I am now on the wrong side of 55 and I am taking no pills. I want to put that off as long as possible due to the side effects and the fact once you start pills the side effects lead to other issues that lead to more and more pills. We all have many relatives who have gone down that slippery slope.
My doctors are pressuring me to go on statins for cholesterol and I refuse to take them. I believe you need to look at ALL risk factors for heart attacks/strokes and here is why I won't take statins:
1) lack of exercise: nope I do weights and run 4 miles a day with every 3rd day at tempo effort. That is more than 99% of people age 55 or older
2) Overfat: nope I am 5% (summer)-10% (winter) bodyfat better than 95% of people over 55
3) smoking: I have never smoked.
4) excessive drinking: nope I drink twice a month 4-5 beers
5) high blood pressure: nope 100/60
6) high stress: nope low stress life style
7) frequent anger/rage: nope, almost never
8) high salt intake: nope, very low salt intake
9) low HDL: nope I have very high HDL
10) high triglicerides: nope I have very low triglicerides
11) diabetes: no diabetes
12) family history: nope father was overweight and never exercised but didn't have heart issues until late 70s. Mother no heart issues. 7 older brothers and sisters ages 60-75 and no heart attacks or strokes
13) unhealthy diet: nope I eat very high fruit and vegetables, lots of fish, minimal fatty foods, minimal junk food, moderate protein and fat intake
14) Blocked arteries: Nope at age 53 I had a nuclear stress test which found zero blockage in my arteries.
15) LDL Yes, I have high LDL at 220.
Therefore I have 1 out of 15 risk factors. In my mind, that makes me low risk for stroke and heart attack and therefore I refuse to go on Statins to bring down my LDL. Doctors pushing hard to get me on them.
Also there are studies that say if you have high HDL (good cholesterol) and low triglicerides, but high LDL (bad cholesterol) which is exactly my case, the cholesterol in your blood is high particle size which does not plate out (i.e. attach to the walls of the arteries) which is what leads to heart disease. Therefore I have high particle size cholesterol, not the small size that plates out in your arteries.
Call me crazy to go against my doctors advice, but I am going to take my chances and not go on statins. I don't want side effects such as lower muscle strength, I want to be as strong as possible in my weight training, they are bad for your liver, they increase risk for diabetes, and they lower testosterone and I don't want to lose an ounce of that, and increased risk of early memory loss, I don't want that either.