Statin Usage Poll

[haha]

Do you use statins? Did you use them in the past but discontinued usage?

 

[calmloki]

yup. + CoQ10

Think oatmeal every morning did as much or more, but haven't been doing that lately....

 

[W2R]

Yes, I take Vytorin and have done so for several years. It immediately reduced my cholesterol to levels that make my doctor beam with joy.

I just wish it wasn't so expensive. Even with my somewhat plush federal health benefits, I still pay $31.26 plus tax every month for it. I asked my doctor to switch me to a generic instead, and he said he would. Since Vytorin actually includes two drugs he wrote me separate prescriptions for each, but it turned out that one was not available as a generic. The result was even higher monthly expense so I went back to Vytorin.

 

[CuppaJoe]

This could be very interesting, Ha. Might give us a clue about how young the average member is. My guess is that "never took those pills" should win by a landslide on a true early retirement site. At what patient age do doctors start offering them (to otherwise healthy people), 45, 48?

 

[W2R]

This could be very interesting, Ha. Might give us a clue about how young the average member is. My guess is that "never took those pills" should win by a landslide on a true early retirement site. At what patient age do doctors start offering them (to otherwise healthy people), 45, 48?

My doctor started saying, "What do you want to do about your cholesterol?" when I was about 57 give or take a year. I was otherwise completely healthy but my cholesterol had gone up to 258, if my memory is correct. Anyway I was already eating a low fat diet (going to WW and strictly following the program, losing weight at that time), so I tried upping my exercise. That was to no avail. The next time I saw him, my cholesterol was still up so we made a mutual decision that I should start taking Vytorin.

 

[calmloki]

...
I just wish it wasn't so expensive......

Lipitor cost is close to the same for 20, 40, or 80mg. Was started on 40, asked to be reduced to 20 and cholesterol stayed low enough, then asked my doc to prescribe 80mg for me to 1/4. Pills split one time much better than twice, but the savings are well worth it to me.

 

[W2R]

Lipitor cost is close to the same for 20, 40, or 80mg. Was started on 40, asked to be reduced to 20 and cholesterol stayed low enough, then asked my doc to prescribe 80mg for me to 1/4. Pills split one time much better than twice, but the savings are well worth it to me.

Yes, but isn't Lipitor available as a generic? I don't remember. Anyway, see above for my unsuccessful pursuit of the generic. I am on the lowest dose of Vytorin. These pills are so tiny that I don't think I could split them. My vision isn't the best.

 

[RonBoyd]

This could be very interesting, Ha. Might give us a clue about how young the average member is. My guess is that "never took those pills" should win by a landslide on a true early retirement site. At what patient age do doctors start offering them (to otherwise healthy people), 45, 48?

Perhaps. But... I am 67 and have never taken any Cholesterol altering drugs. I had my annual physical on Monday and my LDL was 62 and HDL was 51. In fact, the only medicine I take is for my Atrial Fibrilation -- Beta Blockers and Warfarin. The Beta Blockers have a tendency to lower my Blood Pressure -- was 110/71 at the doctor's office but always much lower at home (100/60 is usual).

I, actually, am a little uncomfortable saying the above --afraid I will have Jinxed things... so "knock on wood."

 

[Katsmeow]

I take 10 mg of Lipitor, started when I was about 50 I guess. It had a dramatic effect on cholesterol. I tried diet and such but nothing really helped but Lipitor just had a dramatic quick effect. No issues with it at all.

 

[RonBoyd]

And as long as we are scaring everyone:

New Threat Found from Cholesterol Crystals Creating Inflammation in Coronary Arteries

 

[Martha]

My parents died young, my mother from a heart attack in her 30s. My skinny brother who walks miles and miles had to have a heart stent put in at age 38. I am now 55 with no heart events. I've taken a cholesterol pill since my late 30s.

 

[Rustic23]

Dr. Rob Thompson is a 'preventive cardiologist'. He is also the author of several books on diet and exercise. In his first book he said something like this:

'Before I started putting my patients on a low carb diet, walking 30 min to an hour a day and a statin pill a day, I use to make weekly runs to the hospital at night for patients that had had a heart attack. Since then I seldom get called out' He called statin drugs the closest thing there is to a miracle drug.

I use Lipitor. It works, with no noticeable side effects.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

At what patient age do doctors start offering them (to otherwise healthy people), 45, 48?

Any doctor doing that is not practicing sound medicine. Statins should only be used for selected patients where the numbers and risk factors are such that the risks are outweighed by the benefits.

For primary prevention in a healthy person, they are not indicated.

 

[deserat]

Yeah, I've dodged the bullet several times now, but I suspect the next time I might be more than coerced. I used to work with cardiologists and have also spoken to some primary care docs - said something like statins and Prozac in the water supply like flouride might work wonders - of course they are biased because they only see those troublesome populations that are benefited by those pharmacological interventions.

I am conflicted - I know on both sides of my family I have a genetic pre-disposition. Moreover, I'm not interested in the Dean Ornish eat like a cow diet. So, I guess you try and mitigate the risk. I do exercise and watch what I eat, but sometimes your body just does what it does. We shall see for me in about 3 months.

