Have you lowered cholesterol without statins?

[lucky penny]

I'm 71 & in excellent health, not overweight, taking no medications & I admit being a bit smug about that. My cholesterol was always good but started creeping up in recent years; doctor wasn't concerned, but in the last checkup the numbers were higher & he recommends starting statins. Ratios are good; HDL very good; other numbers, not so much. I'm inclined to wait a few months & be more conscientious about diet & exercise, which I really think I can do, then check the numbers again & avoid statins if there is significant improvement. Has anyone done this & turned things around? Or is there no reason to put off starting statins if the doctor recommends it?

 

[Plantman]

Yes, I have done exactly as you are proposing. My numbers were also climbing and my doc asked if I wanted to go on a statin. I said no, I would rather try changing my diet. I now eat very little meat and only when I go out to eat which is maybe once a week at most. I eat a lot more veges and pastas and rice now. That was going on two years ago and my numbers have been down for about a year and a half. YMMV Good luck!

 

[razztazz]

I can lower my cholesterol by not eating saturated fat. My HDLs go into the 20's however. When i was on statins my HDL's were in the teens. When i eat saturated fat LDLs and HDL's all go up but the ratios are better. The doctors' ... all of them... don't care about anything but "LOWER". Ignore HDL's in the teens. Ignore the stratospheric triglycerides and weight gain when being a vegetarian. Lower is all that counts.

If you care about your health, and YOU NOT the DOCTOR are holding the bag for your health, tell him to get bent. If your cholesterol has only recently gone up whats teh deat difference between teh old number and teh new number? And how long will it have to be that high to matter?

That stuff will not kill you today or tomorrow. it's not like your temperature, where, if it's 104 you gotta get it down now and the second you get it down your risk is lower. It takes YEARS for cholesterol to matter and that's only if it's building up in your arteries. If it's not then your blood numbers are meaningless. Ask him when he thinks you'll have a heart attack with the new numbers vs the old numbers.

I have learned all about this after repeated attempts to kill me by doctors lowering my cholesterol. It is a form of obsessive'compulsive disorder. I am still waiting to have that heart attack I was going to have any minute in 1997.

 

[savory]

Ask DD who works with diabetes. Reading what you provided, she does not feel the doctor is recommending something out of line. Obviously "other numbers not so much" is vague. The doctor had that information when making the recommendation.

Perhaps the link could help provide some more information about your specific question.

https://www.uspreventiveservicestas...l/statin-use-in-adults-preventive-medication1

 

[mamadogmamacat]

I can lower my cholesterol by not eating saturated fat. My HDLs go into the 20's however. When i was on statins my HDL's were in the teens. When i eat saturated fat LDLs and HDL's all go up but the ratios are better. The doctors' ... all of them... don't care about anything but "LOWER". Ignore HDL's in the teens. Ignore the stratospheric triglycerides and weight gain when being a vegetarian. Lower is all that counts.

If you care about your health, and YOU NOT the DOCTOR are holding the bag for your health, tell him to get bent. If your cholesterol has only recently gone up whats teh deat difference between teh old number and teh new number? And how long will it have to be that high to matter?

That stuff will not kill you today or tomorrow. it's not like your temperature, where, if it's 104 you gotta get it down now and the second you get it down your risk is lower. It takes YEARS for cholesterol to matter and that's only if it's building up in your arteries. If it's not then your blood numbers are meaningless. Ask him when he thinks you'll have a heart attack with the new numbers vs the old numbers.

I have learned all about this after repeated attempts to kill me by doctors lowering my cholesterol. It is a form of obsessive'compulsive disorder. I am still waiting to have that heart attack I was going to have any minute in 1997.

+1000

My ratios were and are also good although total cholesterol was high, in the low 200's. Dr convinced me to go on statins 4 yrs ago and I did ,without doing my own research as i should have. Was on them for six weeks and they ruined my joints, permanently, knees specifically. Found out later most all of the testing was done on older men, very few women participated and even fewer who were post menopausal. many such women had side effects like mine from statin use.

I would recommend cooking with coconut oil. That alone dropped my total to about 180. But as I told the Dr i will never go on statins again no matter what my numbers are.

 

[Sunset]

I may be trying the diet thing for the same reason.

