High Cholesterol Support Group

Leg pain is a common side effect of taking statins. I cannot take any without having leg pain every morning. From what I have read, if a person has this side effect, then you should try another statin. If you are like me, switching will not help. I have read recently that there is some evidence that taking Co-Q10 may reduce this problem.

sptrout--do you still take a statin even though you have leg pains?
The zetia is not a statin, but I have read that it can have some of the same side effects. After my bout with rhabdo, my cardiologist switched statin drugs for me, but he just took me off the new one because my CPK level went up. I've been taking Co-Q-10 for about a year. I don't know if it helps or not. Maybe I'd have been worse with the 2nd statin if I had not been taking it.
--Annie K

Sorry Annie, I did not read your first post correctly; I thought that you are on a statin. No, I had to stop all cholesterol meds because of leg pain. My doctor tried several before giving up, but not Zetia. My cholesterol numbers are terrible and it seems that my last hope is using krill oil, which has been proven to improve all cholesterol numbers and as a bonus, it greatly reduces inflamation. If you are taking fish oil (or even if you are not) "Google" krill oil and you will find some impressive numbers.

I just started a 4-month test to see if krill oil will help with my cholesterol; I am positive that it has helped with my back pain (that comment is not related to statin leg pain).

Steve

Cholesterol is a vital component to muscle cells and nerves. A recent study at Texas A &M showed those with the highest "bad" cholesterol built muscle faster.

"Its time to stop calling it Bad."

steve do you mind me asking what your numbers are? I have heard about krill oil. right now I am taking fish oil, but Im thinking of switching.

bmason,

My cholesterol numbers have nearly always been bad. I have an EXCEL spreadsheet that has all my lab results going back to 8/2001 so I know my lab history better than my doctor. Anyway, in March I switched to krill oil with my doctor's OK even though he was clueless about krill oil. I had my March 1st lab results, and the plan was to try krill oil for 4 months then repeat the cholesterol blood test. Well my test got messed-up for two reasons; 1) it was three months instead of four, and 2) the last two weeks of April I had to stop all OTC meds for two weeks to prepare for a back procedure (requirement of the hospital). Enough delaying following are my 3/1 test vs. my 6/6 test:

Total Cholesterol: 203 up to 208
Triglycerides: 252 down to 192
HDL: 30 up to 33
LDL: 123 up to 137

As you can see a mixed bag of good and bad, which is very typical for me. (I always tell my doctor that the lab just uses a "random number generator" to get my cholesterol numbers because they always seem to jump around for no obvious reason.) (FYI - - For many folks, it is not unusual for fish oil (and I assume krill oil) to make your LDL worse.)

Regardless of my results, there is a boatload (no pun intended) of information available that krill oil is far superior to fish oil in many respects. I would recommend that anyone using fish oil switch to krill oil.

steve.
your numbers dont seem that bad. your total is not bad at all, your hdl went up which is good, and your triglycerides went down too. it sounds like your on the right track.

Steve, I had your numbers before I got smart and fixed my diet. Reduce your carbohydrates and that will take care of the HDL and triglycerides. Change the remaining carbs you eat into complex carbs instead of simple ones. Finally, reduce the overall amount you eat and you'll find that the numbers pretty much normalize. Flax oil 1g with every meal. Fats from nuts, seeds and olive oil only. Go easy on the fruit because of the carbs it contains. It works.

steve....what about LDL , will making thse changes lower that too?

bmason,

For me, who knows, but studies indicate that krill oil is far superior to fish oil. Below is a link where the writer summaries the results of one study. The actual study mentioned is available on the Internet, but I could not find it right now (I actually have the report on my computer). If you search for krill oil and cholesterol studies I am sure that you can find it. I have given the study to two doctors and they were surprised that they did not know about it (I was not, there is no money for the big drug companies for people to use krill oil...)

http://www.healthy-oil-planet.com/N...