[hdt9771]

Your family history and extremely elevated LDLs are scary. Diet and exercise are not enough to prevent poor outcomes in familial hypercholesterolemia. The rough estimate we quote patients is that the risk of a heart attack in males with FH is ~50% by age ~50 without medical treatment. This is 20 times (not 20%, but 20 TIMES) the normal risk at that age.

I will not give medical advice over the internet, but if I were you, I would not want to be messing around with anything short of the standards of care given those odds. Statin therapy is a core part of that standard.

Statin adverse effects do exist, but they are found to be quite rare (1-2% prevalence) when assessed for through well designed placebo-controlled trials. Additionally, there are newer statins with fewer adverse effects you could consider. Assuming you truly have FH and truly are statin intolerant (or remain at elevated LDLs despite maximally tolerated statin therapy), PCSK9 inhibitors can be considered. In the US, you would likely qualify for one if these through a good insurance plan, assuming the above criteria are met.

[FollowingTheDao]

If you want to see my charts, feel free to email me. I’ve corrected my cholesterol in a more functional way than a Staten could have. And when I tried to statin and not only lower my cholesterol, but it lowered my HDL as well, which is bad. It also gave me myopathy add myopathy.

I’m not screwing around, I know my genetics, and I know how reverse cholesterol transport works. I also know keeping oxidative stress at a minimum is probably more important than the level of cholesterol. I actually moved to a location with extremely low air pollution for that very factor. You can’t look at LDL only to understand the risk of heart disease.

I had very good doctors and if they thought I was at risk, they would be telling me what to do because that’s what they always do. But now they say there’s no need for statins and they’re not concerned about my heart disease risk anymore.

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