Should I take a statin? Please take a look at my bloodwork.

[SlowSloth]

Statins are associated with various adverse events (AEs). Check out the different tables for a quicker overview like Table IV Risk Factors for Statin Adverse Effects, Table V Mitochondrial (mt) Effects Reported in Patients Treated with Statins, Table VII Statin Adverse Effects Supported by Evidence from Randomized Controlled Trials, and Table VIII Statin Adverse Effects Supported or Suggested by Case Series, Case Studies, and Observational Designs in this article:

Statin Adverse Effects: A Review of the Literature and Evidence for a Mitochondrial Mechanism

HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) are a widely used class of drug, and like all medications have potential for adverse effects (AEs). Here we review the statin AE literature, first focusing on muscle AEs as the most reported problem both in the literature ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

It's also important to consider your genetic SNPs which can predispose you to certain AEs with statin use.

For some statin usage does not result in apparent side effects and works well for them, for others they are unable to tolerate the side effects and the drug is discontinued.

Lipid lowering pharmaceuticals may also impair glucose metabolism so that is important to keep in mind:

Updated Understanding of the Crosstalk Between Glucose/Insulin and Cholesterol Metabolism

Glucose and cholesterol engage in almost all human physiological activities. As the primary energy substance, glucose can be assimilated and converted into diverse essential substances, including cholesterol. Cholesterol is mainly derived from de novo ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Also consider your dietary intake of sugar because this will have an impact on your lipid profile:

Dietary sugars and cardiometabolic risk: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials of the effects on blood pressure and lipids - PubMed

Dietary sugars influence blood pressure and serum lipids. The relation is independent of effects of sugars on body weight. Protocols for this review were registered separately for effects of sugars on blood pressure and lipids in the PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[jdubzzz44]

My ldl was over 200 and even after losing 30lbs and trying every supplement out there it was still over 150. And that was being natural as I’d been off any type of hormones for multiple years. Before starting Trt my doctor prescribed rosuvastatin 10mg a day which apparently is a fairly high dose and I felt absolutely zero side effects at all so far

 

[koslawikov]

Personal choice but with this profile I agree I would not add at this point. That said, I am on low dose statin and it does wonders for my cholesterol (sub 150 total, etc) with no side effects. I would not fear them and they do make a huge difference for those that need them. Funny how many on the boards will pin high dosages of steroids (from the black market, I might add) but warn against taking a mostly benign, FDA approved, safe pharma drug that has been tested safe over and over again and that which can have a profound effect on long term health. Tren? Hell yes! But stay away from those statins.

I am absolutely not against taking meds for example for the blood pressure or anything else when it is getting critical, not even statins if cholesterol is really critical + tryglicerides. But cholesterol isn't as bad as it is made to be and just high ldl if hdl is in range does not mean you are in high risk for cardiovascular events if other markers are in range. I am as well not taking tren, it is not worth the side effects. You should not judge someone because he has a different opinion than you, the guy with this lipids needs no statins, it is criminal putting a person on statins with a good lipid profile like that, low cholesterol is very unhealthy too and statins are nothing to throw in if it is not absolutely nessecary.
And FDA approved? Really? What does that say, the FDA is corrupt to the bone and have in the past not approved things that really could have been helpful.

 

[buck]

Most Dr.s view cholesterol through the lens of what is best for the heart. Not what will optimise health and lead to the longest life. Longevity is something the medical professions doesn't look at they look shorter term Many studies such as this with 12.8 million people show higher levels the may lead to longer life. When i asked 2 cardiologists this year how much longer people live if they take a stain both said they have seen no data on that topic. Yet big pharma has the data they have been keeping for decades. I would be advertising that statins lead to longer life span if i was in charge and it was true.

Total cholesterol and all-cause mortality by sex and age: a prospective cohort study among 12.8 million adults - PubMed

It is unclear whether associations between total cholesterol (TC) levels and all-cause mortality and the optimal TC ranges for lowest mortality vary by sex and age. 12,815,006 Korean adults underwent routine health examinations during 2001-2004, and were followed until 2013. During follow-up...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[OldGHGuy]

I am absolutely not against taking meds for example for the blood pressure or anything else when it is getting critical, not even statins if cholesterol is really critical + tryglicerides. But cholesterol isn't as bad as it is made to be and just high ldl if hdl is in range does not mean you are in high risk for cardiovascular events if other markers are in range. I am as well not taking tren, it is not worth the side effects. You should not judge someone because he has a different opinion than you, the guy with this lipids needs no statins, it is criminal putting a person on statins with a good lipid profile like that, low cholesterol is very unhealthy too and statins are nothing to throw in if it is not absolutely nessecary.
And FDA approved? Really? What does that say, the FDA is corrupt to the bone and have in the past not approved things that really could have been helpful.

