My doctor has been trying to get me to go on a statin for four years, my colesterol has been around 130-140 range. Six months ago it was 120 and a week ago it was 140 and again he mentioned about going on a statin. I'm wondering what other diabetics colesterols are and if you take a statin, if anybodys interested in sharing.
I take them. I’ve not had any problems. My level is now about 80 from 200, lol. I was dx’ed type 1 a little over 2 years ago at age 52.
I don’t think 140 is two high, but I was interested what others thought. It’s always good to have a little input from others. Thanks for your response.
A normal total cholesterol level is 200 mg/dl. A level below 160 mg/dl is low, and based on broad statistics places you at some risk from heart problems and cancer. Although taking a statin does provide an ongoing level of income for pharmaceutical companies and for your doctor, taking any drug does have some risk of side effects. The risk of side effects from statins is estimated by some to occur in 15-20% of the time. Mild side effects include muscle disorders and weakness, more serious effects include endochrine disruption and cognitive problems.
Personally, I’ll never take a statin again and I have to ask you why you want to take one if you don’t need one, unless of course you feel generous.
Mine was 110 last time and my Doctor was already talking about possibly putting me on something. He said that the recommended
guidelines for diabetics are that we should keep it under 100.
Ok, so there is total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides. In my opinion, the only things that really matter are HDL and triglycerides. Keep you HDL high, greater than 40 mg/dl. You can do that by eating healthy fats, exercising, taking fish oil and drinking some red wine. You want your triglycerides less than 150 mg/dl, even lower if you can get them there. To manage your triglycerides, keep your blood sugar tightly controlled, eat low carb and take fish oil again.
Ooooohhh, did I say take a statin? I guess not.
Your best bet is to become smart yourself about the whole cholesterol thing. If you want to go on the internet and ask for opinions that is all fine and dandy, but don’t expect some post by someone with a goofy face to override your doctors advice. If you really question the advice, you need to become smart yourself, then you will have some basis to ask your doctor the hard questions and potentially decline his advice to statinate.
Yeah that’s the other thing, my blood pressure has been 120 - 130 over 64 for the last few years and he kept telling me for a diabetic that was to high. A week ago when I went to see him the nurse takes my b.p. and it was 135 over 64 and my doctor said that was good because they changed the guildlines for blood pressure.
There was recently a small study (~200 patients) testing Niaspan (niacin) against Zetia. Even though Niaspan is made by Abbott, I think the results show that balanced nutrition is a better first step than drugs.
I agree with the previous posts that your cholesterol, if that is your total cholesterol seems fairly low.
My blood pressure went wacky earlier this year out of the blue. Normally I’m right around 115/75 but my numbers were consistently high. My primary care physician recommended taking a calcium/magnesium/zinc/d combo in the evening, the full daily dose right before going to bed. I thought she was nuts, to be honest. I was wrong. It worked like a charm and my blood pressure went back to normal. You might want to ask your doctor about this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/health/research/16heart.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=niacin&st=cse
http://www.naturalnews.com/029344_niacin_cholesterol.html
Thanks.