What do you guys take and have you noticed any side effects ?   I had bloodwork done today and I know what's coming .   It sort of runs in the family .

garlic, lots of garlic

Quoted:  What do you guys take and have you noticed any side effects ?   I had bloodwork done today and I know what's coming .   It sort of runs in the family .

I took them. Lipitor was expensinve and pointless. The others lowered my score but it lowered the good stuff too.

Change your diet and excercise.

I started taking Zocor a week ago, and I do not think my body likes it.

I am currently producing more gas than your average bovine, and it escapes in ways that are beyond my control. I feel full all the time, and I will be shocked if I don't end up with an expanded waistline due to my intestines swelling. Plus, I think I pooped out my liver this morning.

Hope you have a better time of it.

Quoted: Quoted: Change your diet and excercise. That's what I did.  Good advice.

My goal is to at least score in my age group a 270 (airborne standard) on the PT test.

My batallion would put people on the fat body remedial PT if they got less than a 270 in the first bracket.

I ran all the time last year but I got real lazy this year. Once I feel that the grease in my arteries is gone I will run again.

Make this part of your daily diet. Black beans and sliced garlic. The black beans are full of good stuff for you and raise your HSL levels. Thats cholesterol you NEED to get rid of the bad.

My score is still around 200 but its a large portion of the good stuff now.

Crestor and so far no liver problems or side effects.  Zocor for awhile but was having some liver issues with it.

Got a guy at work who had a high count. His doctor gave him a script for Lipitor but he threw it away. Instead he stopped eating cheese and red meat and went swimming allot. He dropped his count by 50 in 2 months. He is still working on it and he has given me some insperation.

Give it a shot, it's better than taking pills.

Quoted: Quoted: Change your diet and excercise. That's what I did.  Good advice.

+ whatever

I went from 265 to 201 just by doing the above.

Mines 153 and they still want me to take that stuff.

Dennis Jenkins

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Change your diet and excercise. That's what I did.  Good advice. + whatever I went from 265 to 201 just by doing the above.

Before going on statins (the class of drugs used to lower cholestrol), try a diet modification and eliminate all hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated oils from your diet.  This and reducing beef/lamb etc intake should bring you into normal range.  Substituting lean pork and cold water fish (cod) will also help.

Statins are hard on the liver so if you do go on them, lay off the alcohol.

Tag.

Working in a shop where there is only one other non-diabetic guy.  Want to keep myself in working order, rather than fixing it later.

Thanks for the insights guys.

Statins will make you hurt. Lipitor, Altocor,Zocor and all the rest are statins.

I took Lipitor for about 1.5 years some days I wanted to cry. I'd rather die prematurely than hurt every day until I do.

Oh but they do lower your cholesterol HDL(good) and  LDL(bad).

My boss took Lipitor and had to stop b/c he couldn't get it up.

Drove his wife nuts, or to the nuts, or whatever

Now he takes Crestor (sp?)

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Change your diet and excercise. That's what I did.  Good advice. + whatever I went from 265 to 201 just by doing the above.

yep, I went from 287 to 239 in about 6 mos.

Also, take a spoonfull of fiber in the a.m. and in the p.m.
helps quite a bit.

but don't take the fiber near the time you take any medication as it makes it not as effective (I found out the hard way)

Went from 292 to 171 in 16 months.

If the statin's are making you hurt then you shouldn't be taking them.   They do not effect everybody that way.  I can take most of them no problem.  

Vytorin kicked my ass tho.  Felt like I was hit by a truck.

Yes.  My reading is about 155 but my doc wants it lower.  Wants the bad below 70.  I have more aches than I used to but that just may be middle age catching up.

I have to wonder about the doctors who want lower numbers than those listed (153, 155).  According to everything I have read, those numbers fall into the acceptable range for LDL.

Are these doctors just shills for whatever drug company is giving them the biggest kickback?

Quoted: I have to wonder about the doctors who want lower numbers than those listed (153, 155).  According to everything I have read, those numbers fall into the acceptable range for LDL. Are these doctors just shills for whatever drug company is giving them the biggest kickback?

more than likely. All those medicines will screw up your liver after a while.

Eating right does no harm whatsoever. Course the drug companies dont want folks to know that.

Also we took my girlfriends mother to the hospital last month. He kidneys almost failed and she never had a problem until she started taking Crestor. There may be some truth to the rumors behind it.