Didn't you read what I said? I said I did not think he, with a relatively good profile, needed to be on statins. Some people just look for something to fight about. Check your estrogen levels!

 

[OldGHGuy]

Most Dr.s view cholesterol through the lens of what is best for the heart. Not what will optimise health and lead to the longest life. Longevity is something the medical professions doesn't look at they look shorter term Many studies such as this with 12.8 million people show higher levels the may lead to longer life. When i asked 2 cardiologists this year how much longer people live if they take a stain both said they have seen no data on that topic. Yet big pharma has the data they have been keeping for decades. I would be advertising that statins lead to longer life span if i was in charge and it was true.

Total cholesterol and all-cause mortality by sex and age: a prospective cohort study among 12.8 million adults - PubMed

It is unclear whether associations between total cholesterol (TC) levels and all-cause mortality and the optimal TC ranges for lowest mortality vary by sex and age. 12,815,006 Korean adults underwent routine health examinations during 2001-2004, and were followed until 2013. During follow-up...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

To each his own. I take low dose statin with no sides, an excellent lipid profile and a heart in great condition at 55 years old.

 

[readalot]

Didn't you read what I said? I said I did not think he, with a relatively good profile, needed to be on statins. Some people just look for something to fight about. Check your estrogen levels!

Haha.

Just recently had a bunch of bloodwork pulled after my latest experiment (200 mg/week TC base plus 50 mg/day oxandrolone for 4 weeks). Had the LCMS E2 test done and was expecting it to come back around 30 pg/ml. I usually aromatize not too bad. SHBG came back at 6. E2 came back at 100 pg/ml. That is alot of fE2! Going to have Quest rerun sample. I am feeling very calm at the moment. Must be a night shift Tech.

 

[OldGHGuy]

Haha.

Just recently had a bunch of bloodwork pulled after my latest experiment (200 mg/week TC base plus 50 mg/day oxandrolone for 4 weeks). Had the LCMS E2 test done and was expecting it to come back around 30 pg/ml. I usually aromatize not too bad. SHBG came back at 6. E2 came back at 100 pg/ml. That is alot of fE2! Going to have Quest rerun sample. I am feeling very calm at the moment. Must be a night shift Tech.

YOU took oxandrolone?!? Never thought I'd see the day after all your research

 

[readalot]

YOU took oxandrolone?!? Never thought I'd see the day after all your research

For science. Firming up and validating the hypothesis that lowering SHBG will not increase absolute FT under constant exogenous Testosterone. Oxandrolone or stanozolol are ideal agents to use for this work.

I reported on my previous experiments but did not use equilibrium dialysis to measure FT. Always wanted to repeat that using FT by ED instead of calculating using cFTv.

Oxandrolone Troche Experience: Potential Atherosclerosis Marker WMD

I’d be interested in hearing others experience using oxandrolone troches instead of oral delivery (capsules) to bypass first-pass metabolism and reduce liver toxicity and lower minimum effective dose . Since oxandrolone has excellent oral bioavailability (97-98%) and is actually metabolized...

forums.t-nation.com

Sorry for the derail OP.

 

[buck]

To each his own. I take low dose statin with no sides, an excellent lipid profile and a heart in great condition at 55 years old.

And i support you doing that we eachy should do what they think is right. My concern goes past heart and includes cancer, stroke as well as other medical issues which are impacted by cholesterol levels. The brain for example is about 60% fat as i am sure you already know. With about 25% of that fat being cholesterol. Brain shrinkage can be a problem as one gets older. That is just one thing i look to avoid. If my heart was in great condition i would want to stay the course as to how i got there and not add a drug that is meant to change how things are actually working.Unfortunately for me my cholesterol levels, BP, fasting glucose have always been low etc. and my arteries are calcifying faster then average. Yet some dr.s would like to lower my natural LDL levels which have been 75-84 most all my life with a statin that they say is likley to not really benefit me and may cause harm. But that is what they give out to everyone some they don't get sued for malpractice.

