keep saying NO. I have taken statins for high chol but can no longer take them and sometimes doc will ask me to try and I say NO…so hold your ground and keeping saying it.
I hate to say this but this is true. Doctors get kick-backs from the pharmaceuticals for every prescription they write out. In the cholesterol reducing drugs they claim by taking their pills “it might” reduce your cholesterol. They are not saying “it will” and that is where they protect themselves in case someone dies. It is a known fact their pills “will” cause liver damage not counting all the other bad things.
My doctor wanted to put me on statins 4 years ago but I said no. One week later her nurse called me and said Dr. L. insists on me going on statins and which pharmacy should she call them in. I told her I was not going on statins and I would try to lower my cholesterol my own way by changing my diet and exercise. She wasn’t to happy but she got the message. In the meantime I did research at the Health Food Store, I wanted to lower my cholesterol (238) naturally. I found out that plant sterols will lower it along with fish oil (vitamin A) I went on Phytosterol and Policosinol and took them after meals. 5 months later I went for my check up and the Dr. was amazed I had dropped 40 points in 5 months. She asked me how did I do it without the statins and I told her, Natural Plant Sterols. She noted it on my chart and now everytime I go to see her she asks me if I am still on the plant sterols and I tell her yes. I have dropped another 20 pts. and I am down to 178-without statins!
I wouldn’t do it if I was within normal range. Stick to your guns.
For me, the statin issue isn’t too big a deal either way (I said no) but a pushy doc would be. You’ve given your answer more than once. You might think ahead to someday changing docs.
Its a pretty much accepted fact that diabetics have the same risk of an MI (fancy for myocardial infarction or heart attack) as a person who ‘already has had a heart attack’.
Thats the main reason for doctors wanting to go hell bent on the statin front.
Sure statins have side effects, but these are dose related and usually seen at the higher doses. Mainly problems with muscle soreness/ muscle breakdown.
Statins are thought to help in CVD and CAD (cardiovascular disease and coronary artery disease) by reducing cholesterol and by a newly discovered mechanism/effect. That is, of ‘stabilising’ the damage in blood vessels (calcium deposits or plaque) so they dont break off and block the smaller vessels, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Thats why doctoers want ALL DIABETIC PATEIENTS ON STATINS. KICKBACKS ? Who knows?
I personally researched the data about " the fact that diabetics have the same risk of heart attack as a person who ‘already has had a heart attack’. From what I saw, I think that this finding was made using a population which was quite a mature age population (for all intents and purposes, let’s ust say those a little advanced in their years) and their hba1c was also ‘slightly raised’)
So what does this mean for you?
I really don’t think "that diabetics have the same risk of heart attack as a person who ‘has already had a heart attack’, unless you are advanced in years, and have a fairly high hba1c.
So, the message is, you therefore need to make sure you keep your hba1c as low as possible when you are younger, so when you get to an advanced age, you do infact have a lower risk !!!
The doctors are just using this fact of high risk (maybe unfairly extrapolated from the older population to the younger patient population) and pushing bigtime the statin bandwagon. You really cant blame them. Not everyone is knowledgable, committed or disciplined to lower cholesterol by themselves. So YES doctors need to push the envelope.
Did they mention the double-blind studies demonstrating how statins can delay and/or minimize kidney damage? Look into it.
Yeah, Michael, I agree with your input. I think the ‘statins for protection’ thing is similar to the taking the baby aspirin, which the ADA has now changed their minds about when PWD should start taking these daily… i.e., you need to have one more critical factor besides Diabetes, and also be older than 50 if you are a man, and older than 60 if you are a woman. If your cholesterol is fine, why fix it if it’s not broken? 
Yeah I agree too that things can be used for protection but the way I look at it, If I hadn’t had diabetes I wouldn’t be looking at my health so closely and I may have had a heart attack before… When you have something under the microscope like I have now… checking each little thing, you notice the changes…
If I show signs of needing help with my cholesterol, then I’ll accept statins… just like I’ve now accepted that I need insulin. Living through chemistry isn’t my ideal way to live… I was a person who would be nearly on my death bed before I would take medication for anything… I wouldn’t even take a headache pill unless I had a headache that wouldn’t go away.
Now I have to take pills, I do… but only the necessary ones. I don’t believe in putting poisons and toxins into my body that aren’t necessary… “just incase something happens”. Preventative medicins are fine as long as you have the risk factors… which I don’t.
The day I say yes to using statins is when I know for myself that I need them… until then the answer however many times I’m asked will be NO!
Agreed, Denise. People tend to question their car mechanic a lot more than they do their doctors, for ‘fixes’ that are unnecessary.
I agree (about the car mechanic thing!) and we only only have to read a few of these comments to see how many people who have taken statins have had bad side effects… Why would I want to expose myself to those side effects??? True, I may be lucky and not have any, but why play around with your health when you don’t need to???
There is a need for statins when used correctly… Not for those who don’t have all or more than one risk factor.
Yay! spoke to the Diabetes Councellor today… she agrees with me that I don’t need to take a statin. I’m so close to the correct levels and my last test shows it was on it’s way down, that it’s not necessary… she told me she agrees with the natural way to reduce cholesterol…
I am with you!! Statins are good if you NEED THEM, otherwise I would stay away. That’s my 5 cents.
Denise, doctors get their contenuing education from the drug detail reps. Continue to think for yourself, because your doctor lets the drug companies do his. Sincerely, Mel