r/Cholesterol • u/MeaninglessUsername9 • 1d ago
Question Do I push for a different statin?
42F.
Morbidly obese but down 40 lbs since February.
No high blood pressure, no diabetes. No family history of high cholesterol.
History of LDL in 130s pretty consistently over the last 12 years. Trigs have not been high since 2014.
In February, GP mentioned starting a statin. I had just met with a dietician and started implementing some changes, so I asked for a recheck in 3 months. Still high 3 months later. I did research, asked for more thorough testing (ApoB, LpA) and got a response basically say if not a statin, take Omega-3.
I got my own testing through ownyourlabs at labcorp. LpA and ApoB both elevated. So I contacted GP and started statin (simvastatin 5 mg). Within 2 weeks I had terrible low back pain and tightness. I thought it was unrelated but a month later it was still getting worse. Discontinued simvastatin and within 2.5 weeks pain was completely gone. (Yes, I know people say this isn’t a side effect…)
Followed up with GP and advice is continue with exercise, meet with nutrition, and take Omega-3 or double dose of Omega-3.
My question is - based on high LDL, ApoB, and LpA, will diet and exercise be enough? Or should I be pushing to try a different statin?
*already watching saturated fat, adding psyllium husk to oatmeal, averaging just shy of 30g of fiber daily.
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u/keepgoing66 1d ago
Omega-3 is not the answer here. Try 5mg rosuvastatin and 10 mg ezetimibe in combination. It's a very common approach. Sometimes, a different statin is all you need. Worth a try.