stuck between a rock and a hard place

[confusedkevin]

Hey guys/gals I'm new to this wasn't sure where to post this and I'm using my phone to do this I'm a 25 year old male, 237lbs, height 5'6, and I'm recently unemployed. So I found out that my total cholesterol was 273 I don't know the exact numbers because my doctor didn't tell well I have no family history of cholesterol problems although my grandpa passed away cause of a heart attack not linked to cholesterol don't know if that makes a difference so my doctor just throws me on statin (pravastatin sodium 40mg) and doesn't even explain anything to me like that losing weight, stop smoking, and eat healthier which I have started to do. What I was wondering is should I stop taking these drugs without my drs permission because he hasn't returned my call to talk about I've only been on them for 4 days. If someone could lead me in the right direction it would be much appreciated. Thank you very much in advance to anyone that helps

[Allen1]

Hi there confusedkevin,

non of the folk here are Doctors so any advice is purely personal and most of us have found this place because we were basically victims of what statin drugs have done to us and couldn't find answers to our problems from the people who should have known them ie our Doctors and specialists.

You already have doubts about the drug and had the sense to look for advice. If I knew the problems that statins cause there is no way I would have took them, but the choice is up to you to make, I would however take a look at the site below which shows you what people have experienced on the different statins.

There are a few 4 or 5 ratings amongst them (5 being the best and 1 being lowest), but I think you will find quite a few of the high ratings are done by paid individuals in an attempt to normalise the ratings (yes in real life it does happen).

Anyway, remove the asterisk and past the rest into your browser to see what the majority of real people are experiencing.

*http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=19766&name=ZOCOR

*http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=19898&name=PRAVACHOL

*http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=21366&name=CRESTOR

*http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20702&name=LIPITOR

Or just go to *http://www.askapatient.com and type in the name of your drug and look at the "View Ratings" link on the right (next to rating number).

[pmgamer18]

confusedkevin

You need to do like Allen says read up on this and make up your mind. I can tell you this I will never take a Statin Drug again.

And I knew about the sides and read stories about what it can do. I had Heart Bypass Surgery and felt my Dr. was taking care of me doing right by me.

Yet I never had high Chol. and from day one on Statin's I had problems. All my Dr.'s would do is change the dose or the brand.

It was when I could not get up or walk they took me off the drug.

Phil

[confusedkevin]

Thanks for the info guys I had been reading up a lot on it and being that my dr doesn't seem to wanna answer my calls I didn't know how to turn to and being that I'm only like 4 days in I should probably get out while I can or seek another dr its really sick that ppl have to go through this. Thank yall for the help

[Nancy W]

Hi confusedkeven and welcome. Glad you are looking out for yourself by gathering information online! As others have said, I am not offering "medical" advice, but I can speak from my own experience. If I were you, I would read on this site, and on the links provided to you, and learn all you can. You will probably discover that many physicians are not well versed in all the possible adverse effects of statins, many of which are very significant. The other thing is to read up and to understand the "Mevalonate Pathway" that has to do with the manufacture and use of cholesterol in the body, and to understand that cutting out the cholesterol upstream may "lower" your cholesterol numbers, but can have unintended consequences downstream. This is what many doctors are unaware of.

The one question you might ask, and might read up on ahead of time, is about the value of using CoQ10 if you are on statins. If your read on this site, you will probably quickly form an opinion of your own. Pretty critical in my opinion.

I have had, over a period of about 10 years, two bad statin reactions, the second appears to be more permanent than the first. You can search for my posts on this site and read my story, as you can with all of us. Why I allowed the doctor to talk me in to taking a statin the second time, I will never know.

One other link you might find interesting, if you are inclined to learning, is to Google the Weston A Price Foundation, and surf around on their site looking for information on cholesterol.

I would also highly recommend the books written by the physicians who are featured on the homepage of Spacedoc.

Good luck and good health!

Nancy

[lars999]

I strongly second/third/fourth, whatever, previous poster's recommendations to read as much as you can about statin side effects, how statins actually work, about the cholesterol scam, about the real causes of athersclerous, etc. This website is an excellent place to start.

In addition to this website, I highly recommend *www.statineffects.com, where you can start accessing the many reports form NIH-funded San Diego Statin Effects Study, lead by Dr. Beatrice Golomb, and the very international *www.thincs.org website, run by Dr.Uffe Ravenskov, a Dane that has been at Lund University in southern Sweden for past 30 years. Beatrice and Uffe are both MDs and PhDs (biology and biochemistry, if I understand correctly).

