While you may definately need the cholestrol lowering drugs right now, chest pain, weight gain and bloating are not to be ignored. There are many good drugs on the market which may not give you such severe side effects. There are also good diets which dramatically affect your cholesterol levels. I have had very good results following the diet in the Digest Diet book, put out by Reader's Digest.
Our doctor switched my 57-year old husband from 20 mg Zocor to 10 mg Lipitor in Dec. 2011 due to elevated LDL particles. He also takes Dutroprol 100/12.5 and 40 mg Benicar for BP, 81 mg Aspirin, and 2000 mg Metformin for Insulin Resistance. He currently weights 260 lbs. at 6' tall, down from 275, and he's continuing to lose weight by following a lower carb diet and exercising. Seven months after starting Lipitor, his GGTP tested high at 87.
Statins work in the liver and every commercial I have seen advises not to take if you have liver problems. Zetia works in the intestines.
Was the Zetia working?
If my memory serves me correctly, MikeS is taking statins and he had a TP. He is far more knowledgeable on the subject than I am and hopefully he will see this post and give his input.
Zetia is part of a class of drugs called cholesterol absorption inhibitors.
If it were me I would give pravastatin a chance, but if I had the same side effects and I could not live with them, I would try something like Zetia. You could also add a fenofibrate like Tricor to lower your TGLs as well, very safe and no side effects. This will help lower your overall number but will not impact your LDL which is you main issue. You really need to get that under 130 with no other risk factors.
I’m a active 68 yr. old women, that has tried 3 different statins. Everyone gave me muscle problems. Then my GP put me on Zetia. Said it would be different. After two months on it, it was worst than the statins. Woke up one morning, couldn’t close my hand. My fingers were so swollen and my both thumb joints would not bend. When I tried to bend them they clicked and was very painful.
I finally went to a specialist in Baltimore who read my history which showed all the meds I was taking and he noticed that I was taking Zetia and told me that he believed Zetia caused chronic coughing in some people; so he looked it up on his computer and sure enough, that was one of the warnings. I stopped the Zetia and the coughing disappeared completely within a couple of weeks. The point here is that medicines, while helping one problem, frequently can cause another.
I just got off of zetia and welchol. I could not take statins. I tried them all. Used to take Niaspan and fenofibrate but they took me off cause both cause problems in some and had not 'reduced the incidence of cardiac events'. I think they have concluded that neither do Zetia, except when used with a statin, so it is the statin doing the work. I also think Welchol has been shown to not reduce cardiac events too. not sure. I am on Repatha. Third bi weekly shot.
I started running about a month ago and currently going to gym 5-6 days a week with 6 days cardion and three days weight training.On the treadmill I normally do 10 min warmup and then 30 sec running and 30 sec walking for 20 minutes then a 5 minute cool down.
On Thursday I was about 26 minutes into my cardio when it felt like someone hit me with a broom stick across my mid back. It caused my breating to gasp twice. I then noticed pain in my center right portion of my back.
This is the time in your life more than ever that you should be eating healthy and exercising regularly. Expect to gain weight ; that is healthy and necessary for most women, but if the gain happens too quickly you MUST Work with your OB to ensure that you are as healthy as possible.
I would really listen to Alaysha's advice personally.. She's a model and one of the most stunning pregnant women I've ever seen, so I'd follow her rules for healthy weight gain personally lol.
I have taken quite a bit of different antibiotics back in May. I have stopped taking it a about 3 weeks ago, maybe longer and noticed that I have a hard time gaining weight now. I have had bad anxiety and depression as well recently which may have caused my appetite to go down drastically but when it comes back I start to eat a lot and it doesn't seem like I can gain weight like I used too.
SSRIs are notorious for weight gain, but Prozac has less of a weight gain potential (compared to say Paxil). Your weight gain may be natural - over the course of 20 years. Or it may be the result of the Prozac. But 2-3 pounds per year to gain from an SSRI is not very much. I was on Lexapro for 2-3 years and gained nearly 40 pounds in that time.
It does make sense to take Abilify during the day if its keeping a person awake at night as it can be activating. If not it won't make a difference as regards weight gain. Abilify is the least likely out of the antipsychotics to cause weight gain. I have posted about the antipsychotics in development that won't do this but they still are not approved medications yet. If you were diagnosed with bipolar with psychotic features you need an antipsychotic.
I read some articles about this just yesterday and was surprised, for I take Lantus and have noticed no weight gain at all. So this could be a factor.
However, a change in metabolism in middle age probably is the real culprit, along with possibly a slower metabolism because you are not eating. Exercise should help both problems. Start walking! Park your car further from the door, take stairs instead of elevators, etc. Or use your lunch hour to do some mild exercise right in your office.
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