wthensler 

For the past two years my cholesterol numbers have been creeping up above borderline high, which came as a surprise because no one else in my family has it. My parents are in their late 80s, and although in declining health now, have been blessed to lead long healthy lives.

Last year my doctor put me on Pravastatin (40 mg), but I always undermedicated, generally taking 15 my per day. I've been on them for 7 months.

Yesterday I got my lipid blood panel results, and they're encouraging. Total cholesterol has fallen from 230 to 194, LDL down from 140 to 98, and non HDL from 154 to 115.

I'm 59, have always been in good health, but believe stress and alcohol were at least partially responsible, as was a 2 year sedentary hiatus from exercise.

Well, I'm biking again pretty aggressively, have stopped alcohol, and now it's time to experiment. Although lots of folks here have complained about side effects of statins, I haven't noticed anything. But, I will strongly suggest to the Dr. next week that I drop the statins completely for 6 months. Let's see if it's the biking and better living, or the meds.

BobbyG

I'm 55. I share high cholesterol with my father and siblings. In my 20s I swam every morning and my cholesterol was perfect. Then I began bike commuting in my late 20s. I stopped riding daily for a year after getting married (I was in love...and still am!) and my cholesterol and triglycerides shot up very high. With daily bike commuting and some minor diet modifications (including plain oatmeal every morning) my cholesterol hovered a fair amount over the high side of okay. The doctor I had then kept ratcheting up my Zocor...up to 80mg which helped somewhat. Then I changed doctors. The new doctor said 80mg for slightly high cholesterol was ridiculous and possibly dangerous. He dropped me back down to 20mg and told me to take 1200mg of D3 fish oil pills daily. That worked better than the 80mg Zocor. Currently I take three 1200mg fish oil pills a day, 20 mg of Zocor at night, cut down on my lunch portions and eat a tin of tuna 3 times a week with lunch. I also snack on low fat/low salt popcorn and low salt mixed nuts and I eat more salads and fish. Now my cholesterol is in the target range. Of course your "mileage" may vary.

jppe

I've been on statins for years without any issues so far. I've tried strict dietary changes and they moved the needle in the right direction but not enough to warrant not enjoying what I like to eat and drink. Exercise has helped, but interestingly for me it's just not a significant factor for LDL improvement. Heck, I rode the bike for 3400 miles over 41 out of 43 days and my total cholesterol went up and outside the desired range. I go to a physician who practices alternative medicine (along with traditional Western medicine) and right now we are supplementing the lovastatin with red yeast rice pills. That now has me back in the normal range. My analysis for me is my Cholesterol has More to do with my genetics versus outside influencers.

John E

To reduce serum cholesterol, try increasing the fiber content in the diet.

Rowdy

I agree. I increased my fiber intake and my cholesterol went down significantly.

RonH

My cardiologist put me on simvastatin 40mg in 2009 after I had the cardiac CT scan and the cardio guy almost had a stroke when he saw the results. My cholesterol had always been around 165. After being on simvastatin for about 6 months my cholesterol was down to 97. He was very happy.
In 2014 I was having trouble on hills and my cardio guy did a stress test and the next day had a stent put in my mid-LAD artery. A few days later I climbed the same hill with no problems.
I continued with the simvastatin for another year or so and then asked myself, "I got my cholestrol down to 97 and still needed a stent so why am I still taking it? It doesn't seem to be doing anything to help me." I talked with my cardio and my PCP and decided to drop the simvastatin. Now almost 2 years later my cholesterol is stuck at 160 and I have no problems with the hills. So unless there's another big event I'm done with the meds. I take 81 mg aspirin and a multivitamin. Life is good!!

peterws

My missus had her statins halved by a new young doctor. Her BP went over 200, so her other doctor restored them.
It took a long time for the BP to come back down.

70sSanO

I've tried different cholesterol meds and some gave me muscle aches and I had a hard time healing. But a few years ago my doctor prescribed pravastatin. Started out very low and have increased it to 20mg. During that time frame I have crashed on the road bike that resulted in a shattered clavicle. I also partially tore a couple of rotator cuff tendons, which I did PT. Everything has healed without any issues. Between the riding, golf and surfing I have put my 65 year old body through enough stiff mornings, but no adverse effects from the pravastatin.

So, if you are having no adverse effects from your cholesterol medicine and have much better numbers, why would you want to stop using it? I'm really baffled by that logic. Some people have had issues and are on a crusade against any use of statins. For those people it is justified. But if you are not one of them I don't see any upside in eliminating their use. I would stay at 15mg.

