Will you marry meI have had the worst diet in the world--bring on the bacon, cheese, etc., etc.--
Will you marry meI have had the worst diet in the world--bring on the bacon, cheese, etc., etc.--
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 .
I wonder if any drug other than aspirin is more widely used?
Ha
No statins, but my doc has me on 1500mg Niacin a day, which runs about $15 a month.
Coach
Oldbabe, between adding an adult beverage each day and 1500mg Niacin, total cholesterol is down by 8 percent , HDL is up 10 percent and LDL down 20 percent. My Doc uses the VAP cholesterol test, and that's gone from 4 measurements outside the desirable range to 1 just barely outside the range.What improvement, if any, have you experienced?
No statins, but my doc has me on 1500mg Niacin a day, which runs about $15 a month.
Coach
What improvement, if any, have you experienced?
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.
No statins, but my doc has me on 1500mg Niacin a day, which runs about $15 a month.
Coach
I could not answer the question as stated. I have never used prescription statins. I am using red yeast rice. In fact I am part of a year long study to test the effectiveness of this supplement. So far I am please with the results I am seeing.
That's a highly pertinent question. In a nutshell, there is convincing evidence (IMHO) that statins reduce morbidity and prolong life in patients who have had a heart attack or similar event (secondary prevention). For those with high readings but no prior events, the statins probably help more than harm - they clearly lower the blood tests, but their role in disease prevention is suggestive but not definitive. Diabetes is an exception - those with high readings and diabetes likely do benefit from statins, as do those with striking family history of early coronary disease.Rich, what are the benefits of taking statins?
I've seen headlines of studies saying that a fair number of them lower cholestorel, but don't actually seem to reduce the bad events that we associate with high cholestorel...
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.
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.
That certainly goes along with the information I have relied on in deciding to continue taking Lipitor, which, I believe, has been show to reduce morbidity. I had "an episode" (I call it a "near heart attack") in 2000, so I know that I am risk, so I keep on a-takin' my Lipitor.In a nutshell, there is convincing evidence (IMHO) that statins reduce morbidity and prolong life in patients who have had a heart attack or similar event (secondary prevention).
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.
In any event, the absolute derived benefit is usually less than 1% per year.