Cholesterol, statins and despondency

SteveR_100Milers

Finally had a sensible discussion with a consultant about raised cholesterol and statins. It's pretty clear that i really have to start taking them because of the risk of coronary disease later in life, though right now I am 100% healthy. The problem is I know that they have a significantl;y deleterious effect on my performance (2 minutes in a 10 for example) which means that i will probably lose any interest in racing after this season. P888d off about it all, but realise that it's a pretty trivial situation compared to a significant minority. Trouble is finding an alternative hobby.....

On a less self indulgent note, I'd be interested if anyone has had a similar exercise intolerant reaction to statins, and if so what can be done if anything to mitigate it, other than stop taking it. Are there any other ways (other than diet) to reduce LDL levels significantly?

keef66

I'm curious too. My total cholesterol is always 7 or higher, and it's mainly triglicerides that's elevated, though LDL is higher than it should be. Doc wanted to put me on fibrates rather than statins, but so far i've resisted.

Diet appears to make next to no difference to my serum cholesterol levels / lipid profile.

I already eat a good diet, I'm not overweight, don't drink very much, get plenty of exercise and I've never smoked. The doc couldn't hand on heart say that putting me on the meds would make a blind bit of difference to my chances of developing coronary heart disease. Is your consultant telling you otherwise??

thegreatdivide

Not sure if this will be any help but one of the major points for me getting back on the bike after a long absence was that in my late 30's I had a very high cholesterol level plus high blood pressure and they put me on statins. I wasn't massively overweight but I was an unfit waste of space. I didn't want to be on statins so stopped taking them, bought a road bike, started eating a very healthy high fibre diet, and as I posted in Cake Stop, I went almost total veggie. I now have a resting heart rate in the 50-57 bracket, I've lost a lot of weight and my cholesterol has now gone below average.

keef66

That's what I was hoping to do, but I'm on a higher fibre diet than most of the horses round here and riding the bike at every opportunity, and it's made bugger all difference

SteveR_100Milers

keef66 wrote:

That's what I was hoping to do, but I'm on a higher fibre diet than most of the horses round here and riding the bike at every opportunity, and it's made bugger all difference

same here, diet has made little difference. I was also taking fenofibrates for raised trigs but they are down to 1 now just from exercise and diet. I don't find the fibrates make any noticeable effect on my performance, and if they do its probably placebo....

Eyorerox

Have you tried all the different types of Statins?

jgsi

Qick read of abstract, shows that you may be lucky... but you need to be able to have access to differing statins if you are susceptible to muscular problems
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1884475/

huuregeil

Diet can make a difference, but as thegreatdivide alluded to, you have to go low-fat & vegan - the absence of animal based fats and proteins is the critical element (e.g. this is distinct from an omnivirous diet with extra e.g. fibre). Check out the work of Dean Ornish, who has a couple of books, and a stack of peer reviewed science on this dating back to the late 80s up to today. E.g.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1973470
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21624543
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18237581

And other studies too e.g.:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19766762

These diets are remarkable in their efficacy in reducing the risk of heart disease.

keef66

I can manage the low fat / high fibre thing, but I'd really struggle without fish, eggs and dairy. Struggle in the sense of coming up with food ideas, and in the sense of enjoying eating.

I'm still off to read the papers you've kindly linked

Anonymous

Hi Steve in what whay do they

deleterious effect on my performance (2 minutes in a 10 for example

I am on statins and BP tabs and they have always felt dehydrated in the morning since being on them.

Si

Kiwi Kranker

Similar boat.

Early 30's

Very high cholesterol

Low blood pressure

Ride often and far

Above average healthy diet (though I still enjoy a beer and once a week a takeaway as I am trying to be realistic about my lifestyle)

Statins however do work for me and are bringing my level down,it is well worth discussing your reaction with your doctor to see if there is a different 'version' you could try. Stick at it as if the worst is a decreased cycling performance but you have your health and you can still ride to 80% of yoru previous level then it is worth it.

Good luck!

apreading

I thought, from what I read, that eggs werent a problem?

see http://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/conditions/high-cholesterol.aspx or

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7882850.stm

Saturated fat and trans fat seem to be the things you need to worry about - not food with cholesterol in it.

http://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/prev ... d-fat.aspx

huuregeil

keef66 wrote:

I can manage the low fat / high fibre thing, but I'd really struggle without fish, eggs and dairy. Struggle in the sense of coming up with food ideas, and in the sense of enjoying eating.

I'm still off to read the papers you've kindly linked

There's actually some scientific debate about the role of fish (e.g. evidence from Japan, among other places, where fish intake is extremely high and heart disease is low). That aside, dairy is quite easy to cut out when you've worked out what/how to cook Hint: while japanese cooking can be largely dairy free, it's a bit esoteric; however, middle eastern cooking is naturally vegan-friendly and an excellent base for a fully vegan diet. I've even made an ardent meat-eater concede that a vegan meal I cooked for him was both delicious and also couldn't be improved with the addition of a "sneaky lamb chop"!

PS For the record, I'm not a vegan, I just eat a largely vegan diet because I prefer it, and also it's better for the wallet/environment/health. I still enjoy a good bit of roast lamb every now and then!

keef66

double post

huuregeil

apreading wrote:

I thought, from what I read, that eggs werent a problem?

This egg issue is confusing because what the studies are actually saying is:

We looked at the effect of egg consumption on cholesterol levels across a group of 500 "normal" people chosen at random, and we found no evidence that eggs were a risk factor.

In other words, they're using normal people on normal diets, and fiddling around with eggs doesn't make a jot of difference in the context of a heavily animal-product dominant diet, the effect size (if any) is too small to measure and they've missed the wood for the trees.

SteveR_100Milers

I cant do without protein as I'm on a low carb / high protein diet to build up muscle and lose body fat. I haven't tried anything other than atorvastatin, so maybe that's the route.

huuregeil

A vegan diet does not mean no protein!!!! And it's also ideal for losing body fat.

SteveR_100Milers

simonaskham wrote:

Hi Steve in what whay do they

deleterious effect on my performance (2 minutes in a 10 for example

I am on statins and BP tabs and they have always felt dehydrated in the morning since being on them.

Si

Google exercsie intolerance and statins and there is plenty of good stuff amongst the usual gee whizz fluff. The undesirable side effect is that they inhibit the natural production of CoQ10 which messes up your metabolic pathways somewhat. Unless you are a clinicain, wikipedia tells you probably all you need to know about CoQ10. taking tablet form is a waste of time, its not easily absorbed and used.

cje

Sorry to hear the statins are having a negative effect on your performance. I have familial hypercholesterolaemia and once had a level of 13.5mmol/l, so have to take the max dose of statins, but thankfully I've not had any side effects. I'm currently down to 4.6mmol/l and that's before I took up cycling, so I'm expecting further improvement at my next test. Hopefully, it'll be down to a level that'll allow me a small reduction in my dosage.