Statins

[Bazile]

Yet another question re this drug .

Are you in the high or a low risk group and taking statins ?

[WELSHYORKIE]

My doc also said that 6 was acceptable but 5 was the ideal number. Apparently you can have high HDL (good cholesterol) and low LDL (bad cholesterol) with a reading above 5 and he would be quite happy.

[Bazile]

//Sorry Bazile, to bring up the question of cholesterol on your post.//

Why are you sorry ? - Taking statins is about reducing high cholesterol

[slaney]

I used to be low risk, until NICE changed the guidelines earlier this year.

The risk is usually measured by using something like a QRISK2 calculator- this takes your age weight cholesterol ratio family history etc. into consideration and gives the percentage risk of cardiovascular disease over the next ten years - and until recently if your risk was 20% or over statins were recommended.
Now it's 10%
http://www.nice.org.uk/newsroom/pressreleases/NICEAdvisesMuchWiderUseOfStatinsInDdraftGuidance.jsp
and I'm at about 12%, so I am thinking about it.

[shaneystar2]

Mine was 6.5 and they put me on statins .It's now 4 but they still insist I take them .Avorstatin 20mg .I'm not high risk .At least I don't think so .

[treetops68]

Yes, 20mg. Prevastsatin a day since 05.11.2002, after a heart attack while on holiday in Malta.Cholesterol is 4.6 as far as I'm aware.

[smurfchops]

Touch wood no side effects, cholesterol was 7.7 before, its 5.0 now, I take 20mg per day.

[Peter Pedant]

This is I am afraid a direct result of the bigwigs getting it wrong...
Fiona Godlee ( bless ) the rather stuck up editor of the BMJ should have realised when Sir Rory Collins said there was something wrong with the two letters three months ago....

that there might be ( something wrong with the letters )

but silly girl let it ride..... [ and seemed to have instead to have ignored it ]

Statins seem very safe - minimal side effects in 100 000 people taking them.....

Sir Rory C wiped the floor with Fiona G on radio 4 this morning
and I am not surprised the spat has gone viral.

So far Sir Rory C is out in front by far - they seem very safe.

( and no I dont take them )

[boxtops]

I have said before that I had chronic muscle problems on Simvastatin. The GP changed the make and I take 40mg Fluvastatin daily, with no ill effects at all. A change of diet and weight loss has brought my cholesterol down to 5.6 at last measurement, so the prognosis is much better now.

[Sqad]

PP

\\Statins seem very safe - minimal side effects in 100 000 people taking them...\\\..

Do you mean that the number of side effects are minimal OR the inconvenience of side effects to the patient is minimal?

I think it may well be the former than the latter.

[jno]

I got painful arm muscles so I came off them. The first thing the doc said when I reported the pain was "Are you on statins?" She said it was not uncommon.

[Peter Pedant]

yes as you say SqAD... I was unclear, sorry about that

JUST when I was gravitating on people saying they were high risk - when they meant they needed statins or statin would help

and others were talking about high risks of taking them.

dear dear pot and kettle

[slaney]

Yes - it's been interesting listening to and reading about that free and frank exchange of opinion...
http://news.sky.com/story/1261988/anti-statin-articles-face-scrutiny-after-row

[jno]

rather bizarre photo in the middle of that article, slaney. Are flowery pants one of the side-effects of statins?

[slaney]

I hope not - that would seriously put me off... :)