John

wthensler 

John,

That's a fair argument, why drop something if it doesn't have any ill effects and could be the main reason for the drop? I guess I am willing to gamble that going off them will not result in ill effect either. I will ask the Dr. when I see him next week.

jppe

When I started riding I had hopes I could reduce the statins. At some point I reduced the dosage by one half and the cholesterol shot up. So I went back to the original dosage. I'd love to have a level of 160 even with my meds?!?!?

pdlamb

I see stopping a working statin as a foolish choice, as backed up be the evidence:
Stopping cholesterol-lowering drugs could be deadly | Reuters

Now having said that, if someone looks at the evidence, the odds, and the consequences, and decides to do something I see as foolish, I can't stop that person from doing something that may end up killing them, or leaving them an invalid, or causing intense pain for them and grief for their family and friends. But I would certainly urge such a person to reconsider that decision.

memebag

My cholesterol slowly got worse over 15 years or so. Finally my doctor put me on Simvastatin. It caused muscle aches so my doctor recommended CoQ10 supplements. The muscle aches went away. I also felt slightly more energetic. I believe that extra energy made bike riding more fun, and I started riding a lot because of that. Riding made me lose weight and lowered my blood pressure. I started bugging my doctor to take me off statins and eventually she agreed to try it out. That was 3 or 4 years ago and my cholesterol has been good ever since.

Speedskater

Does anyone know how long it takes for a high fiber diet to have an impact on cholesterol?
A week, a month, a quarter, a year?
Conversely, what about ending a high fiber diet?

Ball Bearing

OldsCOOL

Google "oatmeal". Dont let the man on the oatmeal box frighten you.

rideorfly

Such a good point! I don't take statins, but I've talked to so many people on statins who say that CoQ10 helped their muscle pain. Apparently statins lower CoQ10 levels. I take CoQ10 for general heart health.

memebag

I'm addicted to oatmeal. I toast my steel cut oats in butter before I boil them. I make 4 servings and keep them in the refrigerator. I heat them up in the morning with some milk, local honey and fresh ground cinnamon. I just tried them with milk, blueberries and sugar. Mmmmm.

icyclist 

I had some strange muscle pains on statins. I had rhabdomyolysis after an epic ride. So I stopped taking statins. Through diet and exercise I have superb cholesterol numbers. My cardiologist doesn't suggest I need to take statins.

Joe Hxxx

Statins are the most prescribed medicine in the world. Twenty yrs ago 200 was a very good number. As statin use was more
widespread ; the acceptable number started dropping below 200. I tried it and developed the muscle cramps along with a statin shuffle. I focus on diet and exercise now

mwalsh5757

You mean that old Quaker dude? Pathetic example.

This is how a real oatmeal box man should look:

MidSouthBiker

About six months ago my doctor suggested taking the Simvastatin every other day instead of daily, after I complained about muscle cramps in my legs. We'll see next month if my numbers jump or not.

OldsCOOL

I'd buy that. A piping hot bowl of that with a dash of tobasco before that century ride.

OldsCOOL

Did the cramping cease?

Biker395 

I dunno. You could look at those figures differently too. From one of the quoted articles:

Statin Continuation After Adverse Reactions and Outcomes | Annals of Internal Medicine | American College of Physicians

In other words, you've increased your chance of having another heart attack in the next 4 years by about 1.7% by not taking stains. While the study touts that as a 12% increase in risk, there are other ways to die too.

Like from diabetic complications for example. And statins can increase your chances of developing diabetes:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4926726/

So it's hard to know what to do.

After a CT angiogram, my doc told me statins were "optional" but a good idea if I wanted to keep riding into my 80s. I decided to try them. I got weird muscle aches I've never had before, and joint pain went from minor occasional pain to frequent moderate pain. To the extent that would stop me from getting exercise and enjoying life, I jettisoned the statins.

The symptoms disappeared.

Lifestlyle changes aren't going to make any difference. I'm already 3 sigma with exercise, and my diet is very low in bad fats. I've taken to drinking more wine (twist my arm) and nuts like cashews and almonds (supposedly higher in natural statins). I already eat 1/2 cup of oatmeal a day.

I'll go back to the doc and see what he says about taking different statins or CoQ10, do my research and decide what is next.

MidSouthBiker

Mostly, Yes.
I am mainly a weekend warrior for cycling, but I was getting the leg cramps all throughout the week. I just thought it was part of the Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, that I also get.

But my doctor said no. He told me he is also on Simvastatin and was getting the cramps also, but he does not ride. He said after starting the every other day routine, his cramps ceased. Mine have too during the later part of the week. I still get some rarely on like Sunday evenings or Mondays. By the way the good doctor and I are on the 20mg version of Simvastatin. Also, my cholesterol has been under control for a couple years now.