They like it to be less than 5 these days. This has crept down over the years so more and more people are now being labelled as having "high cholesterol".
I know a nurse who has just retired and she told me this. She also said that they are checking more and more people than they did years ago because they get extra payments for doing so.
Interestingly, she also says that in the past few years or so she has met scores of people who have been called in for blood tests who she has never met before (and she's worked at that practice for donkeys years.) They are elderly people who are so fit and healthy that they have not needed to see a doctor but guess what? On testing many of them have been told they have "high cholesterol". Go figure that one!;)
that`s pretty much how it happened for me, though i`m not elderly.
i wasn`t going to make it through the night unless i lost weight [size 8-10 i am], gave up smoking and started popping the statins, this was heartily reinforced by them PHONING me with the good news, which they rarely do unless it`s vitally important. i`m ****ing livid.
It makes me so mad that no one in the medical profession is promoting a change in diet will lower cholesterol! You don't need horrible drugs with awful side effects. To start eat organic oats with unsweetened almond milk and have some natural orange juice in the mornings. This combination of oats and oranges is the best cholesterol reducer by far. Buy real organic honey, not the synthetic crap that is on the main shelves, add this as a sweetener. In fact everyone should be using this honey instead of white sugar on anything, including in your coffee. You will see your cholesterol levels come down very quickly. Drink some Benecol as well.
Look up on the web for natural cures for a lots of ailments and try them first.
that`s pretty much how it happened for me, though i`m not elderly.
i wasn`t going to make it through the night unless i lost weight [size 8-10 i am], gave up smoking and started popping the statins, this was heartily reinforced by them PHONING me with the good news, which they rarely do unless it`s vitally important. i`m ****ing livid.
edit: this is all the practice nurse.
Boots were doing a free health check recently and I believe it's still on offer. You get your height taken, weight, blood pressure,glucose test and cholesterol test. They work out your BMI and your CVD risk score. (Cardiovascular disease risk). I found it very good indeed and much more thorough than anything my surgery offers. You are seen by a qualified pharmacist. My CVD score was just 7% and I was dead chuffed with that considering they wanted me to go on statins approx. 10 years ago and I refused.
Stay calm ... stress doesn't help your cholesterol levels!;)
I am amazed the GP didnt cop the side effects .Its a well known and well documented side effect of statins to have muscle aching .Both my husband and I tried a few different ones til we found one that suited us .
Awful things statins and I would never take them having seen the effects they had on scores and scores of people I know.
I was told I needed them about 10 years ago due to very high cholesterol. I believe it was over 9. I don't like taking any medication so I went away and did my own research and chose not to go on them.
I quit smoking, took more exercise and avoided stressful situations. It took several years but my cholesterol levels came down and down until they are now normal and my CRA (Cardiac Risk Assessment) is now less than 10%. And I have never taken a single statin.:)
What you are describing are classic side effects of statins and thousands and thousands of people are experiencing the same. My friend was only on statins for a week and they damaged her liver in that short time and she was told by her GP she must never take them again. She was taken off them immediately.
What you need to know is that GP practices are paid big bonuses for patients who are treated with statins so its in their interests to get as many people as possible on them. Look up QOF payments (statins).
You could get a copy of this book (Ebay, Amazon etc) The Great Cholesterol Con" by Dr Malcolm Kendrick who is a British GP who also works with the European Society of Cardiology. He really knows his stuff.
If you search on here you will see several threads on statins too.
Hope you feel better soon. Just wondering whether they've done a liver function test on you since you've been on statins.
You are misrepresenting this slightly. There are targets to meet (and I do actually disagree with this since patients will have different needs), so if a patient has a recorded cholesterol of >5, the surgery will get a bonus to reduce this to <5 (I think we can agree that reducing chol is a good thing).
You gave up smoking, exercised, ate better and reduced your cholesterol. Congrats! This is actually the first advice most GPs give, and yet with this advice and the advice of dietitians and smoking cessation nurses and everything else, guess what? At a review appointment the cholesterol will be still be raised, or the same, and the patient will have made no effort in reducing it through lifestyle changes such as those you mentioned.
