anyone have any experience with these?

Yeah, I take simvistatin--reluctantly. Apparently my cholesterol is 'borderline', which according to my doctor, means that I have to treat it if I'm going to be considered a compliant patient and not be forced to shop for a new doctor. 10 years ago, my cholestoral would have been considered good.

No noticable side effects, but I'm on a load of other crap that could mask them. I miss being able to eat grapefuit--its one of the few fruits that I really like.

I'd like to be off of them. No one in my family has ever died of heart disease, and we've never been big on low-fat diets. 'Borderline' to me implies a judgement call, but apparently doctors have decided that 'borderline' is the new 'severe'.

Yes, there's a statistically optimal level for all this stuff, but there needs to be some wiggle room for chrissake.

There's an easy explanation for this: serum LDL cholesterol levels are on a continuum. Which in theoretical terms means you can a numerical value anywhere between 0 and infinity. How one interprets that numerical value is up for debate/investigation.

For healthy individuals, above a certain cutoff (160-180mg/dL) there are clearly adverse long-term cardiovascular effects associated with an elevated LDL cholesterol. Further analysis may indicate increased adverse effects at a level as low as 140 mg/dL...and furthermore, other studies may point to even lower levels.

Simply stated, there is no safe cutoff/standardized value. The numerical values change often depending on your co-morbid conditions, medications, family history, the most recent evidence, etc. For example, in a healthy individual, 160-180 mg/dL is an accepted cutoff for LDL. In someone with heart disease or several conditions equitable to heart disease, some physicians may treat until a level less than 70 mg/dL is reached, while some may only treat to < 100 mg/dL. So as you can see there is no universal application to these numerical values. The cutoff to treat cholesterol is often an arbitrary decision; and your entire "condition" is factored into when or when not to treat.

There is a definite gray zone which you refer to as "wiggle room"; and you, as a patient, have every right to refuse medications. If you have questions regarding his/her rationale, simply ask instead of jumping to conclusions.

Hope that helps.

My doctor has recommended taking fish oil (Omega 3) capsules with my meals. From the test results, he's noticed a difference...for the better.

I'm sure the heart attack will strike me before I realize I have high cholesterol/blood pressure.

God I feel old reading a thread about statin drugs.

Being wary of medicines is a good thing, but statins get a strangely bad rap amongst the general populace. They've been around a long time and are very well studied. At least in very high risk people, they clearly save lives.

The experts who make recommendations on this stuff have changed things several times. Statins work best on the LDL cholesterol, which is the main bad type of cholesterol. It should be less than 130 in otherwise healthy people, though less than 100 is "ideal." In people with diabetes, heart disease, or who are otherwise at high risk for heart disease, it needs to be under 100, but less than 70 is "ideal." There's still some debate about when it's OK to just stick to the primary goal, and when you really need to push people down to the "ideal" numbers, but the trend is definitely towards being more aggressive as more and more evidence shows their benefit.

High blood pressure can give you a stroke, which can fuck up your entire world. Keep up-to-date with bp so you don't have to re-learn how to walk.

I've got a handful of friends who've taken (blank)itor since their mid 30's. All had high cholesterol but in decent shape. One is a marathon runner. But to expound on Fu, know thyself and adjust your life accordingly.

Omega 3's are amazing for many reasons.
I have super awesome cholesterol but the omega's are great for a bunch of other things too.

Omega 3s are great for triglycerides...but my triglycerides are actually fine. My LDL is out of control - it's a 155 (total is 233)

Unfortunately, this is entirely genetic...I'm 6'1", 183, work out 3-4x a week and have an above average (in terms of health) diet. I rarely drink (maybe once a week). There's no a whole lot I can do except go on drugs at this point. I'm 34 and my old man had a heart attack at 38...

thanks for all the responses, btw.

I'm young.

One day...

I had that conversation with my doctor and I did not jump to conclusions. I was in the 130-140 range with no family history of heart disease, and told him that I thought he was being a little over-conservative, at which point he gave me the ultimatum. I was on Medicaid at the time, so I didn't have much of an alternative but to listen to him.

Its seems to me that a lower LDL level will always be better than a higher one. So why don't we put everyone on statins? Why isn't it a food additive?

The same doctor tried to treat me for high blood pressure even though it was pretty obvious to me that the reading was strongly influenced by office anxiety. I won that one and three visits later, my blood pressure was better than 'normal'.

Its probably a sign that I need to find a new doctor as much as anything else. Now that I'm on Medicare, I have more options, so its on my list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_yeast_rice