As for the drugs, I'd be happier to take them if on the commercials they would state : "It lowers your risk of heart attack and stroke" .

But they don't say that in the small print, in fact the ones I saw on tv, say there is no effect on heart attacks or strokes.

So it gets your numbers down, but doesn't actually stop heart attacks and stroke, why use it

 

[skipro33]

I started taking Red Yeast Rice and was able to lower my #'s enough to stay off statins. Might want to look into that.

If you've had decent #'s up until now, and you're 71, then I'd have to ask the doctor what are the chances I'd live long enough to see a benefit from taking the drugs. I asked my doc what the benefits were, statistically, for me. She said, without the statins, I have a 96% of not having a heart attack. If I take the statins, that changes to 98%. 2%. Really?! I bet that falls within the margin of error. The reason for such little effect is my age. High cholesterol is a cumulative thing.

 

[Amethyst]

I'm lean; eat little meat or cheese; eat only low-fat dairy (I have to eat the dairy, since I have osteopenia); exercise a lot; high HDL; yet my LDL numbers keep rising every year and have been in the "high" range for several years. Obviously, age/menopause related. Two years ago I started taking plant sterols/stenols (Cholestoff) every day in addition to all the good dietary practices. In 2016, my cholesterol numbers were back in the decent range. I persisted. In 2017, cholesterol was back in the "high" range.

So I do not think we can fight our genetics 100%. Dr. still hasn't used the S-word (statins), but with my family's bad cardiac health history, I am starting to think I may need them. We'll see what Dr. says in 2018.

I'm 71 & in excellent health, not overweight, taking no medications & I admit being a bit smug about that. My cholesterol was always good but started creeping up in recent years; doctor wasn't concerned, but in the last checkup the numbers were higher & he recommends starting statins. Ratios are good; HDL very good; other numbers, not so much. I'm inclined to wait a few months & be more conscientious about diet & exercise, which I really think I can do, then check the numbers again & avoid statins if there is significant improvement. Has anyone done this & turned things around? Or is there no reason to put off starting statins if the doctor recommends it?

 

[braumeister]

High cholesterol is not necessarily a bad thing, according to a growing number of doctors and researchers. In fact it can be a good thing for older people. Do some research on your own.

 

[Dawg52]

My attempt at a diet change ended in failure. Numbers did not go down. Been on a statin for 11 or 12 years with no side effects. My numbers are great.

 

[donheff]

About five years ago I dumped sugar and highly processed foods and went low carb to lose weight. I ate a ton of meat and a good amount of saturated fat. At the same time I dropped statins after researching them to help DW decide whether to drop hers (due to muscle pains). After six months lowish carb my triglycerides had plummeted, my HDL was way up and my LDL was moderately higher. It is impossible to know what the numbers would have been if I just stopped statins and kept eating sweets, etc. But, I am happy to stay off the statins.

 

[Pilot2013]

DW (55), just Thursday, had a heart cath due to some symptoms. Her Cholesterol always lower than the "statin" number, and much lower than mine. The cath. determined 1 coronary artery with 60% blockage.

Numbers don't always tell the story...

 

[Senator]

You are better off without drugs.

Workout, eat more sensible and lose weight. I dropped my Cholesterol from over 200 to 170 just by doing that.

It doesn't hurt to workout and lose weight anyway.

 

[braumeister]

DW (55), just Thursday, had a heart cath due to some symptoms. Her Cholesterol always lower than the "statin" number, and much lower than mine. The cath. determined 1 coronary artery with 60% blockage.

Numbers don't always tell the story...

Yes, it's always good to look at the big picture.
There was a large study some years ago where they looked at people who were admitted to hospital with heart attacks. More than half of them had cholesterol at or below the recommended levels.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Yes, be very wary about statins. I did a DNA evaluation, and one gene mutation stood out-
"5x increased myopathy risk for statin users"
My dad took statins for many years, and had horrible leg myopathy. I wonder if this is a genetic trait for me also.

 

[street]

Cholesterol is something I have worked on for many years and I still stay about the same each year when I have it checked. My HDL runs about 53 mg/dl my LDL runs 135 to 140 mg/dl and my Trig. runs about 210 mg/dl as of Dec. check. My cholesterol number in Dec. was 220 mg/dl and that number has ben about the same for the last 20 years give or take 10 points one way or the other.

