set of tests done and a week or two later, I take the results to the specialist clinic in a nearby city and discuss my treatment and any future tests for the next N months with an expert in hypercholesterolaemia. It may be a different situation to you, as I've not had a heart attack and have been diagnosed FH.



PaulSB said:


> I must say I feel fully confident in both and it’s been made very clear to me if I’m at all concerned, feel unwell or anything unusual about my body I should ask to be seen ASAP. I’m fortunate to be with a relatively rural practice and appreciate my situation is far better than others experience.


Yes, the practice that caused me trouble (not the current one) was the sterotypical suburban practice that you had to wardial at 8am to stand any chance of getting an appointment, with receptionists and managers that seemed to view patients as a nuisance and, as I mentioned, some GPs that seemed to think they knew it all and committed a few howlers. I think I wasn't the only one to have problems with them. My current practice is rural and lovely but I'm very happy they seem fine with referring to a clinic until we find a treatment that seems to work!


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## PaulSB (28 Oct 2017)

@mjr thanks and good luck.


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