 

[GusLevy]

I retired last Nov at 38 and immediately went to see a doctor after not seeing one for my entire life as part of straightening things out for my next phase of life - I chose ignorant bliss up to this point in my life of not wishing to know anything that could or would kill me so that was the reason for not visiting the doc up to now. My bmi has been constant at around 21-22 for all of my adult life and I have run four times per week for 5-8k per session since high school; therefore, cholesterol seemed the last thing that I had to be concerned about as I have always been trim and lean.

Well, my doc told me that my cholesterol was basically off the charts at +250: A denver omelette, 4 slices of bacon, a burger and order of french fries was my daily diet since college but I never gained weight so cholesterol was never a concern! Anyway, the doc prescribed a generic statin initially which made my stomach sound and feel like a gurgling 10yr old for an entire month. I told my doc this and requested to switch to Lipitor - which has no actual generic right now - and that drug had none of the side effects of the generic statin. I did cut my "regular" diet to about 2-3x per week - I have decided a life completely w/o my omelette, bacon, coffee and morning paper is not worth living - and along with Lipitor my cholesterol went immediately down to 140 after just 4 months.

A doctor friend of mine recently told me that despite the minor side effects in some people that most people should always be on a statin given the far outweighing positive effects...

 

[rescueme]

I still pay $31.26 plus tax every month for it.

You may want to check with your supplier and how the doc is writing the perscription.

I was paying $45/month for a prescription supplied monthly, but I had two others (including Lipitor) that was also $45 but for three months (via mail order).

What I found out was that the supplier (Walgreen mail service) charged $45 to fill that "tier level", regardless if it was written for one, two, or three months (maximum).

I went back to the doctor and they changed the one month to a three month supply. I only had to pay $45 (or $15 for a 30-day supply).

Just a suggestion...

 

[W2R]

You may want to check with your supplier and how the doc is writing the perscription.

Thanks for the suggestion! I did check with my insurance company a few years ago, because we have mail order available to us and I thought that ought to be cheaper. For some reason (what was it? it escapes me now), it turned out that wouldn't save me anything for this particular drug. But I will check on that again because you never know when things might change. Good idea.

Edited to add: When you get drugs by mail order, do they send all 3 months, or 6 months, or whatever at once? Or do they send them a little at a time?

The reason I ask is that I get my drugs in person at Walgreens' so that in a hurricane evacuation situation, I can get a refill of my prescription from any Walgreen's at my evacuation location. But, I don't know if that would work, if they were sending one month's worth at a time to my house. If they sent them all at once, I could just take them with me.

 

[MikeD]

I had really bad cholesterol from 50 years of juvenile diabetes (I think), now surgically cured by a transplant. It wasn't from my diet as we only eat flesh about two meals per week. I have been on my latest statin, Simvastatin, a generic, for about a year. My readings went so low that I only have to take it every other day. Plus, Simvastatin is supposed to help mentally, too, something that is a concern for me.

Mike D.

 

[Dawg52]

I take the generic form of Mevacor. A 90 day supply from Walmart cost $10.

 

[Moemg]

Federal Blue Cross Blue Shield is $65 for a three month supply of medication (non generic ) . They mail three months at a time . I don't take statins so I'm not sure if the price is the same .

 

[W2R]

Federal Blue Cross Blue Shield is $65 for a three month supply of medication (non generic ) . They mail three months at a time . I don't take statins so I'm not sure if the price is the same .

Thanks for the info that they mail 3 months at a time. Considering how small the savings is (and like you said, it might be less) I'd feel a lot better in case of evacuations if they mailed all 6 months at a time, so I think I'll pass.

 

[Eagle43]

I use Zocor .... For years I resisted doctors' prescriptions to take a statin.. Cholesterol was around 200-210. I tried everything, including vegetarian diet. I lost weight, but cholesterol did not go down. The drug has got it down to 175. I've never had a heart attack, however my father died at my present age (67). So, why risk it?

 

[TeeRuh]

Edited to add: When you get drugs by mail order, do they send all 3 months, or 6 months, or whatever at once? Or do they send them a little at a time?

All three months at a time.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I have had the worst diet in the world--bring on the bacon, cheese, etc., etc.--and my hdl, ldl, triglicerides numbers have always been exceptionally good, so I likely will never be prescribed statins. Thanks, mom and dad.

But what a miracle they are! DH's family, even those with perfect diets, like DH, have been taking them for years with great results.

 

[Sue J]

I take Pravastatin. $10 for the generic for 90 days. My insurance co-pay is $20 for a 90 day prescription so I don't even run it through the insurance, I just pay cash at my local grocery store.

Now I'm also on Niaspan ER, it's supposed to raise the good cholesterol. I was very concerned about the side effect of "flushing" but the pharmacist said to take a 81mg aspirin about 30 minutes before the Niaspan and I haven't felt any flushing at all. We are changing insurance on 6/1 and we will have a large deductible on prescriptions and then a 35% co-pay so I'm thinking that I may try OTC Niacin with the aspirin and see if I have any problem with flushing. Niaspan ER is $250 for 90 days while the OTC Niacin is $15-$20 for 90 days. I'll have to see how much flushing I can tolerate for $230 savings!

W2R,

Every mail order prescription we've dealt with sent the 90 day supply all at once. It's a very good system, all have been with free shipping and easy online refills.