I know I’m the contrarian here, but I would never take a statin drug. The science supporting them is very thin and sometimes suspect. Having high cholesterol numbers alone is not an actual disease. The disease they claim to be treating is atherosclerosis; the clogging of the coronary arteries. There are better tests available to determine if you have atherosclerosis rather than rely only on a cholesterol number. A Coronary Artery Calcium scan (CAC) is a non-intrusive test that can determine if you have plaque deposits within your arteries. The oldest portion of the plaque will develop calcium deposits that can show up clearly in a CAT scan.
Almost ten years ago I was extremely overweight and borderline diabetic. I tried so many different ways to drop the weight and failed over and over. Following the standard advice of a low calorie, low fat diet, eat less, move more, everything in moderation didn’t work. Eventually I found the right method for me, eliminating sugar, grains and carbs. I lost eighty pounds and all my health markers improved dramatically. However, when you eliminate the carbs you make that up by increasing protein and fats. The fear of consuming fat and meats is highly ingrained in our culture. This is a result of the push to vilify saturated fat that occurred in the sixties and seventies and gave us the Standard American Diet that included the Food Pyramid. What happened after the government recommended this? Well, we all got fat and diabetes is through the roof.
So after several years of increased fat and meats in the diet, my weight and health were improved, but my cholesterol numbers went up. I had always been under 200 as an adult. Prior to my annual checkup at age 61 I knew that my cholesterol numbers were up in the 220 range and I anticipated a conversation with my PCP about taking a statin. Before the exam I scheduled a CAC test on my own, (about $150, not covered by insurance) to see if I had real risk for atherosclerosis. I was also nervous about this because I did deviate from the norm and ignored the warnings on red meat and other things, so I questioned myself. Well… I got a zero score on the CAC. No visible plaque formation. With those results in hand there was no way I was going to take a statin. As luck would have it, my doctor was cool with that anyway. His comment was that although my total numbers were up, the ratios were good. My HDL was at 75 and my Triglycerides were 60 and all my other tests were great.
I recommend that everyone do their own independent research before blindly taking a statin drug. I think the benefits for these drugs have been overstated and the side effects downplayed. From what I have read, the only demographic that have been statistically shown to benefit from taking a statin are middle aged males with a history of heart disease. This latest allegation of hearing loss as a side effect only reaffirms my suspicions.
Books that I have read on this subject:
The Big Fat Surprise - Nina Teicholz
Wheat Belly - Dr William Davis - Cardiologist
The Great Cholesterol Myth - Dr. Stephen Sinatra - Cardiologist
The Primal Blueprint - Mark Sisson
Grain Brain - Dr. David Perelmutter - Neurologist
Websites - videos
TheFatEmperor - Ivor Cummins
Cholesterol Code - Dave Feldman
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express once. YMMV.
Thanks for listening - Do your own research before doing anything drastic.