Statins

[BrightonCottager]

I have been on them since around 2005. Simva gave me muscle ache (thighs). Atorva doesn't. The 'stool' is a bit glisteny, but there are no other gastric issues.

Statins are good for the symptomless middle aged to reduce the rate of atheroma development.

I think they are brilliant meds, and combined with diet will make some of us last maybe 10-15 years longer. I would recommend anyone over 50 taking them regardless of health issues. All my cardiology pals are on them as a 'no brainer' exercise. Official data is also pretty clear. For example :

Statin Use for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Adults: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement - PubMed

The USPSTF recommends that clinicians prescribe a statin for the primary prevention of CVD for adults aged 40 to 75 years who have 1 or more CVD risk factors (ie, dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, or smoking) and an estimated 10-year CVD risk of 10% or greater. (B recommendation) The USPSTF...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Real-world data show the effect of statins in primary prevention

This editorial refers to ‘The effect of statins on mortality and cardiovascular disease in primary care hypertensive patients without other cardiovascular

academic.oup.com

The latter reports a 20% risk reduction. By contrast I have recently writtin a press release for my institution about a the risk of adverse effects of medicinal cannabis, where the risk goes to 1%. I dismissed it as bollocks (or 'noise' as I put it).

Happy to explain any technical terms in the above, with the usual proviso that I am a scientist not a clinician.

Thanks, @Harry Wilson's tackle , I was hoping you'd post on this thread (see you back on the Wordle one tomorrow). Those are very interesting articles. I've not got any of the contributory symptoms (Dr told me I was at 9.9% additional risk, taking lifestyle and BMI etc into account) but have had a stubbornly high total cholesterol (5.8 / 5.9) and strong family history of stroke/ heart problems. So I took the plunge. I can cope with extra farting, and I can now at least blame the meds!

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Bottom line is, if they help prolong your life, take them - I do, although I do take quite a number of meds and rattle quite a bit, especially when excited.

 

[Brovion]

Resurrecting this thread (17 years later) as opinions and prescribing policies have moved on and I'm now on them. I asked the Dr about side effects and she said that research on muscle aches indicated that a lot on the placebo were complaining of them as well!

I've been told to take them before I go to bed and warned off grapefruit juice, but not grapefruits. Result!

Any other side effects to be wary of? Is farting still a problem or was that only in 2007?

Like you when this thread was created I doubt I'd even heard of them. However despite having excellent blood pressure and low 'bad' cholesterol (well within the guidelines) I had a bit of an 'episode' in 2020 (during the pandemic) and ended up with a heart stent being fitted. It was apparently quite serious (they looked at my various test results and called me in the next day, even though everything was in lockdown), and as the nurse delighted in telling me I would have been one of those people who just dropped down dead "even though everything appeared fine and he'd had no history of heart problems."

In the aftermath I got put on bloodthinners (for a year) and also statins and aspirin (lifelong). I've had absolutely no side-effects, not even farting! The NHS, bless them, have actually been quite proactive with me and after my last annual test in September, even though my cholesterol was (again) well within the limits, I got a call saying the guidelines had changed, and given my history (a problem appearing seemingly out of nowhere), they wanted to double my dosage (from 40mg to 80mg daily) to really drive down the figures. This thread is a timely bounce as yesterday I got a text saying at my latest blood test, after nearly four months on the higher dose, the figures are indeed lower. They'll check again in September.

Anyway, so yeah, no side-effects for me. I DO miss grapefruit and cranberry juice though.