Doc has said I should go on statins also but I just don't want to start them. I get a lot of exercise but don't eat like I should but I do pay attention to it. I eat oat meal and flax seed which has been some help other then that I don't do much else to lower it. I'm 60 years old and want to put it off as long as I can.

 

[gerntz]

Statins are great!

 

[harley]

High cholesterol is not necessarily a bad thing, according to a growing number of doctors and researchers. In fact it can be a good thing for older people. Do some research on your own.

+1. I stopped taking statins due to a combination of muscle pain and a lot of research that shows that the whole statin thing is a scam. I recommend The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, a Scottish doctor. It's pretty readable, and if you are questioning whether to take statins, it's a good counter argument. There are others, like The Great Cholesterol Myth Now Includes 100 Recipes for Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease: Why Lowering Your Cholesterol Won't Prevent Heart Disease-and the Statin-Free Plan that Will and Fat and Cholesterol Don't Cause Heart Attacks and Statins are Not The Solution

Think long and hard about starting statins. IMO they are dangerous and don't do what they are supposed to. They do lower cholesterol numbers, but they don't significantly decrease the possibility of heart disease.

 

[LuckyDog]

I too recently had my blood tested and my total cholesterol is 240 but my ratio is only 3.8 as I have very high HDL. My doctor said that I qualify for a statin and to contact her if I would like to consider taking one. She did not insist that I take one. So, I have changed the diet. Very little cheese and very little red meat. I've always exercised a lot so that will continue. Perhaps loosing a few lbs. would help. My buddy has bad muscle pain as a result of taking statins. Anyway, I will try to stay off of the statins...

 

[gerntz]

+1. I stopped taking statins due to a combination of muscle pain and a lot of research that shows that the whole statin thing is a scam.

That's why statins manufacturers have been sued out of existence: for propagating a scam.

 

[harley]

That's why statins manufacturers have been sued out of existence: for propagating a scam.

There are an awful lot of people and organizations that would have to admit they were wrong before the common wisdom stopped being "statins will save your life". There's a significant amount of entrenched self interest in maintaining the line on them right now. I suspect that over time, and just like with the "fats are evil" science, statin use will fade to those that it can actually help, and not almost everyone like it is now. Nobody will admit it was a scam/mistake/bad science, but they'll know it was.

 

[gerntz]

There are an awful lot of people and organizations that would have to admit they were wrong before the common wisdom stopped being "statins will save your life". There's a significant amount of entrenched self interest in maintaining the line on them right now. I suspect that over time, and just like with the "fats are evil" science, statin use will fade to those that it can actually help, and not almost everyone like it is now. Nobody will admit it was a scam/mistake/bad science, but they'll know it was.

I don't recall statins ever being touted as without side effects for some & being non-helpful for others. Yes, they were likely oversold at one time, maybe even now. That doesn't make them a scam. They help a whole lot of folks.

 

[garyt]

My attempt at a diet change ended in failure. Numbers did not go down. Been on a statin for 11 or 12 years with no side effects. My numbers are great.

Everything I've been reading shows no correlation between dietary cholesterol and your numbers. I'm eating more eggs and meat than ever and my numbers went down.

 

[harley]

I don't recall statins ever being touted as without side effects for some & being non-helpful for others. Yes, they were likely oversold at one time, maybe even now. That doesn't make them a scam. They help a whole lot of folks.

They help a whole lot of folks lower their cholesterol numbers. There's an awful lot of science these days that says they don't help a whole lot of folks avoid heart disease, which is what they were touted for. There's a big difference. Nobody should care about numbers, just the end result. And I'll take back the word scam, although I think there was an large aspect of that too, based on what I've read about doctored data. I'll go with incorrect science and over enthusiastic sales pitches.

 

[Philliefan33]

Timely subject for me. I just got the results from my recent blood work, and LDL is high (139). But HDL is also high (69) and Triglycerides are on at 100. Doctor recommends more exercise and diet change. I already exercise a lot but I know my diet can improve. I love cheese and eat way too much. My first concession to the new way of eating is to limit myself to one slice of cheese per day (down from 4-5)[emoji22]