Cholesterol Lowering Drugs

Good Day everyone

I would like some opinions on members on here feel about Cholesterol Lowering Drugs as Mr Kandy went to see the nurse at our surgery for his six monthly Hypertension review and she was explaining about this new way of measuring patients life styles etc {can't remember the name he said}but his number came out at 15 i think it was and she would like it lower :P He has to go for a Cholesterol check and depending on the outcome she is talking about putting him on tablets to bring it lower so that he falls into this new fangled number thingy.His last check put him at 5.2 or 5.3 which he was told was ok but now she says he might have to go on the tablets,but he is not keen.

Friends and family we talk to all boast that they have fantastic Cholesterol levels 3.2 etc but are all on Simstastatins{not sure of the spelling}but i have read on the net a few months ago that many people are complaining of not very nice side affects and so are having to come off of them.

I don't know about anyone else but it seems that every few years someone comes up with some brainy idea that everyones Cholesterol levels have to be much lower than before so patients are having to pay out more money for even more tablets so that targets are met.Mr Kandy and myself both eat Benecol spread which has the Statins in which is supposed to help keep the Cholesterol lower and although my measurement last October came out at 5.0 the nurse said that because i was so healthy {her words}she wan't going to put me on anything :D

I would be interested to hear from people as to what they all think to us all having more and more drugs to keep us alive a lot longer :P

Thanks

 

Hi Kandy
I was perscribed Simvastatin some while ago as my Cholesterol level was I think 5.2. I am on a blood pressure drug as well .. The Doctor said as I had a family history of heart problem I need to take Simvastatin to lower the Cholesterol ..It appeared to have no side effects but then .. I had always been a good sleeper and found I could not sleep easily any more. I decided to stop taking then and I am sleeping fine again..Not sure if not taking them is a good move or not ?
Need to see what the doc says ..

Dave

 

I'd give oat bran a go first, sprinkle a few tablespoons on cereal or something. No side effects apart from nutrition, and its a lot cheaper than those yoghurts.

 

Statins are used more regular today to bring down High Cholesterol levels in your blood.they can have side effect's in SOME people. side effect's ,Insomnia,Muscle pains,tiredness. the cholesterol levels for the UK are.
3-5 ok.
5-6 requires action by yourself, stricter dieting and more exercise.
6-7 see your GP you may require drug treatment.
My Cholesterol was 5.2 at my last M.O.T. i took more care of my intake of fatty foods and increased my exercise level . my last check was 4.1 .

 

If I needed the drug to stay healthy and it was proven to give me a longer life then I would take it.!!! Me - I wanna live forever!! I have SO many things I want to do and the years are going by too fast.

Val

 

I have Heart prob's and take statins. I too want to live forever,but more importantly I do not want to see my family hurt with worry ever again in A&E.

Eat good stuff,get a sweat on at least 3 times a week and, of course ,ditch the fags!...Wine is good though:D

They tell you not to have Grapefruit with the drug....guess why.

 

Very good Marley:D

It increases the strength by seven! I understand folk are trying to develop a pill that is only taken once a week instead of daily.

 

I was diagnosed with high cholesterol about 10 years ago, it was 8.6. My blood pressure was in the 200`s. I have been on Simvastatin ever since with no side affects as far as I am aware. I also take aspirin everyday.

 

I'm not an expert, but I've read a fair bit on the subject of how diet, drugs, exercise etc affect health. I've read of herbs, 'superfoods', the way the body works, scientific studies (the simplified abridged versions with words with a sensible number of syllables in, as opposed to the ones with made up 50 letter words in that the scientists read).

Here's my understanding of it.

There are two types of cholesterol in your blood. Both are absolutely essential, they mend artery walls or something. The problem happens when we get too much of the LDL type, which sticks to the artery walls and eventually restricts blood flow.

The thing is, our bodies manufacture the majority of the cholesterol that exists in our bloodstream. So to regulate it, we have two choices. We can either mess with our internal workings with drugs, or we can control it the way nature intended. The latter would be my prefered method.