If you want read a really well-written account of Dr. Linus Pauling's "Unified Theory of Cardiovascular Disease" google (ONE PHARMACIST’S VIEW OF CORONARY HEART DISEASE: COMPARING THE “LIPID THEORYâ€

[confusedkevin]

Thanks for all the information you'll have given me I really appreciate. My main problems is the dr I have is young and foolish I know I'm young but he has no sense when it comes to anything he avoids my calls and all that never broke down my numbers to me just was like your level is 273 I'm giving you these meds take em. That's really professional <sarcasm on his part. I'm unemployed at the moment so its kinda hard to see a good dr. But I'm trying to see if I can get medacaid card so I can go see a real professional. He's taken of any problems my mom and dad has had. So I hope I can talk to him and get of this poison. As I said before I've allready made lifestyles changes. I quit smoking, eating healthy foods, exercise. Once again I appreciate all the info thanks so much. More ppl need to be informed.

[Cat Mom2]

Being young as you are you might also want to check into what statins can do to your testosterone!

[lars999]

It is not just the young guys!! Some of us older folks that were taking Lipitor can give Pfizer a double whammy -- no more Lipitor or Viagra sales to us.

Gotta admire cunning of Pfizer, Lipitor to lower your libido, Viagra so you can still do it.

Lars

[confusedkevin]

So after 4 days of being on the medicine my arm was giving me trouble, was having touble sleeping, felt down right miserable. So I went to the er and the dr did a ekg and a mono spot. It all came back good. He checked my arm the muscle in my arm was really tense. He said he's not definite on the medicine causing that but the other symptoms he's more than positive is cause of the meds. Being that he isn't my primary dr he couldn't take me off of em. And I can't seem to get in touch with my dr. So I decided to try not taking for a few days and I feel a lot better. If I have to I'm switching drs.

[lars999]

confusedkevin,

It was severe muscle pains in my left arm that finally caused me to do what I should have done well before, that is look for sites like this one to get a much better understanding of statin side effects.

Those muscle pains were accompanied by tense, very sore muscles in nearly my enitre bicepts muscle. There was also severe throbbing from shoulder to finger tips. This went on for weeks. All this went away quickly once I quit taking Lipitor. Unfortunately, much of the tense, very sore muscles came back some weeks later. Now much less of left bicepts muscle is tense and sore and I have regained much use of this arm, but not all, of my left arm. This recurrance, in part or fully, of muscle problems seems rather common.

I too felt rotten, with very low energy and really minimal stamina. What convienced me to stop Lipitor immediately was when I read Dr. Duane Graveline's description of what all statin drugs do to the Mevalonate Pathway in process of lowering cholestrol. Once I checked his information, I quit Lipitor the same day.

Some of my friends have had their doctors suggest that they stop taking statin drug for a couple of weeks and see how they feel. So far, none of them has ever been willing to again take that or any other statin drug, ever. All are feeling years younger now -- these are folks in 60 and 70s, like me (70).

FYI, ALL statin drugs work the same way and cause the same serious side effects. There does seem to be some variation in initial side effects from one statin to another, as well as differences in which muscles, joints, other body parts are most effected in an individual. Legs, arms and lower back muscles seem to be most commonly affected. Some folks legs become really weak, mine did. Loss of energy and stamina, feeling louzy are quite common too and also go away quickly and seem to stay away.

Sounds like you have a real stinker of a doctor. Hope you are able to find a doctor that will explain things to you and be receptive to what you are learning here. Unfortunately, my doctor that perscribed Lipitor is and was about as unreceptive to hearing bad things about Lipitor as yours appears likely to be. He is no longer my general doctor or one I will ever visit again.

Best wishes!!
Lars

[confusedkevin]

Well I'm allready on a mission to find another dr. I stopped the statins myself. And I feel better and now I can actually can sleep at night. Btw I've lost about 12 pounds allready from my diet

[Allen1]

Hi there confusedkevin,

that certainly is good news about your choice to stop taking the statins and the weight loss by diet is good news too :)
It would be nice if you could also let your friends know about the side effects of statins, mainly because we all tend to hear that they are well tolerated and only find out about the problems when they have already taken hold. Thank goodness there are people like yourself and others who looked into what this stuff can do before it got bad, the shame is that the information that can be found in places like this, was not available when a lot of us were put on that poison years ago. Thank goodness for the internet and sod any doctor that says its full of misinformation, its no more misinformed than anything they hear from their reps etc and this could basically save you from a life of pain and problems that should have never happened in the first place.

Good luck with the future and take care :)

All the very best,
Allen ;)

[confusedkevin]

Thanks to everyone that helped me find more info. I'm really glad I researched on it. And it actually feels good to eat right and exercise. And I'm def glad I stopped smoking its gonna help a ton. I promise to keep yall updated on how my diet my goal is to weigh about around 170-180. And most of the foods I didn't eat that are good for me I find I actually really like. So its a win win situation . I plan on informing more people about this. Once again thanks for all the info yall gave me.