Alternative to statins

I am unable to take statins due to side effects.
I’ve been doing everything I can to lower it with diet and losing a little weight.
I just saw this ABC report about another alternative and I’ll be talking to my doctor about trying it. (Healthy cholesterol: LDL drug may be alternative to statins) Healthy cholesterol: LDL drug may be alternative to statins

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I will ask my cardiologist about this medication. I told him that I am willing to try Repatha again. I am waiting for my insurance company to ok it. The Mastering Diabetes woe has certainly helped to reduce my LDL, but plaque is certainly stubborn.

Thanks for posting this. It’s timely for me. My LDLs have been creeping up - I have a test next week and I’m dreading it because if they have not gone down, or certainly if they have gone up, my dr. will start me on statins. I really don’t want to because of the many, many people I have heard talk about side-effects.

I have been exercising more and I have completely cut out red meat. I am willing to further modify my diet as well. I have read conflicting things about whether a Mediterranean type diet or a vegetarian diet is better for reducing cholesterol. Any opinions on that? I have also read a bit about Mastering Diabetes. That seems to be a vegan diet that also cuts out oils and most nuts/seeds, etc. Is that accurate?

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Yes, MD is a vegan plant based diet which is also low fat. I eat no oils or any animal products. It is an extremely healthy way to eat. My LDL raised so much while I was low carbing that I ended up with heart stents. Low carbing works well for some and is very detrimental for others. Both diets kept my A1c around 4.5-5.0. on a low amount of insulin. I was quite insulin resistant while low carbing and the opposite while on the MD woe.

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Yes I also do MD and it’s helped help my lipids in check but still not as low as I would like.
Once you cut out animal sources of food all that is left is our own livers. And so we have to look beyond diet alone for some of us.

My insulin requirements have also been reduced even with eating more carbs than I ever did ( whole food carbs, not processed carbs)

I still struggle with getting enough protein so I eat lean meat like chicken twice a month. I found some good meat alternatives while high in fat are at least not animal based.

I’ll stick to this diet for as long and it works.
Oils and fats cause insulin resistance, so it’s no surprise really that my daily insulin requirements are lower.

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My protein levels are higher than when I ate meat and dairy. I eat a lot of beans, peas, lentils and seeds though.

How do you keep up B12 without meat?

Most vegans take a B12 supplement.

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Thanks for posting this @Timothy.

Just changed doctors and their first response was they want to put me on a statin.

I’m going to try to hold off as long as I can—I don’t want those side effects.

Most people don’t have those side effects, and statins, for people with established atherosclerosis and people with diabetes, are effective and proven in randomized controlled trials to reduce adverse outcomes including strokes, heart attacks, and death.

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Not everyone has side effects, so dismissing statins may not be in your best interest. You may want to consider taking a statin for a few weeks and see how your body handles it. If you get uncomfortable side effects, you can stop taking it.

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Thank you for posting this. It is worth investigating. I cannot take statins and currently am on the “other” drug, brand name Zetia, which seems to be working well for me. I will ask my Endocrinologist about this the next time I see her.

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They tried to get my APOb below 50 so that I stop developing plaque in my arteries and I can’t quite get there on rosuvastatin 20mg alone although all my other cholesterol numbers look great. About 3 weeks ago, zetia was added and hopefully, that will get me where I need to be as I don’t have far to go. Otherwise, I will try adding PCSK9 like Repatha which is probably overkill for now but may in time be needed.

I hope that the Zetia works well for you. I was told that certain drugs work better for certain people, just as we all react differently to different doses of insulin. Zetia took my LDL from 122 to 77 in 11 weeks, but when my husband tried Zetia, it did little for him. I pray you are like me and that the Zetia really will help you reach the numbers you want.

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Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. If Zetia + statin works for me, it will certainly save a lot of hassle and expense. I don’t look forward to having to add PCSK9 Repatha as well. Just out of curiosity, 1) do you and your husband eat the same ratio of carbohydrates/proteins and fats? 2) do you and your husband have the same relative levels of exercise? I am especially interested in your and your husband’s strength training, the % of protein in diet. 3) age difference? You are welcome to tell me this is none of my business but if you can share any of it, it will certainly help me in my quest to get APOb where it needs to be to avoid plaque buildup in my arteries. I am building plaque, however, it is virtually all hard plaque so still ok, but I want to totally stop my plaque buldup. - Thank you

Just to clarify: I have been taking statins for years and years, apparently with no side effects. (It is sometimes hard to determine the cause of limb pain.) There are many people like me. You might want to try them.

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Hi, CJ114,
My husband and I have been married for 47 years, so in that time he has gotten very used to the regiment that I keep with my diabetes, and I have gotten used to his regiment for heart disease. That said, we both eat nearly the same diet, although he will have more protein than I do since he has protein for breakfast as well as for lunch and dinner. I do not have any protein for breakfast. As far as eating the same ratios of carbohydrates/protein and fats, I really have not taken that into account. I count carbs, and as a 5’ 2", 117 lb. female, I have 15 for breakfast, 26 - 35 for lunch, and generally 60 - 75 for dinner. I avoid excess fat by never eating fried foods and not adding extra fat when preparing meals. We exercise the same: two walks a day (each 1.5 to 2 miles), resistance band training for upper body strength, and the normal yard raking, gardening, home maintenance, cleaning, etc. that comes with home ownership. Again, sorry. I do not know the percent of protein in my total diet. I just never took the time to figure it out. We both are active (example: we just spent one week painting the entire outside of our house, including shutters and doors!). I will turn 69 on this coming Sunday, and my husband is 70. We were told that my good reaction and his not-so-wonderful response to Zetia is based on one thing: heredity. It just works with the body chemistry of some people while it is not effective at all for others. All you can do is to stay active, eat a healthy diet, and give it a try. It either will or will not work for you. You should have pretty conclusive results in about 12 weeks. I wish you the very best!

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Thank you very much for this update. Every little bit of information helps. The reason that I mentioned protein is because every time I add more protein to my diet to rest from mostly low carb, I need to increase the amount of insulin I take pretty dramatically in order to keep my average glucose, GMI (A1C) in the same range. Using more insulin triggers a chain of events starting with APOC111 leading to an increase of small LDL particles of which some end up as hard plaque (very low stenosis) in my LAD (widow maker) artery. My APOb fluctuates between 65 and 75 and my cardiologist insists that if my APOb drops below 50, no more plaque will develop. I don’t have far to go so keeping my fingers crossed now 2+ weeks on Zetia that within 10-12 weeks my APOb will drop below 50. I, like you, am not a big person. Male 5 ft 8.5", 130-135 lbs 75 years young this year.

You are a goldmine of information and can’t thank you enough for your contribution here. If this does not quite get me over the finish line, then it will be on to PCSK9 Repatha. Thanks again and have a great week.

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Keep taking good care of yourself, CJ! God bless!

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My problem with statins are some pretty severe hip pain at first I thought I was needing hip replacements. Then I developed chronic diharea. Not sure if it was caused by the pain in the general area or if the drug was directly causing it. When I went on vacation and I forgot my meds, the problems vanished. My doctor told me that statins don’t cause these side effects, it’s more muscle pain. So I tried another one with the same side effects. I’m really all for statins, it’s just that I can’t tolerate them. I also can’t tolerate ace inhibitors. I have low blood pressure for no real reasons anyway. But the cause me intermittent and positional hypo tension. Anyway some people are sensitive to meds, lucky for me I have no issues w insulin. I think having more options out there is good for everyone because not just one size fits all