So, the GP reluctantly prescribes a statin, medication that has been shown to reduce cholesterol and protect against heart attacks and strokes which will extend the patient's lifespan.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with this there is no big sinsister "GPs are prescribing these for the money!" conspiracy theory. Well done on addressing your issues without the need for medication.
Following a heart attack, I was put on Atorvastatin 80mg (among other drugs). This seemed OK for a few days until I began to get aching legs and dark pee. I was told this was a sign that the statin was attacking my muscles and my dose should be reduced to 40mg.
This was done and everything is normal so far. I get slight aches, but these are probably from the workouts I have to do every day.
No other effects so far.
I had been resisting my doctor's urging to go on statins for years (my chol level was around 6), but now I've decided it's probably for the best.
You are misrepresenting this slightly. There are targets to meet (and I do actually disagree with this since patients will have different needs), so if a patient has a recorded cholesterol of >5, the surgery will get a bonus to reduce this to <5 (I think we can agree that reducing chol is a good thing).
You gave up smoking, exercised, ate better and reduced your cholesterol. Congrats! This is actually the first advice most GPs give, and yet with this advice and the advice of dietitians and smoking cessation nurses and everything else, guess what? At a review appointment the cholesterol will be still be raised, or the same, and the patient will have made no effort in reducing it through lifestyle changes such as those you mentioned.
So, the GP reluctantly prescribes a statin, medication that has been shown to reduce cholesterol and protect against heart attacks and strokes which will extend the patient's lifespan.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with this there is no big sinsister "GPs are prescribing these for the money!" conspiracy theory. Well done on addressing your issues without the need for medication.
I don't understand the bit in bold. Sorry.
GPs don't "reluctantly" prescribe statins. Many of them do it without considering anything else! I was told "High cholesterol. We'll put you on statins." It was me who chose not to go down that path and to do it by myself if possible. Which it was and I've never taken a single statin.
My GP wasn't at all pleased that I went against her advice and said I was "very silly." I am actually quite proud that I have saved the NHS a small fortune in 10 years worth of statins.:)
Can you show me evidence that statins are effective for women or, indeed men aged 69+ who have no history of heart disease or diabetes? My research showed that NO studies have shown statins to be effective in these patients.
I was prescribed Simvastatin about 6 months ago after a yearly check up. I am in my 60s , slim , eat healthily, don't smoke , only drink the odd glass of wine , walk several miles a day and regularly ride out on a friends horse - but because my cholesterol level was 5 and my father had a heart attack in his 40s - though he didn't die until his mid 80s - she said I should go onto statins. After I had been taking them for about a week I started getting horrendous acid reflux at night - I was up several times a night retching and heaving. I also had pains in my knees and shoulders.
After about 2 weeks of this I felt like death warmed up and stopped the statins. Within about a week the acid reflux and joint pains had practically disappeared - however i did still have stomach pains and discomfort. A couple of weeks later in the middle of the night I woke up suddenly feeling intensely uncomfortable and suddenly vomited huge quantities of blood - very frightening when you live alone !
I rang NHS out of hours and was told to go to doc next day - she arranged for me to have endoscopy and I was found to have a hiatus hernia probably caused by the exessive acid reflux. I will be on medication for it indefinitely.
My doctor says all these problems may not have been caused by statins - but I was perfectly ok before I took them - and will not be taking them again !
I was prescribed Simvastatin about 6 months ago after a yearly check up. I am in my 60s , slim , eat healthily, don't smoke , only drink the odd glass of wine , walk several miles a day and regularly ride out on a friends horse - but because my cholesterol level was 5 and my father had a heart attack in his 40s - though he didn't die until his mid 80s - she said I should go onto statins. After I had been taking them for about a week I started getting horrendous acid reflux at night - I was up several times a night retching and heaving. I also had pains in my knees and shoulders.
After about 2 weeks of this I felt like death warmed up and stopped the statins. Within about a week the acid reflux and joint pains had practically disappeared - however i did still have stomach pains and discomfort. A couple of weeks later in the middle of the night I woke up suddenly feeling intensely uncomfortable and suddenly vomited huge quantities of blood - very frightening when you live alone !
I rang NHS out of hours and was told to go to doc next day - she arranged for me to have endoscopy and I was found to have a hiatus hernia probably caused by the exessive acid reflux. I will be on medication for it indefinitely.
