Originally Posted by
GeorgeBMac
Well, you could say the same for most any medication. Every single one them has side affects. You take the medication when the benefits out weigh the side affects...
When I was working in mental health I cared for a lot of patients with severe cases of schizophrenia. But, as bad as that disease is, the side affects of the meds to treat it were almost as bad. So, we had a lot of patients who would not take their meds because they preferred the disease to meds...
For statins: They can help keep your arteries from clogging up which can help prevent things like heart attacks and stroke and other nasty diseases. It is a personal decision whether the good of possibly preventing a heart attack outweigh the bad...
For myself: I have high cholesterol, High Blood pressure, I have a strong family history of heart disease, I'm a guy and I'm over 60 -- and every one of those things increases my odds of having a heart attack, stroke, dementia, etc...
... I choose to take the statin and try to manage the side affects as best I can.
Let me encourage you to do some homework on statins. They will drop your cholesterol, but they do not have _any_ effect on morbidity/mortality rates until after you've already had a heart attack, and even then it's not a big effect. If you have high cholesterol numbers, then find out why they're high. I'll bet it has nothing to do with the amount of fat in your diet and everything to do with the amount of refined carbs, specifically wheat/grains. Are your triglycerides high? That's a carbohydrate problem. How about your LDL? Get them to actually do the particle size test. If you're loaded up on small particles, then that is refined carbs causing that as well. How about blood sugar? Do you have any diabetes issues? Controlling blood sugar/insulin is a _big_ deal.
The big fat no-no is hydrogenated oils and trans fats. The second is vegetable/corn oil. If you stay away from both of those, then you may have some fixes that aren't as difficult as you might think.