Quoted: Quoted: I have to wonder about the doctors who want lower numbers than those listed (153, 155).  According to everything I have read, those numbers fall into the acceptable range for LDL. Are these doctors just shills for whatever drug company is giving them the biggest kickback? more than likely. All tos medicines will screw up your liver adter a while. Eating right does no harm whatsoever. Course the drug companies dont want folks to know that.

My wife's cholestorol was marginally high at her last checkup.  The doctor wanted to immediately put her on a statin.  I said no to it.  But this guy wants to give her meds for every little thing.  Just about time to fire that doctor.

There seems to be quite a bit of variance on both what works for people and the side effects of different drugs.  

I’ve tried diet changes (to include oatmeal, fiber, garlic, avoiding fats, and all that) with virtually no effect.  Things that did to some degree work for me included exercise and weight loss.  And, while I can’t prove it, I really believe stress reduction can help.

Ultimately, my numbers were still so high that I wound up on Lipitor and Niaspan.  The Lipitor doesn’t bother me at all – though I do have to have semi-annual blood work on my liver to watch for problems.  On rare occasions, the Niaspan will cause some flushing (basically heat and itching on my forehead and neck).

However, lots of folks have problems with Lipitor – and I understand these can become serious if neglected.  I’d certainly suggest it be used only as a last resort.

My personal un-educated opinion is that if the excess cholesterol is coming from your food, diet changes will solve the problem.  However, if it’s coming from your liver and your numbers are really high, you’re pretty much stuck with some sort of medication to get your liver to produce less.

Leastwise, this seems to be my experience.

I've had very good luck with Lipitor. No side effects, leg pains, liver problems, etc. It got my cholesterol down from 230 to 159. I've been on it for just over 4 years. I started at 40mg., but after increasing my exercise and cutting carbs, I am now able to take 20mg.

I take Zetia. Rather than blocking the body's production of cholesterol it blocks the absorption of it in the intestines. I went from the mid 300's down to 189 my last check. No side effects I've noticed.

I used to be in good shape. Then I took a job with wierd hours, middle of the day, couldn't really have a life. Became an unhealthy depressed fatass. Started getting some health problems. Changed jobs, that helped somewhat. Finally a neck injury from an old bicycle wreck flared up big time and scared teh bejesus out of me. Got on health kick bandwagon big time.

Cholesterol went from 294 to 192
Wt went from almost 190 to 127
Plantar facitis and other tendon stuff went away and my six pack abs came back!!!

Doc wanted me to take lipator but I knew my lifestyle was my own fault. It is very very hard to eat and live healthy in the land-o-plenty, I still have my moments. The worst thing is eating out, it's easy to eat out too much and not cook at home.

I work in a lab and we always have a major blood shortage. No fun when someone is having open heart surgery and you have to tell the doctor there is no more blood. I wonder if the current drug rage isn't partly responsible for some of the deferred donations. One of the things they test for are liver enzymes as increased liver enzymes can be a symptom of a disease.

Also, there are other tests that are better indicators of cardiac problems. CRP and homocyctein are finally getting increased attention. Many people that have had heart attacks and strokes have had perfectly normal cholesterols. Since statins were invented the "normal range" for cholesterol was lowered, making more people candidates for statins, imagine that.

My doctor, a pretty heath concious fellow, just recovered from a stroke. I actually liked him better than most doctors but he seemed to rely on meds quite a bit. I wonder if it caught up with him.

It's very hard to cut out the stuff our bodies have been programmed to crave but it can be done. It's at least worth a shot.

Oh, I learned about flaxseed from a bicycling website I go to. I get the whole seed and grind it in my coffee grinder and put a little on my cereal. The bean and oatmeal thing seems to work also, as does cutting down on the red meat. Wild game is more healthful than store bought stuff, and as a bonus you get to use your gun!!!! Squirrels are small but plentiful!!

My LDL was 171 as of June of 05. I started taking 500mg. of Niacin because I don't want to take another med unless I absolutly have to. Already on 10mg. of Lisinopril for high blood pressure. After about 10 days of Niacin the left side of my left leg broke out in a rash, didn't itch but it was not pretty. Stopped taking the Niacin and now the rash is clearing up. I know I should exercise more and change my diet and I will do that now after reading this thread.

Damn it sucks to get old

AKASL
LIVE FREE OR DIE
NEW HAMPSHIRE

Quoted:  What do you guys take and have you noticed any side effects ?   I had bloodwork done today and I know what's coming .   It sort of runs in the family .

BTDT. 20 mg Lipitor daily for several years. No side effects that I have observed. Cholesterol went from 300 to under 200. As long as I don't get really careless it stays there.
FWIW
YMMV
DFB

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