For The Past 2 Years I've Had High Cholestero (LDL).

Posted on Thu, 28 Nov 2019

Question: For the past 2 years I've had high Cholestero (LDL). I am overweight (I never was overweight in the past) and I didnt' change my diet to help lower the cholesterol or too lose weight. The doctor never prescribed any medications. Now this year he did prescribe 20 mg of simvastatin. I really don't want to take it - I don't like the side effects and I feel I can lower my cholesterol by losing weight and eating the right foods. I've already started doing this. On 10/1817 cholestoer was 262 and LDL was 171 On 8/23/18 cholestero was 267 and LDL was 167 On 10/24/18 cholesterol was 259 and LDL was 171 and on 10/29/2019 cholesterol is 278 and LDL is 192. Is it really necessary to take this medicine?
I’ve never used cholesterol med before and I haven’t started the simvastatin.
I just take 100 mg zoloft and 65 mg of iron. Sometimes I take a .25 xanax, but not a lot of times. no other medications
I suffer from OCD and some anxiety. I've always been skinny. But since peri menopause and menopause i've gained a lot of weight and i didn't diet. I just ate how i always ate, which is a lot.
Is it easy my to get off the medication? Are the medicine side effects permanent?

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (44 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Welcome to 'Ask a Doctor' service!

I passed carefully through your question and would explain that your total cholesterol and LDL levels have been high during all these years, indicating dyslipidemia and imposing you at a higher cardiovascular risk.

For this reason, I agree with your doctor on the description of a statin.

I would recommend starting with 10mg (half a tab) and increasing the dose after a week to 20mg, in order to avoid possible adverse effects like muscle pain or fatigue.

Anyway, even 20mg is a low dose and you should not worry too much about it! I think you will tolerate it well.

You should also know that it is OK to stop this drug at any time if you don't tolerate it and the adverse effects vanish within a couple of weeks.

I would also encourage you to try to lose weight with a healthy diet and practice aerobics, which can help lower LDL levels naturally.

I would recommend checking again your blood lipid profile after 2 months if you decide to start simvastatin.

Hope you will find this answer helpful!

I remain at your disposal, whenever you have any further questions.

Kind regards
Dr.Ilir Sharks, Cardiologist

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee

Follow up: Dr. Ilir Sharka (1 hour later)

Thank you. Does the medicine cause negative long term effects?

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (13 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Opinion as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Hello again!

Adverse drug effects are rare, the most frequent of them are muscular pain, fatigue, increase of liver and muscular enzymes level, which could be easily detected by lab tests; very rare cognitive impairment.

You need to perform periodic lab test especially in case of any concerning symptomatology.

I am glad to have been helpful to you!

Feel free to ask me again at any time.

Regards,

Dr. Iliri

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar