If you’ve decided that your LDL cholesterol is too high, and you want to bring it down using a statin, which statin do you think is best?

My target for LDL cholesterol is 60-70. I am currently at 80-85.

I am leaning towards Rosuvastatin at 5 mg daily. Any other thoughts as to which statin is best? Crestor? Lipitor?

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Attia suggests starting with Crestor and if you are one of the few folks who can’t tolerate it then switch to Nexletol. Part of the recommendation is cost related, Crestor is considerably cheaper.

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How much do you pay? Over here it is 40 cents per 5 mg of Crestor.

How much is it from India?

Rosuvastatin is the generic name of Crestor. Recommend trying that one first. Low incidence of muscular side effects. Should be very inexpensive.

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Rosuvastatin 5 mg daily to start with seems to be the go-to-statin. I’ve started the same. Interesting to hear Brad Stanfield also takes 5 mg Crestor.

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Yes, I was surprised as well. It’s the first time I’ve heard him mention it. His endorsement and reasoning has swayed me to take the first step to getting my LDL to 60.

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Didn’t you have side effects from statins or was it someone else? Apparently the hydrophilic nature of rosuvastatin makes it less likely to cause muscle side effects according to Stanfield, too.

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I had side effects for ubiquinol which is a form of CoQ10. I have never taken a statin before.

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I spoke to my GP to get the prescription and he warned me to keep very close tabs on my liver function as statins can degrade your liver if statins are used for an extended period.

I’ve decided to get full blood work done as well as an arterial scan to see if I have any signs of arteriosclerosis before I start taking statins

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Crestor seems to be the most popular. I use Lipitor because at the time it was the most studied and it was the first one that didn’t give me any adverse side effects. The first statin I tried was Zocor and I had muscle aches and weakness from that. It has worked well for me so I don’t see any reason to change.

I was on 20 mg of Crestor and my LDL went down to 50. But I then checked my desmosterol checked due to worried about Alzheimers issues and sure enough it was low. So stopped the Statin. May restart it back to 5 mg after a few months then recheck desmosterol.

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Been on 10 mg of Crestor for years and have experienced no sides. I lift 6 days a week and I am as strong now at 67 as I ever have been. No muscle soreness and has not seemed to affect me cognitively.

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Dr Green strongly suggest rosuvastatin 40mg daily. He thinks this is best in combination with Rapamycinz

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Why such a high dose?

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That is the does for me but of course I have no knowledge of the right dose for others. note that I am a big man of 100kgs. although very physically active.

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What was your starting LDL level?

I take rosuvastatin every other day 10mg (avg 5mg/day). I had muscle aches after lifting, so I skip dosing on lifting days. No problems anymore, and no change in my apob level (~60). Half-life of rosuvastatin is 19 hours.

Dr. Green’s website currently warns against statins. Below is cut and pasted from his website:

WARNING: LIVER DAMAGE DUE TO STATINS;

IN MY OBSERVATION, THE MEDICAL LITERATURE UNDERESTIMATES THE RISK OF STATIN LIVER DISEASE BY ABOUT 100 FOLD.

The risk is dose related. It results in Insulin Resistance. At this time, not clear if liver damage is irreversible or slowly improves. I appear to be the only physician aware of this serious danger. The liver disease presents as a sharp rise in insulin and Insulin resistance. 99% of physicians never measure insulin so they never notice the liver damage. The liver damage may or may not be associated with small increase in liver enzymes. The small rise in liver enzymes is not enough to qualify as liver disease. Insulin resistance is very serious as high Insulin causes high TOR and high TOR accelerates Aging and Age-related disease. THIS IS AN IATROGENIC DISEASE AND CAUSED BY the MISGUIDED ATTEMPT TO DRIVE LDL TO LEVELS BELOW 100.

STATINS FREQUENTLY CAUSE MUSCLE CRAMPS. THIS IS NOT SERIOUS BECAUSE PEOPLE NOTICE THE EFFECT AND STOP THE STATINS BEFORE THERE IS ANY PERMANENT DAMAGE.

THE LIVER DAMAGE IS SILENT AND MAY BE IRREVERSIBLE. RECENTLY, I NOTED A PATIENT WITH AN UNEXPLAIN RISE IN INSULIN RESISTANCE. IT BECAME APPARENT It was causedby HIGH DOSE STATIN. ONCE I WAS AWARE OF THE PROBLEM, I BEGAN TO NOTICE IT WITH ALARMING FREQUENCY.

IN ORDER TO NOTICE REQUIRES THE FOLLOWING Sequence of EVENTS:

I SEE the PATIENT AND THEY HAVE EXCELLENT INSULIN SENSITIVITY.

AFTER I SEE PATIENT, THEY SEE ANOTHER PHYSICIAN WHO STARTS them ON HIGH DOSE STATIN.

A FEW MONTHS LATER, I GET A FOLLOW-UP INSULIN. I NOTICE THERE HAS BEEN A SHARP RISE IN FASTING INSULIN, IN A FEW MONTHS, THEY HAVE GONE FROM HEALTHY TO UNHEALTHY, WITH INSULIN RESISTANCE.

IATROGENIC DISEASES ARE NOT ON THE LIST OF PROPER DIAGNOSES.

My awareness of this very dangerous risk is new; hence the WARNING.

Update: I am NOT first person to notice this condition

“Statins are associated with Increased Insulin Resistance and Secretion”. Abbasi, August 26, 2021.

Conclusion: 'In individuals without type 2 diabetes, high-intensity atorvastatin for 10 weeks increases insulin resistance and insulin secretion"

“Break Glass, Sound Alarm”

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So is there any doctor here that can recommend blood tests to check for these problems? Statins are too good to pass up imo unless there is a measurable or subjective reason.

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Taking statins might make you more susceptible to bacterial infections and sepsis. Low LDL-C seems to have same effect, but it is even more pronounced while taking statins. Statins might even promote cancer. There is some evidence that suggests that taking statins might not be best LDL-C lowering strategy if you carry APOE4 gene that predisposes you to dementia (I posted a video in another topic these days). I really don’t know why would someone take statins with normal LDL-C for primary prevention of ASCVD. No reasoning in that. Even Thomas Dayspring does not advice statins for primary prevention. There are no RCS done in statins for primary prevention. There are some suggestions that most of the benefits of statins in ASCVD do come from other mechanism and not directly from LDL-C lowering. Most observational studies that support statin use do not take into account that 40-80% of people taking statins stop taking them because of side effects. But I know there is no point in arguing this with you as you will just point to the same cherry picked evidence that supports statins.

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