Hi all,
My doctor suggested for me to go on Crestor 10mg to control my cholestorol levels. I would welcome people’s experience with this medication - results, side effects, etc. Thank you.
Not familiar with Crestor but I’m having success on Welchol oral suspension in regard to both lowering cholesterol (LDL-C), and improving glycemic control. (Welchol is kinda expensive as 30 packets cost me a $25 insurance copayment per month.) My treatment plan also consists of Metformin 1,000mg 2Xday plus low carb diet and regular exercise, mainly walking daily.
No side effects to date with Welchol although I’m anticipating a problem with vitamin K or fat-soluble vitamin deficiencies. So have you started Crestor? Anyone else try Welchol? Please share result.
I am not a fan of statins and Crestor is about the harshest statin you can find. Although many doctors will tell you that side effects are rare, most studies and peoples experiences suggest that statin side effects occur at a high rate. When I looked into the studies and science behind the dietary fat - cholesterol - heart disease myth I was quite dissapppointed. The studies seem to suggest that if you have had a heart attack, then there may be some benefit from a statin, otherwise you are more likely to be harmed by a statin.
Crestor was the devil for me. I experienced weakness, leg pains, head aches. I took it for two months and stopped. I have issues with statins. I take 20 mg of lipitor and I feel the statins sometimes. Ever since I started the statins I have had bad sinus problems that are never ending. Also I developed issues with body temperature. I started to push back on the statin treatments. I had two tests to see how aggressive they should treat cholesterol. I had one to measure the thickness of the neck arteries and one to measure the size of my cholesterol particles. Those test helped us to determine that high doses of statins were not required. From my research it seems crestor is a more harsh drug for the body than others. If you have more questions send me a message.
I was put on pravastatin two or three months back and just tried to cut them in half and take 10 mg a day, even though prescribed 20. I have fibromyalgia, and am not wanting further muscle pain issues.
So tonight I have the weirdest migraine type headache, not like my usual ones.
And with the fibro, who could even tell what my muscles are doing.
My Endo is not budging on this. My LDL is 115, nothing else elevated and he wont budge.
I dont know frankly what to do.
My appointment is tomorrow.
First of all he doesnt know I cut them in half (my arthritis doctor strongly suggested it) and second, do I have any other options I can discuss with him? We never tried diet modification. I dont eat much, am underweight and have no history of heart trouble in the family.
The way I got my endo to back off was with the additional tests. I am still border line high but I tried crestor,high dose lipitor, and zetia. They all caused muscle weakness and sinus problems. Once we got the berkley lab they determined that I had more large cholesterol particles which have a less risk to clog the arteries. I also experience migranes so I really had to push back. I told them if the drugs are going to make me foggy then I will get fired from my job ands then I won’t take anything cause I won’t be able to afford them.
I just flat out refused to take them now. My endo is not happy, but she doesn’t push the issue much now. I just tell her i’m thinking about it and take her advice seriously, that’s usually enough to get them to back off. Tell them you value their opinion, it’s what most of them want to hear. They had me on lipitor for long time, it gave me a world of problems including memory loss that I still suffer from. Which now that I think about it, helped make my case to stop taking them for her, she mentioned that i seemed so “lost” when i first saw her, meaning mentally out in left field. Which also happened to coincide with when i finally stopped taking lipitor. Several months later, it’s like i’m a whole different person to her now. The more I research, the more disappointed I get, like bsc said. I started reading Dr Bernstein’s book recently and there’s actually a small section in there about how elevated ldl is normal or expected for a short time after dx and during process of normalizing blood sugars. I don’t have book with me today or i’d try to look it up again. Another good idea is to increase your omega3 intake, almonds, fishies, n stuff like that. My recommendation is to not take it.
Well, I’m 41 years post diagnosis, but still not happy with this drug.
On my way this morning to his office.
I may try your suggestions…
Well, my LDL went to a normal number on 10 mg, and I wasnt even taking one every day.
I wonder if it is safe to take one every other day or not?