 

[OldGHGuy]

Hey I wish you the best. For me, I had lifelong high cholesterol (both ldl and hdl with a total over 220). Low dose statin knocks it down under 150 with no sides and very cheap cost. Statins are now generic and very cheap with much lower margins for pharma. To me, the bigger conspiracy to look out for is "big cardiovascular", the pharma and hospital infrastructure making money off the epidemic of heart attacks and strokes and the treatment for such. Big pharma hates cheap, easy and effective solutions to big, expensive problems - this is why they hate statins. Same reason they hate non-chemo and non-immunotherapy solutions to cancer that they have tried to bury.

Go with your gut and what works for you. All the best in 2024

 

[buck]

Pharma is mostly making pure profit from statins as they paid off the research long ago. They love the free money stream. They never give up on guaranteed money to make what may be more on some new product as that is always a gamble. The drug are cheap and packaging too. Seems to be a 19 billion dollar market for statins. And that is guaranteed money coming in every month and will continue to grow. Big pharma has people trained to fear cholesterol even though that is only a small piece of cardio problems at most. Fibrinogen and Apo B seems better markers these days. But dr's will continue to hand them out like candy as that is whet they are trained to do.

 

[Isrrike]

Try some red yeast rice it did wonders for my cholesterol

 

[buck]

Try some red yeast rice it did wonders for my cholesterol

It has the same active ingredient that is found in statins.Just not generally in as high of quantities or consistently dosed.

 

[jdubzzz44]

Try some red yeast rice it did wonders for my cholesterol

Red yeast rice did absolutely nothing for me and upon further research found

Red yeast rice products that have considerable amounts of monacolin K may effectively lower blood cholesterol levels, blood glucose levels, and blood pressure. They may also reduce the risk of heart problems and death in people with metabolic syndrome. (Metabolic syndrome, also called insulin resistance syndrome, is a group of conditions that raise the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.) But, because of the levels of monacolin K, these products are considered by the FDA to be unapproved new drugs and are not sold legally in the United States.

Other red yeast rice products may contain very little monacolin K, and it’s unknown if these products are effective in reducing cholesterol levels or improving other areas of health. Some products have levels of monacolin K that are below the level known to lower cholesterol in clinical trials.

 

[AlexDavis43]

My ldl was over 200 and even after losing 30lbs and trying every supplement out there it was still over 150. And that was being natural as I’d been off any type of hormones for multiple years. Before starting Trt my doctor prescribed rosuvastatin 10mg a day which apparently is a fairly high dose and I felt absolutely zero side effects at all so far

Did 10 mg rosuvastatin further lower your LDL from 150?

 

[AlexDavis43]

Try some red yeast rice it did wonders for my cholesterol

Red yeast rice did absolutely nothing for me and upon further research found

Red yeast rice products that have considerable amounts of monacolin K may effectively lower blood cholesterol levels, blood glucose levels, and blood pressure. They may also reduce the risk of heart problems and death in people with metabolic syndrome. (Metabolic syndrome, also called insulin resistance syndrome, is a group of conditions that raise the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.) But, because of the levels of monacolin K, these products are considered by the FDA to be unapproved new drugs and are not sold legally in the United States.

Other red yeast rice products may contain very little monacolin K, and it’s unknown if these products are effective in reducing cholesterol levels or improving other areas of health. Some products have levels of monacolin K that are below the level known to lower cholesterol in clinical trials.

Regulations on the monacolin K levels have become more strict according to recent FTC guidance. Supplement companies are going to have to have their levels tested moving forward.

 

[jdubzzz44]

Did 10 mg rosuvastatin further lower your LDL from 150?

Yes it did. Last test ldl was 161 and I had been off any gear for multiple years at that point. I ran a cycle and started the statin about a month in and got blood work about 2 months later ldl went from 161 to 109 and apob went from 110 to 92. Total cholesterol 232 to 173. Hdl 59 to 49. Triglycerides 71 to 61

Coming off cycle now I expect everything to improve even more.

 

[Avies48]

Zetia… thats what they gave me total cholesterol of 270, ldl of 177…. (I still havent trued the zetia) i tried crestor 5 mlg eod and ended up with a left calf tibial blood clot… never touched a statin again…

I got some super in depth boold work but this isnt my thread to throw my stuff into… have had high cholesterol since early 2000’s… quit trt early 2014(ish) after 10-12 yrs of trt now test levels are 643 naturally…

 

[SunnyInAZ]

For what it's worth, my cardiologist is an advocate for adding statins to the public drinking water supply, similar to fluoride (no kidding). They are that much of a "free lunch" against cardiovascular disease, he says.

He shouldn’t be a Dr. F’n idiot