UKC

I am 61 and not previously had any serious health issues. Pre-covid I was very fit but a combination of factors have resulted in me taking less exercise recently. After a booster in July I started having minor twinges in my chest which became worse after I had covid in November. In December I was found to have high blood pressure and started on Amlodipine. BP came down ok but after a strenuous day out I suffered slow but irregular heart arrythmia which caused me concern, the doctor prescribed statins to help prevent a heart attack. I'm not certain I want to take statins as there is a lot of negative opinion about them. Anyone on here had experience moutaineering on BP medication or statins?

In reply to Duncan Beard:

I've been continuously on a statin, Atorvastatin, for many years now and have never had any problems or issues (when climbing or more generally) with taking it

Disclaimer, I am merely reporting my own experiences

In reply to profitofdoom:

Me too.  Age 63

In reply to Duncan Beard:

I’ve been taking Atorvastatin for a number of years. When I asked about side effects my GP assured me that most of the commoner side effects - muscle aches, stomach discomfort etc. - are preferable to a heart attack. I had some stomach discomfort to begin with but this passed quite quickly. 

In reply to Duncan Beard: I had a heart attack 5 years ago, and since then I’ve been on Atorvastatin, beta blockers, aspirin and ACE inhibitors. I’m happy to take them all as I believe they will reduce the risk of me dying. Since being on the meds I’ve continued climbing, run a marathon, done Alpine routes. Non of the meds appear to have significant negative side affects or performance effects. 
 

In reply to Duncan Beard: 

Raised blood pressure and high cholesterol levels are not necessarily related. But, even if they are, both are probably genetic conditions, as much as they are related to lifestyle. (As a single data point: I radically changed my food and drink intake for 12 months - and my cholesterol levels changed by precisely f-uck all.)

If you live reasonably healthily and still have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, then it's likely that you are genetically programmed to die at some stage from those conditions. So the entire thing is a trade-off, and I don't think that the specific experience of other people can give you a very useful guide.

My one Pro Tip is: don't get old.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

And choose your parents carefully.

In reply to Duncan Beard:

I'm 71 and take Atorvastatin with no obvious side effects, IIRC it reduces the likelihood of an incident a bit or may reduce its severity. I take anything going and IMHO certainly worthwhile also to keep up with covid and flu jabs and get one for shingles (free once you reach 70, about £200 otherwise). Your doctor will probably give you best advice of course.

On the other hand my wife, not a mountaineer, started on Atorvastatin at about 65, in a few weeks her memory and reasoning decreased, stopped statin and they returned after a few weeks. Tried a different statin with same results so then gave up.

In reply to Duncan Beard:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/off_belay/statins-714941

In reply to Duncan Beard:

I’m 66 and have been taking Simvastatin for at least a dozen years since elder brother had angioplasty. Older brother and sister have also had cardiac events in the intervening years, but not me. Still climbing (in Provence just now) but not like I was 20 years ago…but nothing to do with the meds. Apparently we have a familial issue with producing cholesterol. Both parents had strokes or heart attacks.

I have no side effects that I am aware of. Best of luck, David

In reply to Duncan Beard:

Thanks for responses folks, some re-assurance there that I don't have to quit just yet (barely got started!). The previous discussion on the suggested link was interesting too.

I have just heard that being on a low-carb diet naturally increases LDL levels but it is not an issue, so really they should have asked me about diet first. I have been low carb for over a year due to an annoying chronic health issue.

I have decided I don't want to take more statins without further tests & going through the whole dataset with gp or a cardiologist first. I'm eating chia seeds to help lower cholesterol & ground flax seeds to lower bp.

I had a hilly training walk with a loaded rucksack on Saturday & it went much better than previously. Hoping for some Scottish winter climbing soon & Valais Alps in the summer.

In reply to Duncan Beard:

I've been on simvistatin and Lisinopril for around 12 years. Never had any issues that I'm aware of. 

In reply to Duncan Beard:

It is possible you can control cholesterol levels with diet - but if you are eating a healthy diet already and it is still high then it is likely to be genetic and  may need meds. However, it all depends upon what other risk factors you might have and this needs to be discussed with your gp as it is different for every individual. A combination of high cholesterol, hypertension and being overweight and family history of heart disease or other medical conditions can all bump up your personal risk factors for heart attacks/strokes. If you did decide on statins then ask the GP to start you on a low dose twice per week and then gradually build it up to one per day - this way you can minimise the possible side effects and ascertain a level which you personally can tolerate

In reply to Duncan Beard:

I thought this study was interesting - whilst there is evidence that statins reduce the incidence of heart attacks (although not necessarily through their cholesterol lowering action) your life will not be extended by very much!

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/9/e007118

In reply to Duncan Beard:

I’ve been on statins for a while now and no problems at all , they have just changed me to Atorvastatin and on a high dose , the higher dose made me lethargic and feeling weak ,however , the dose was reduced and I’m back to normal now  . 
saying that I heard one of my cardiologist muttering that he doesn’t believe in statins . The nurse quickly corrected him and he muttered “ I suppose they have their place “

In reply to Duncan Beard:

I had a thorough cardiovascular MOT a year ago after a bit of an incident (that turned out not to be heart-related).  The result was that my coronary arteries are in good shape for my age and my serum lipids were normal. 

However, I have a poor family history of heart disease, and my cardiologist recommended a low dose of atorvastatin given the proven benefits and negligible risk (some low dose aspirin too).  His view was that it was a no-brainer, which does seem to be the consensus in terms of the epidemiology and health economics.

Had my lipids checked two months later and my cholesterol had pretty much halved, taking it well into the low risk zone.  Can't say my climbing has improved in proportion, but that's down to age and inactivity!  I certainly haven't felt any ill-effects.      

In reply to Duncan Beard:

The only side effect I get is very vivid dreams, which don't bother me much as a rule, and I'll take the trade off of an extended life-span 👍👍

In reply to Dave Garnett:

What daily doses of both are you on?

In reply to Rob Parsons:

20mg atorvastatin, 75mg aspirin (od)

In reply to Martin Haworth:

Than you for posting that, it gives me hope & encouragement. I had a post-covid heart attack 4 months ago despite not being perceived as a risk in any way. It's a long road back & I have a bu**ered mitochondrial valve as a result. The Consultant assures me that (for now) something moderate below 4000m in the Alps is a realistic goal by Sept. As for the Statins; compared to the alternative they're a breeze!  

In reply to broken spectre:

You may be disappointed. The BMJ study I looked at (see link up thread) seems to suggest the best you can hope for is an extra 27 days!

In reply to nikoid:

However, this can be viewed an entirely different way: 93% will have no gain in lifespan but 7% will have an enormous gain of 99 months. 

In reply to nikoid:

It’s not clear who the populations were for these studies. It looks like they may have included some pretty unhealthy people. The 27 day figure comes from a study of people with a history of unstable angina or myocardial infarction. 

In reply to Dave Ferguson:

Sorry, but I'm not sure where these numbers have come from?

In reply to Bob Kemp:

Well six of the studies were primary prevention trials, ie populated by people with no heart disease. The life extensions were even less impressive for these people than those in the secondary prevention trials.

In reply to nikoid:

I didn’t see what risk category those people were in, which we’d need to know really. The whole area of estimating risk reduction seems tricky. This paper is interesting on this too

https://bjgp.org/content/67/654/40