I found out lots of things today at the Endo’s including I was way overmedicated on thyroid meds.
Thank God I am an advocate for myself!
What are your lipids numbers? My LDL is way higher than my doc likes but I have refused a statin because my trigs and HDL are fine. I give some of my reasons here: Cholesterol, Fats, Carbs, Statins and Exercise
Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia
Everything in Moderation - Except laughter
My doctor put me on Crestor for a month and my cholesterol went from too high to quite low … sorry, forgotten the figures. But it was really good. 
After a month stopped taking it, and a few months later still good.
Hi Alan, the link that you posted is not accessible, please resend it.
Sorry, it's too late to edit so try this one: Cholesterol, Fats, Carbs, Statins and Exercise
I should test those when I post them.
So, I’m toying with the idea of trying other things. But something has to actually work to get the doctor to leave me alone! In that appointment this week I proved I was over medicated on thyroid, and stains (had I actually taken the full dose he gave me).
Wondering…does Red Yeast Rice work or have the same side effects?
What can I try?
Again, I have no histery of heart disease, but had much dental inflammation over the years. Normal everything except LDL which went to 70 after less than two weeks on Pravastatin 10 mg, and I didnt even take a pill every day.
Red Yeast Rice has the same potential for problems as statins. Different people react to different statins in different ways. Some people may not tolerate Lipitor but are fine on Crestor for example. So red yeast rice may or may not cause problems. The main issue I have with Red Yeast Rice is concern that you may not get consistent dosing and/or it may have impurities in it as it is not near so heavily regualted as statins as it is considered a dietary supplement. Red yeast Rice is where the idea of statins came from
Other options include trying to really increase your fiber intake specifically soluble fiber (why you hear oatmeal is so good). You can find this in psyllium fiber supplements. The other thing you can try is plant stanols/sterols. You can get them in Promise margarine (there is another that escapes me), they have sterols in Promise “shots”, I have also seen it in Orange juice. You eat these at the same time as something with cholesterol (meat or eggs) and this has been shown to reduce cholesterol by approx 10%. Problem with plant sterols are they can be pricy. If you ARE eating carbs then you also need to ensure your saturated and trans fat intake is low. If you are on a Low Carb diet saturated fat dosen’t seem to be a problem. If you do not eat low carb you might consider it. People seem to see a quite significant decline in cholesterol on this diet. This is all I can think of right now… Oh wait- can’t forget exercise. If you are already exercising pick up the intensity and duration.
Mostly I barely eat.
I eat about 12 grams of carb for breakfast, and maybe 20 for lunch.
Nothing major unless I go to dinner and then I bring half my plate home.
I buy low fat everything else.
Endo simply gave me no chance to try anything else, though my other doctors wanted me to try these sorts of things first.
I just cannot sort out statin pain from my fibromyalgia.
Actually I had a similar issue. I have restless leg syndrome (RLS) and was wondering if Crestor was contributing. The problem is, RLS is so cyclical for me it was difficult to tell if Crestor was contributing or not. What me and my PCP decided to do was to go off the Crestor for 1 month and do a baseline CPK (lab that shows muscle damage). I then took the Crestor for 1 month and did a repeat CPK. I also the followed that up with a CPK 4 months after the restart of Crestor. In my case this showed that Crestor was not causing any sort of muscle damage. I can afford to do all these labs because I do not have to pay if I have them drawn at the hospital.
Endo’s and PCP’s are so aggressive about statins because the cause of death for 3 out of every 4 PWD is some form of Heart Disease. I do not necessarily agree with the strong push for statins but I can see why they do it.
I wonder if you can safely take one every other day?
That was an awfully amazing drop from taking half a pill and missing some along the way!
Not sure about every other day. The Pravachol package insert suggest the half life is only about 2 hours but the effect on cholesterol is over a much longer period. When you had your cholesterol checked had you taken it just the day/night before or had it been the 2 days when you got the labs drawn?
14 hours before the lab......