My doctor says all these problems may not have been caused by statins - but I was perfectly ok before I took them - and will not be taking them again !
That sounds like what happened to my neighbour. She was approx. 70 but very, very fit and active and had a garden of half acre which she did all my herself.
The first lot of statins gave her acid reflux really badly. They changed them and the second lot made her so dizzy and nauseous that she couldn't get out of bed. She agreed to try one more sort and she felt confused and full of aches and pains. She told the GP that she felt 100% fit without statins and what was the point of taking them if she couldn't look after herself or carry out her gardening etc. She said she would take her chance without them and she's now over 80 and doing fine.:)
Comments
i wasn`t going to make it through the night unless i lost weight [size 8-10 i am], gave up smoking and started popping the statins, this was heartily reinforced by them PHONING me with the good news, which they rarely do unless it`s vitally important. i`m ****ing livid.
edit: this is all the practice nurse.
Look up on the web for natural cures for a lots of ailments and try them first.
Boots were doing a free health check recently and I believe it's still on offer. You get your height taken, weight, blood pressure,glucose test and cholesterol test. They work out your BMI and your CVD risk score. (Cardiovascular disease risk). I found it very good indeed and much more thorough than anything my surgery offers. You are seen by a qualified pharmacist. My CVD score was just 7% and I was dead chuffed with that considering they wanted me to go on statins approx. 10 years ago and I refused.
Stay calm ... stress doesn't help your cholesterol levels!;)
You are misrepresenting this slightly. There are targets to meet (and I do actually disagree with this since patients will have different needs), so if a patient has a recorded cholesterol of >5, the surgery will get a bonus to reduce this to <5 (I think we can agree that reducing chol is a good thing).
You gave up smoking, exercised, ate better and reduced your cholesterol. Congrats! This is actually the first advice most GPs give, and yet with this advice and the advice of dietitians and smoking cessation nurses and everything else, guess what? At a review appointment the cholesterol will be still be raised, or the same, and the patient will have made no effort in reducing it through lifestyle changes such as those you mentioned.
So, the GP reluctantly prescribes a statin, medication that has been shown to reduce cholesterol and protect against heart attacks and strokes which will extend the patient's lifespan.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with this there is no big sinsister "GPs are prescribing these for the money!" conspiracy theory. Well done on addressing your issues without the need for medication.
This was done and everything is normal so far. I get slight aches, but these are probably from the workouts I have to do every day.
No other effects so far.
I had been resisting my doctor's urging to go on statins for years (my chol level was around 6), but now I've decided it's probably for the best.
I don't understand the bit in bold. Sorry.
GPs don't "reluctantly" prescribe statins. Many of them do it without considering anything else! I was told "High cholesterol. We'll put you on statins." It was me who chose not to go down that path and to do it by myself if possible. Which it was and I've never taken a single statin.
My GP wasn't at all pleased that I went against her advice and said I was "very silly." I am actually quite proud that I have saved the NHS a small fortune in 10 years worth of statins.:)
Can you show me evidence that statins are effective for women or, indeed men aged 69+ who have no history of heart disease or diabetes? My research showed that NO studies have shown statins to be effective in these patients.
After about 2 weeks of this I felt like death warmed up and stopped the statins. Within about a week the acid reflux and joint pains had practically disappeared - however i did still have stomach pains and discomfort. A couple of weeks later in the middle of the night I woke up suddenly feeling intensely uncomfortable and suddenly vomited huge quantities of blood - very frightening when you live alone !
I rang NHS out of hours and was told to go to doc next day - she arranged for me to have endoscopy and I was found to have a hiatus hernia probably caused by the exessive acid reflux. I will be on medication for it indefinitely.
My doctor says all these problems may not have been caused by statins - but I was perfectly ok before I took them - and will not be taking them again !
That sounds like what happened to my neighbour. She was approx. 70 but very, very fit and active and had a garden of half acre which she did all my herself.
The first lot of statins gave her acid reflux really badly. They changed them and the second lot made her so dizzy and nauseous that she couldn't get out of bed. She agreed to try one more sort and she felt confused and full of aches and pains. She told the GP that she felt 100% fit without statins and what was the point of taking them if she couldn't look after herself or carry out her gardening etc. She said she would take her chance without them and she's now over 80 and doing fine.:)