Diet and exercise are key. But not necessarily the diet that's a throwback from 1980's bad advice (the 'no pain, no gain era). Back in the 1980's my mam was very overweight and regularly saw a dietition. The advice she got back then is pretty much the same advice that people get now, despite many newer findings showing it to be ridiculous.

The perfect balanced diet is not a zero fat one (we need fat, we'd eventually die if we excluded it, certain vitamins are only available in fat). In fact, we are built to have a three way even split between fat, protein and carbohydrates for the bulk of our diet.

Another 80's throwback which is now thankfully loosing credibility, is the low fat spread thing, with 'trans-fats' or hydrogenated vegetable oil. People used to use it because it was low in saturated fat which was branded evil once, but then the scientists found it to be about the worst thing you could eat.

In recent years there have been some studies into regular food items that folklore has had down as medicinal for centuries. Hawthorn berries for example are supposed to regulate all things blood related. Cayenne pepper is another winner, which has, as far as I can gather, some scientific backing. Cayenne pepper is full of a chemical called capsaicin, which has been demonstrated to cut through cholesterol that has already deposited itself on the artery walls, by disolving the sticky part of the cholesterol while leaving everything else intact.

Excercise is also key. By keeping the blood flowing well, we keep the arteries supple. The arteries also widen naturally if we get fit, presumably our body adapting to allow more blood to flow to our muscles.

All of this though has to take a back seat to an article I read on a plane once though. Scientists had found that the people of one of the Greek islands had the lowest incidence of cardio problems in the world. The scientists were sufficiently interested to find out why that they went there to study the lifestyles of the people. They found that the diet was loaded with olive oil, lots of omega 3 sources, and loads of red wine. They found that the people took a lot of exercise, and that they enjoyed fresh air, and sunshine. They also found that the people were very laid back. The scientists then set about discovering whether it was the olive oil, the red wine, the omega 3, the sunshine, the fresh air, OR the attitude that was the key to their good health I found this amusing because I don't think it takes a genious to work out that it is almost certainly a combination of all of these factors, yet the boffins were keen to pinpoint the one single factor.

 

Good morning everyone,

Many thanks to everyone that has answered my question and have made it much clearer to us

Mr Kandy still can't remember the exact survey thing only that it sounded like Framlin and it is something,possibly a programme that the computer spits out that practis's now use for patients with certain conditions.

It is interesting to see the benefits of Simvastatin that people have and what you shouldn't eat with it as Mr Kandy does like eating Grapefruit at times but not every day like he used to. I also had a Google and evidently this drug has the benefit so the experts say of preventing Dementia problems so it could be a good thing as both Mr Kandy's mum amd Grandmother {mothers side} suffered with dementia a couple of years before they both had a stroke which killed them although they were both in their eighties when they were affected.

We both do lots of walking especially at a fast pace when we are not taking photos with our cameras,going for a good walk every evening round our village and twice on Saturdays and Sundays {morning and evening}and our holidays throughout the year are always centured around hill and coastal walking,not to mention forest walks when we find some good ones{Isle of White, Scotland,and the Lake District}

Since Mr Kandy was diagnosed over 10 years ago with Cholesterol problems he has altered his diet and increased his exercise levels but doesn't know what else to do for the best as it seems the goal posts keep moving regarding Cholesterol levels as a few years ago the acceptable levels were something like 5.3 or 5.2 now they want everyones levels to be even lower than that so patients can't win although they might be thinking that taking these drugs far outway the benefits of not taking them by using diet and exercise.The drug route makes more money for the higher up people whereas the diet route is cheaper for us as we grow a lot of our own fruit and vegetables on our allotment and every little helps :D

Mr Kandy has been a non smoker for 3 years in April although since then he put on a stone in weight but has now managed to lose half of that.If, due to horrendous weather outside{bucketing it down with rain}we can't get out for our walks we both take it in turns to use my trampette through the evening so we are both trying to do our bit to keep healthy He has this Cholesterol blood test next Wednesday and then has to go back and see the nurse so depending on the results will then discuss the options and benefits with the nurse to see what she thinks he should do. :D

He is also already on Atenolol for high Blood Pressure so doesn't want to take Tumeric tablets that we already have in the house until he has asked the nurse what he can and can't take

Thanks, Kandy