Anyone On Medication For Cholesterol Or Blood Thinning?

[dave50]

I'm 62 and I'm lucky not to have needed the doctors very often but I was wondering if I have slipped through the net as everyone I speak to my age is on some kind of medication as mentioned above but I am not. Any thoughts please?

[Buenchico]

Quote:
"Six out of ten adults in England have high cholesterol, with many completely unaware that they have it. While high cholesterol itself doesn't usually cause any symptoms, it does increase a person’s risk of serious health conditions"

Source:
https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2015/10/12/high-cholesterol-beating-the-build-up-during-cholesterol-month/

I'm not on medication for high cholesterol but, like many people here, I take amlodipine for hypertension.

Have you missed out on your 5-yearly NHS health checks?
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-health-check/

[Neveracrossword]

My 67-year-old husband is on no medication at all, and a few of his friends are in the same position. I know a few others who're on statins and/or pills for blood pressure, others who've had prostate problems. My husband appreciates his luck, and hopes it'll continue!

[Mamyalynne]

I'm 67 and not on a statin or a blood thinner.

[dave50]

Well I do appreciate my luck but I have never been called on for a health check, whether that's because we have moved a couple of times on the last few years I don't know. Maybe I should try to make an appointment at the doctor for a health check but I'm not hopeful of getting one at the moment.

[Sqad]

Blood thinners? Why?
Unless you have had a stroke, heart attack, or other venous clotting problems, I see no reasons for anyone being on blood thinners.
Now, aspirin as a preventative has gone out of fashion by most Cardiologists in the U.K and by almost all Cardiologists in the U.S due to the fact that if a stroke is caused by a bleed,  then the aspirin will make the bleeding worse......so by and large it is no to prophylactic aspirin.

[TheChair]

20 years ago I was told my cholesterol was off the clock. Here I am now, at 69. I don't take, and never have taken, any medication of any kind. I walk 5-10 kilometres every day, and have watched my friends, many of whom were following strict drug regimes, succumb to heart attacks, strokes, etc.

[Sqad]

Cholesterol is still a contentious issue in that if your level of LDL low density lipoprotein is high then there is an indication for statins or other Cholesterol lowering drugs or there is a strong family history of heart attacks or stroke.
I am on neither.
A yearly blood test should put you straight.

[jno]

I was put on statins for cholesterol once but it turned out to be a mistake, there was nothing wrong with my cholesterol. It was in the days when statins were the new wonder drug that could cure everything and was useful for stripping paint from the walls and helping geraniums grow

The docs do keep telling me to take aspirin, though, even though none of them can remember why when I ask them. I get a lot more sense out of the chemist.

However, I am fat enough to be seen from the space station.

[brainiac]

Similar age, but never been on cholesterol or blood thinning meds. Have, though, for the past ten days been suffering from my first-ever bout of sciatica, which is a real pain in the backside (and down my left leg).

[woofgang]

similar age and no meds. Around 4 years ago (the year of the bad cold virus that left us all with a cough) I went to the docs about the cough because I woke up at night coughing and fighting for breath. Nice bloke, very apologetic because he thought "the system" had lost my recent medical history. I managed to convince him that the blanks were because I had no illnesses or problems. There are more of us about than is generally thought!

[dave50]

Thanks for everyone's comments.

[woofgang]

I got invited for the MOT when I hit 60...invite ended up in the bin

[anneasquith]

I wonder why we would refuse a health MOT ?

[davebro]

Been taking a statin for years - no problem. I guess a better diet would help reduce cholesterol, but hey.

[emmie]

yes - i was carted off to hospital with suspected Atrial Fibrillation, which was confirmed there a few months ago, now i take apixaban an anti coagulant. Also will be going back on BP and cholesterol meds soon.

[Peter Pedant]

no
this is a pill for efery ill - idea
or
the polypill

some people have the idea that they should be on a pill only for something wrong
others that:
no pill is bad - - I must take a pill to keep illness away

it is a state of mind not of pharmacology

I go for a pill for AF, ( actually three pills) and one for immunosuppression and that is it

[Peter Pedant]

lucky emmie
my resting AF rate is 135 and so I take beta-blockers which may me feel crap ( and I dont take them, I feel crap)

dave is a lucky lucky boy

[davebro]

Surely the "people" (well some of them anyway) are following doctor's advice even if they don't feel ill & have symptoms that can only be detected by tests.

My mum stopped taking her BP meds & suffered a massive debilitating stroke - don't go there.

[emmie]

The AF is a bit of a pain, but i will take the apixaban probably for the rest of my days.

[Paigntonian]

Was on statins for six months and they did the job, dramatically lowering cholesterol count.