When I first started going to my family Doctor for Diabetes (about 2001) he wanted to put me on statin drugs to lower my cholesterol. This was just preventive measure for heart disease. At that time I was running a total cholesterol of about 170. I had heard from a friend that Niacin had worked for him to reduce Cholesterol, and so I told my doctor I was going to try Niacin instead and see what happened. I do a fair job at bg control with A1c's averaging about 6.0 (in my Doctor's practice he says very few do as well).
Over the course of a couple of years Cholesterol lowered to about 140 total, with HDL never getting above 40. So LDL was in 100 range, and he was reasonably happy, however I could tell he thought I could get it down to 80 with statins. Then in October 2009 I had a heart attack and had to have a couple of stints put in. I reluctantly went on a statin (pravastatin) and blood pressure control (toprol) medication at the cardiologists recommendation, even though bp or cholesterol wasn't a problem.
So now the numbers are a little better, with total cholesterol 120 (LDL 75-80 & HDL still about 40), but the statin appears to be causing me muscle pain in both arms. I have read that it now is likely that statins are a good anti-infammatory and that many heart attacks are caused by arterial inflammation (not cholesterol). I have also read the heart attack patients who try to get off statins, sometimes have repeat attacks!
So what am I to do? Continuing with tennis elbow in both arms doesn't seem like a good option?
Over the course of a couple of years Cholesterol lowered to about 140 total, with HDL never getting above 40. So LDL was in 100 range, and he was reasonably happy, however I could tell he thought I could get it down to 80 with statins. Then in October 2009 I had a heart attack and had to have a couple of stints put in. I reluctantly went on a statin (pravastatin) and blood pressure control (toprol) medication at the cardiologists recommendation, even though bp or cholesterol wasn't a problem.
So now the numbers are a little better, with total cholesterol 120 (LDL 75-80 & HDL still about 40), but the statin appears to be causing me muscle pain in both arms. I have read that it now is likely that statins are a good anti-infammatory and that many heart attacks are caused by arterial inflammation (not cholesterol). I have also read the heart attack patients who try to get off statins, sometimes have repeat attacks!
So what am I to do? Continuing with tennis elbow in both arms doesn't seem like a good option?