Side effects of cholesterol medicine, can you share your experience?

FF - My mom's neurologist told her to eat nothing with a face, dietary rules are less complicated if you include an attempt to eat vegan at least as often as possible.

Not everyone will have side effects or issues with meds. Some will and some won’t. Everyone is different.

I think if a person is experiencing issues, they should discuss it with their doctor. Just because meds don’t affect some people doesn’t mean that it won’t affect others.

My brother has had numerous serious heart issues and several major surgeries. His doctor initially placed him on statins. He simply could not tolerate them. The doctor found an alternative medicine for him. He is taking several medications for his heart. He is taking four blood pressure meds.

Honestly, it’s a miracle that he is alive. He died during one of his surgeries but they were able to bring him back.

He researches every single medication that he is prescribed and discusses them thoroughly with his cardiologist and primary care doctor.

"Correlation does not imply causation."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation

My 93-yr old Mom, 100-yr old Aunt and 103-yr old Aunt (all sisters) all have cholesterol of 300+. Mine is 245+. Every year my primary doc starts talking to me about the statins nonsense and I just point to my very healthy LOs who have lived long lives. End of discussion. I play tennis regularly, eat home-cooked healthy meals 95% if the time, drink in moderation, maintain a reasonable weight and have never smoked anything. I'm not worried.

My husband's cholesterol is about 120 and he consumes more McDonalds and Oreos than I care to think about. His has always been very low. There is no heart disease in his family, or mine.

JoAnn29: "You know Drs get kickbacks for prescribing certain drugs." This is already against the law here in the States. And pharma companies cannot give them gifts above a certain value nor pay for travel or vacations etc. I work in medtech marketing and we have to be very careful about how we promote drugs and therapies to docs. It would end their careers. I've not heard of a kickback case in decades.

Thanks to everyone who had experiences with cholesterol medicine. I decided I am going to try to lower my cholesterol via diet. Since I hate cooking what I have read might as well be in a foreign language as to what is good and what is bad. Wish there was a simple chart. Didn't have much luck on the internet images.

I dragged out a DNA medicine test I had taken a few years back. Sure enough, "statins" were an issue, the test showed what meds to use with caution and what to avoid. For me, best to stay away. Also on that list were meds for acid relfux, no wonder none of the over-the-counter meds for acid relfux didn't work, my DNA ignored them. So I use good old fashion Tums which work instantly :)

LilMelba, its a known fact that Statins contribute to Dementia. We have had posters say that it seemed that their LOs cognitive function was better when taken off of Statins. No, they are not cured of Dementia, the damage has been done. Another contributor is Estrogen therapy during menopause. My Mom had a hysterectomy at 45 so was on Estrogen from then thru her menopause years. TG I did not have hot flash problems so never need the Estrogen therapy.

I definitely would not take Statins if I was borderline. And yes, Statins can contribute to cognitive decline. If you are experiencing memory loss on a small dose, I would not continue it. My GYN told me to take nothing that says it lowers cholesterol. He said the brain needs cholesterol and when taking a Statin, it does not target one area, the brain is effected too.

My RN boss felt its pharmaceutical hipe. Years ago the borderline was much higher and its come down now to 200. When I went to my new doctor, first thing out of his mouth was Lipitor. This is the worst of the Statins and causes the worst side effects. My Mom took Statins for years, she had Dementia. When I told my Dr I refused to take Statins, he did not argue with me. You know Drs get kickbacks for prescribing certain drugs.

My Cholesterol came down 20 pts but I am still high at 245. Have no idea what I did to lower it other than I don't eat much. If my husband's cholesterol goes up, he cuts things out. He eats chicken cheesesteaks. Pretzels instead of chips. I make a no egg cake or shortening cake he likes. He loves Tasty Kakes but they have hydrogenated shortening in them. Hydrogenated shortening goes into the body just the way it looks. I still buy lowfat cheese and ham. He drinks 2% milk but won't go lower. Skim is the best or 1%. If you are borderline, you may just need a lifestyle change. Cut back on redmeat, more chicken and fish. Its all about the fat that you take in. Exercise, just walking is OK. My daughter is Vegan and says a plant based diet is the best.

As a nurse I saw few side effects of cholesterol meds, and given I have very high familial cholesterol, two decades ago when my doc recommended it, I started on cholesterol medication at about age 60.
I had none of the mentioned side effects per the literature they handed me, but what I DID get was plantar's fasciitis that was severe. Tried all sort of supports and finally had to do the foot molds and special inserts to help me stay on my feet. Finally went to the doctor and said "this all started with the cholesterol meds, yet I know that while leg pain CAN be a side effect, foot pain is not'. And despite all my reading he told me that foot pain WAS a side effect. I stopped the meds.
Basically at 80 I no longer let them even measure my cholesterol which is and has always been off the charts high. At 80, if I die, no one is going to care WHAT it's due to other than just old age. No one ever read the obit of an 80 year old and cried out "But she died too YOUNG!"
When I was an RN working cardiology I kind of did my own homegrown sloppy research. I Never really saw an upswing in problems for those with high cholesterol, and it always seemed to me that most problems such as early MI and such passed in the family. If I asked a 50 year old man with a heart attack about family history his Dad often started with MIs at about the same age. As I said, informal sloppy research there, but I kind of formed some beliefs around it.
All of that said, cholesterol medication for those who can take it seem to be helping us to live much longer, and the new research suggests they help protect against stroke, and likely even Alzheimer's. Who knows. They say you can prove anything with Statistics and I suspect that's true.
It took years for my feet to heal, but I WILL say this......I was at that time working three 12 hour shifts on 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. I didn't sleep enough during the days and I was too active, up on my feet during the day before work. Have always been up on my feet a lot. So it may have all been coincidental. Like I said, I am the last one to be certain of anything. At 80 I am just beginning to learn all about how little I know, and all I don't know.

My regular doctor is a holistic integrative doctor and when he learned that I was on cholesterol medication many years ago(as I've had high cholesterol for about 20 years now)he advised that I stop taking it, as he said that it was proven to not be much help in women and actually did more harm than good. He did say that in some instances it can be good for men, but again not in all cases.
So I stopped taking it right after that appt. and that was probably 10+ years ago. and yes, I still have high cholesterol, but I'm not concerned, as there's much more that goes along with just that diagnosis.

The side effects of cholesterol medicine I believe caused me to fall.
Not just dizziness, or imbalance, or weakness.

I stopped it carefully, over time.