On My Third Statin

[JIMNSC]

Five years on Lipitor and 3 of those living with bad side effects and not knowing why, then tried 3G daily Nicotinic Acid with correct eating/exercise for 4 months and the only result that was better was HDL (60), next came Vytorin. My sister was on it and experiencing no side effects and since I was genetically similar I tried it. Not to be - within three months I started having fatigue and muscular aches in my legs. This time I knew why and the doctor took me off it with these instructions - are you ready for this?

He sent me word through his nurse to stop Vytorin immediately and start it again after a month. We know you don't stop a statin suddenly, don't we? And I'm in atrial fibrillation too. Think he might have wanted to reduce his patients by one? Had I followed his instructionsI think the chances were excellent I'd start experiencing the bad side effects again.

So, I took matters into my own hands and rsearched all the "plans" for healthy eating and settled on the Rice Diet sponsored by a major university. Got the book, read it, went grocery shopping and began the first of this year, along with my wife. I walked a minimum of three miles a day six days a week and did other light resistance resistance training on my Bowflex. During this time I lost more than 20 pounds. I followed the Spacedoc's supplement suggestions to the letter.

Three months lapse and we have the lipids tested again. Not good numbers:

TC - 247, LDL 171, HDL 31 and TRG 228.

I got those numbers living as good as one can with my wife's help. I guess my bigggest problem is the fact that my entre family had high cholesterol and underactive thyroids.

So, if your genes dictate your lipids sans statins, what to do?

I started 40mg of Pravastatin the 22nd of February and I continue to live and supplement the same way I did with no statins. I'll know more in late May when the lipids are retested unless I am plagued by side effects before then. I told my "new" doctor it wouldn't take me near as long to recognize them this time and he agreed.

I had excellent numbers with Vytorin, by the way - much better than with Lipitor which bothered me more. Just thought I'd offer up my experiences as informatioopn to the rest of you.

Jim