I've been taking a low dose generic statin for two years. I have no side effects and I'm doing very well in regard to MS symptoms. My mom had alzheimers and strokes, etc... and I'm not willing to risk that for myself. When I was underweight and worked out all the time my cholesterol was very low. Now this little nightly pill keeps it under the legal limit and hasn't caused any problems for me whatsoever.

I have a long family history of cardiovascular disease and strokes, and had elevated cholesterol at an early age despite changes in diet and exercise. So I have been on Lipitor for almost 10 years. The one thing that I have seen in various places is that statins lower your naturl CoQ10 levels and I guess that could be a factor in why they might impede remyelinization. I have been taking 100mg of CoQ10 for almost the entire time that I have taken lipitor and I have to say I have had zero side effects.

I guess the broader question for many folks is why you would go to a doctor that you don't trust. If feel like your doc is a pill pusher who doesn't care about your health, don't go home and rediagnose yourself and prescribe your own remedies; get a different doctor instead! I trust my doctor implicitly, but I am an informed consumer. I ask him questions, I read up on what he tells me, and if it doesn't make sense, I ask him more about it. In the end, he explains the relative risks of various courses of action, and we decide on a path of action. If I ever walked out of his office confused and feeling like he was pushing me in a direction that was contrary to my own health, I wouldn't go back.

Sure, there are risks of all kinds with anything that you put in your body, be it natural or pharmaceutical. The bottom line is that you need to evaluate the risks of not taking them as well, and for me, the risk of not taking lipitor is having a heart attack before the age of 50 like my dad did or dying of a stroke early like my grandmother did. To me, the small risk of side effects is a better choice than the very large risks that go with not treating my elevated cholesterol.

Batman, it isn't always easy to change doctors if you are in a particular clinic because of your insurance.

Concerning statins, I am fascinated, MrsD, that a research study showed deaths among those on a drug to raise HDL. I will avoid it! I will be going for the "physical" I have every few years on Monday, and I know my HDL will be VERY low, because that is a sign of Polycythemia Vera. I think I probably have trouble metabolising fats, and I can't just take fish oil or such things--only a few walnuts. But I do not worry about this, because I believe the whole cholesterol thing was mishandled. We NEED some cholesterol, and several people have hinted or stated outright here that lack of cholesterol might impede remyelinization. I always have a slightly high cholestorol (LDL) but it came down from 260 to 220 when I exercised more and stuck more closely to the Swank diet. I do add eggs to the Swank diet, MrsD, as I know from long experience that they are fine for me, in fact one of my better foods, in moderation (one a day about).
I did take a statin drug when they first found I had high LDL, and within 4 days was seriously ill because I have Porphyria. 4 days and out. We with Porph cannot metabolize statin drugs. If only I had known I had Porphyria earlier, I could have avoided many things bad for me.
A close Porph friend in Australia just became a grandmother, and the struggle to diagnose this baby is heartwarming and heart-clenching, because it's a hard diagnosis. Very few doctors are really "up" on it. They are sending for a specialist from across the country, because the baby's symptoms indicate possible porph. The doctors are doing everything right to care for this baby, including non-flourescent lights in his area at the hospital, safe drugs to give the mother a spinal anesthesia during birth, and so forth. If only everyone with porph could have such treatment. But I know many other illnesses are hard "calls", including MS. We simply don't have enough knowledge.

Batman,

You made a lot of sense in what you said. I also take CoQ10 daily and have since taking my generic lipitor that was prescribed by my GP.

I take the information from my doctors and do my own research and take care of my health. It would make no sense to go for checkups and then to try to go against all of the doctor's advice. Why would I even go to see the doctor if that is what I was doing? I've always done lots of research in regard to my health and lifestyle, but demonizing any medical treatment doesn't make sense to me at all. And most medicines will have some side effects, which is a trade off of the benefit of whatever the medicine helps.

I know that many of us feel that we are taking a medicine chest full of pills to treat our conditions, and so we're skeptical of any treatments. But it we go to the doctor in search of a treatment for a symptom or disease, what do we expect them to do? If we can't treat ourselves with healthy lifestyles or other means, they are going to prescribe medicines. And many of those medicines save lives.

There's a lot for all of us to think about on this topic.

Pfizer dropped its HDL raising compound after those deaths. This drug was to be the "next blockbuster" and its failure is linked to the economic downturn of Pfizer in the last few years. But I do believe that Merck is continuing with its version. So we may see it on the market in the future if the FDA passes it.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewh...and-eli-lilly/

Fish oil or Krill oil, can raise HDLs nicely. Whether the HDL hypothesis will remain accepted however, may time out any new drug. Information is coming in that HDLs are not what were previously thought.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/he...risk.html?_r=0

I totally understand that it may not be easy or convenient to change doctors. I used to go to one that was very near my house and convenient to get to. But she was always running at least an hour behind, about half the time she had me see her PA instead of her, and when she did lower herself to actually speak to me herself, never seemed to have the time in the day to actually talk about what was wrong with me or why the prescription she was furiously scribbling out was the best choice.

Now I go to one that is about 45 minutes from my house and about 35 minutes from my office. Traffic is usually terrible around his office and I have to pay to park there. But he is the best doctor I have ever dealt with. So it is worth all the trouble and hassle to get to him because I am getting a much better level of health care.

Just because there is one clinic that is the easiest to use under your insurance doesn't mean you HAVE to go there. Your health is worth the effort to find the right doctor or clinic, even if it means driving a longer distance, paying a little more out of pocket, or waiting longer for an open appt. Sometimes insurance sucks and it isn't easy to change, but given the choice between going to a doctor I didn't trust, or paying more to see one that I did trust, I don't even have to think twice about it.

What about your triglyceride levels?

Some of the things I've read suggest that it may be more important than cholesterol #'s.

I think my triglycerides were what was out of whack. The numbers I got from the nurse were HDL 233 and LDL 1853.

Yes, Batman, I too have gone to great "lengths" to find doctors. I just thought KittyLady might have a problem with transferring due to doctors accepting or not accepting her insurance.
Kitty, HDL and LDL numbers you posted today do not seem "right". Cannot compare to my own numbers as received in the past. LDL 1853 sounds off the chart--I hope your doctor can elucidate what this number means. Or perhaps MrsD can do so. My high LDL number never got above 260, then was down to 220, and I thought really high cholesterol numbers were in the 300 plus range. Maybe a different scale is used by your lab.

No problem Mariel...I probably shouldn't have hijacked this thread with that tangent. It is just a big soap box issue for me because I know a couple of people who always complain about how bad their doctors are and spend all their time trying to rationalize to themselves why they should ignore their doctor's advice. I see it alot online and it always makes me wonder.