So I’m nearly 60 yrs old. I know aches & pains come with the territory. But over the past year, I’ve awakened each day with vague aches in my hips, sometimes my shins, ankles…sometimes it wakes me up in the middle of the night. Doesn’t seem to be exercise-related. It occurred to me (finally) that this started shortly after I began taking a statin. Read up on side effects, and yep, this kind of pain is listed.
So yesterday I had a lipid panel & A1c. I thought that would be a good baseline measurement for “me on statins.” And last night I skipped the statin pill.
Voila! No pain this am! And the weather is crappy, definitely arthritis weather, so it’s not in my head.
The problem is this. I just got my test results back. Last test, in August, everything was just about in the ‘normal’ range (taking statin). Yesterday, everything was high except triglycerides (also taking statin). The only difference is Keto.
I need to see my Dr in the next few days for an annual checkup. He’s a big believer in statins. Don’t yet know what he thinks about keto. His email to me, that came with the test results, was, “don’t stop the statin yet”.
So, any advice?
Here’s the details:
Cholesterol: 261 (range: <199)
HDL: 71 (range: 40-59)
Triglycerides: 107 (range: <149)
LDL: 169 (range: <99)
Ratio: 3.7
Aches and pains and statins
See if you can get a particle test to get a better idea of your true health situation.
If your doctor doesn’t know what that is, your doctor should find out.
My cholesterol went up after losing 50 pounds, but I had been fasting for 3 days when I did the blood work, and I understand that skews things somewhat. My doctor, who is pro-Keto+IF, said she wasn’t worried about it and we shouldn’t do anything while I was actively losing weight.
I was on a statin previous to losing weight and I had to stop because of intense muscle cramping, and some muscle pain. That was a different doctor who told me the statins didn’t do it, “because it wasn’t one of the known side effects.” Well that’s one reason I don’t have that doctor anymore. Anyway, once I went off the statins the severe cramping and pain went away completely. Sure I still get occasional leg cramps from being ketogenic, but those are remedied with salt and magnesium supplementation.
Unless you recently had a heart attack, there should be no emergency reason why you need to be on a statin, but I did wean myself off slowly when I did go off of them. But I wouldn’t want to give medical advice to anyone – this is just my opinion.
Thank you, @djindy & @xandtrek. I’ve been IF for a while, so maybe that was enough to elevate things? I haven’t been on a scale lately but it would be awesome if I was losing weight. Somebody did an experiment recently that showed limiting calories prior to checking lipids caused an increase, and ramping up the calories prior tended to lower everything. I should have paid more attention when I read about it. I haven’t been really restricting calories (I’m definitely on the lazy side of the Keto spectrum) but maybe it was enough? Heck, I don’t know… I just hope I can stay off the stations with my Dr’s blessing. One day off, and I feel so much better.
I would suggest that you read Cholesterol Clarity. Understanding what the lipid hypothesis really means is very important. Most doctors don’t really understand it and are being ‘instructed’ by drug companies.
BTW, I am 61 and aches and pains are not necessarily part of being this age. I don’t experience any unless I have done some injury.
That’s what I was thinking. Absent some kind of injury I don’t know why we should accept pain as a natural thing.[quote=“Jan, post:1, topic:8549”]
I need to see my Dr in the next few days for an annual checkup. He’s a big believer in statins.
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Not surprising but still disturbing. Most docs are just following the defunct “standard of care” with respect to cholesterol. They don’t know what they are doing.
Also, it is my understanding that women should never take statins. Maybe others can chime in here on this topic but I don’t think there has ever been any reliable research showing a benefit for women. Please check on that and educate your doc if necessary. Or find a better-informed doc.
Statins are one of the great scams of modern medicine.
At worst they can cause rhabdomyolysis, which simply put is muscle breakdown that causes kidney failure.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/759844_8
My mother said something similar to me last week. She said “Of course, since you’re getting older (I’m 59) you should be used to the normal aches and pains that come with age.” My response was that I felt good every day and hadn’t had any aches and pains (unless injured) since I stopped eating gluten.
Julie
I will be 55 in June and I have never felt so good. I expect that to continue!
@Jan. These ketoers have great info! I love you guys. All the commenters said all I wanted to say. Statins are a scam, and don’t let any medical professional “scare” you in to taking them to “protect your heart”.
Do your research. There is also growing evidence that statins deprive our brain of necessary cholesterol, and statins may be contributing directly to increased cases of dementia.