Statins - side effects

User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56359
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Mick F »

mjr wrote:How's it going? I don't even like watching that video :?
Do you know if your Clinical Commission Group has approved it or if the funding is coming from elsewhere?
Going fine.
Second stab in the thigh on Friday.
Only doing it once a fortnight, so it's early days yet.

The specialist organised me four units. I took the first one under his supervision on Friday 26 Aug, so second one is this Friday 9 Sep.
That makes third 23 Sep and fourth on 7 Oct.

Trouble is, he added up the telegraph poles and not the line lengths.
ie four poles is only three lines. :roll:
He's made my review on Friday 4 Nov ........... two weeks late, and four weeks since my fourth injection. :lol:

I saw the GP only yesterday about other matters, and put the problem to him regarding the injections.
He'd heard about these injections, but not known anyone anywhere that had had them. I asked him if he could organise another one for me to "plug" the gap, but he wasn't able to, and I should get back to the hospital and let them know. Basically, move my appointment two weeks left, or give me another unit.

I'll give them a ring tomorrow so they have plenty notice.

Goodness knows where the funding is coming from. It ain't our local health centre .................. yet.
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56359
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Mick F »

Still going fine. No issues whatsoever.
Just given myself my third injection. Fourth one in a fortnight's time.

Appointment with the specialist now booked for 21st October.
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
NATURAL ANKLING
Posts: 13780
Joined: 24 Oct 2012, 10:43pm
Location: English Riviera

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
I am lost :?
Are we still talking hereditary cholesterol :?:
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56359
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Mick F »

I am.

Mine's a genetic thing, and having been on big doses of statins for ten years, it was affecting my health. Hence the (expensive) injections, and my thread regarding side-effects of statins.
Mick F. Cornwall
cotterpins
Posts: 221
Joined: 6 Apr 2016, 9:38pm

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by cotterpins »

I've been taking Pravastatin for 19 years; albeit made by different companies. I have always taken them at night on going to bed. I don't feel any lethargy until I've taken my thyroid, aspirin, beta blocker, blood pressure and Metformin tablets along with my breakfast. All which change pharmaceutical makers quite a lot, obviously dependent on cost. Because of the gradual loss of weight from 12.5st to 9st 10lb and also the lethargy I asked for a vitamin B12 test. . . now I'm on them every 12 weeks. Better zzzzzzzzzzz's than none :lol: in the daytime.
Abradable Chin
Posts: 330
Joined: 7 Aug 2016, 7:38pm
Location: Peripatetic

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Abradable Chin »

Statins are the holy grail and the most wonderful drugs ever devised my the pharmaceutical industry: medication that can be sold to well people, and for the rest of their lives.

As it is, I know three people close to me who were made ill by statins. In one case, the myopathy has been life-changing. So much for the "do no harm" oath, the sotto voce code taught is "don't tell".

If you want to become really cynical about motives and scientific rigour in the drug industry, you could read the books of Thomas J. Moore, like:
Deadly medicine
Prescription for disaster
Heart failure (or the article
The cholesterol myth)
It is not a chore. He is very readable.
Or Gary Taubes on salt exposes how facts are the first thing thrown out when it comes to health.
Moore writes that cells, unfortunately, use the same receptors for different purposes throughout the body, so any drug that has an intended effect will have unintended consequences. He highlights studies that show only 1% of side effects are ever reported back to the sponsoring drug company. Everyone wins this way since no one wants to prevent drugs coming to market, even the patients.
If you were ever to ask whether your medication has any carcinogenic properties, you might be surprised to find that only a handful have ever been tested. After all why go to the expense...no one want to get in the way of new drugs, not even the regulators.
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20308
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by mjr »

Abradable Chin wrote:If you were ever to ask whether your medication has any carcinogenic properties, you might be surprised to find that only a handful have ever been tested.

Why would that be surprising? It's something that sounds nasty if you were bad at science at school, but even hot food has some carcinogenic properties so who's going to start screaming that everyone should stop eating hot food, too?

I feel that statins probably have been overprescribed recently, but some of the emotional misdirection from their opponents is worse than anything from their advocates and reminds me of cycle helmet promoters.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
Abradable Chin
Posts: 330
Joined: 7 Aug 2016, 7:38pm
Location: Peripatetic

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Abradable Chin »

mjr wrote:even hot food has some carcinogenic properties

True. But I find the benefits of eating food outweigh the risks. And the long term damage done by oxygen is a price worth paying for the positive effects of breathing. It's not clear that medicating a healthy person is in his interest. And if an action isn't in a patient's interest, a medical doctor shouldn't do it.
User avatar
NATURAL ANKLING
Posts: 13780
Joined: 24 Oct 2012, 10:43pm
Location: English Riviera

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
I have not read all the posts/links on negatives with drugs.
But how many more people are alive today with modern drugs.

The mmr fiasco meant fear lead to less taking any immunisation and above 5% abstinence is a real problem as it then affects innocent people.
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20308
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by mjr »

Abradable Chin wrote:
mjr wrote:even hot food has some carcinogenic properties

True. But I find the benefits of eating food outweigh the risks. And the long term damage done by oxygen is a price worth paying for the positive effects of breathing. It's not clear that medicating a healthy person is in his interest. And if an action isn't in a patient's interest, a medical doctor shouldn't do it.

The key test is indeed whether the benefits outweigh the risks, but why don't you eat only unheated food?

And the other key question affecting statins is: are we medicating a healthy person? Is a person with high cholesterol healthy? If that high cholesterol is a result of an inherited liver abnormality, are they healthy? And what should we consider high?
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56359
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Mick F »

mjr wrote:And the other key question affecting statins is: are we medicating a healthy person? Is a person with high cholesterol healthy? If that high cholesterol is a result of an inherited liver abnormality, are they healthy? And what should we consider high?
That has been my question all along, and what I asked my doctor, and what I've asked my specialist.

It's all do to with mitigation, I've been told. Elimination of the risks.

As it happens, I've just had my fourth fortnightly injection. No side effects whatsoever. Fasting blood test booked for Mon 17 Oct and a visit to the specialist on the Friday.
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
NATURAL ANKLING
Posts: 13780
Joined: 24 Oct 2012, 10:43pm
Location: English Riviera

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
I wasn't asked to fast last check (full bloods and cholesterol) whats the diff?
Ah................non fasting total, fasting good and bad lipids.

Mine was 5.6 which is average for a woman :? I am a man :) which is 5.5, so after coming off statins for three months and having average I wont probably go back on.

After 30 years of multi meds I am on three, taken that long, two are preventatives aspirin and penicillin one BP, penicillin for low immune system, aspirin as family history of heart problems but I don't smoke.
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20308
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by mjr »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:I wasn't asked to fast last check (full bloods and cholesterol) whats the diff?
Ah................non fasting total, fasting good and bad lipids.

Yes, the lab I use won't give an LDL reading for non-fasting tests, plus I think it makes the glucose results difficult to compare.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56359
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Mick F »

The fasting isn't much of a problem I suppose.
We eat early evening and I don't eat between meals, but it's not being able to have a cuppa and a biscuit in bed in the morning that upsets me. :oops: It's just a matter of having tea without milk, and having a late breakfast.

It won't kill me for one morning.
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56359
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Mick F »

Injection day tomorrow. That'll be Number Six.
I saw the specialist a couple of weeks ago and he's very happy with me.
These things actually work!

I came away with twelve Repatha "pens" and that will take me up to Late March next year.
Mick F. Cornwall
Post Reply