Statin alternatives

How do you think you got a 70% blockage to begin with? What do you think is going to happen if you stop taking statins? I'll tell you what will happen: you will get another blockage, in a different place. You won't be "active and happy", in fact, you'll end up getting yet another stent, or worse, bypass surgery. Stopping the statin is a terrible idea .

Talk to your doctor about using a combination of 10mg rosuvastatin and 10mg ezetimibe. Adding ezetimibe has a better effect on LDL than does increasing the statin dosage.

Also look into CoQ10 supplements - it may help with muscle pain. It's worth a try.

Trust me i hear you. Unfortunately i am allergic to ezetimibe and the Q10 did nothing.
So do i sit around or stay extremely active which is good for my brain and heart. That is why i have written this piece. It is a real dilemma.

Being active is not enough. Your blockages were severe enough to warrant stents. What is your Lp(a) and LDL? If those are high, you could be running marathons and it won't prevent trouble. What about Repatha? You need to discuss all this with your doctor.

@swilkins1974, I am sorry you are finding out how difficult it can be to figure out how to manage your coronary artery disease. Straightforward answers are difficult to find.

I have been trying to manage high cholesterol since my mid-20’s. I say “trying” because I believe I have tried every drug and even aphaeresis, and it has been only recently that it has been controlled level. I am taking a couple medications currently that I previously had problems with, ones that I had said I would never take again.

My encouragement is to continue talking to your doctor and asking questions. Cholesterol is just one risk factor and rosuvastatin that you take, as an example does more than just treat cholesterol. If I am correct your side effects started after increasing your dose. You could go back to the original dose you were taking and consider adding another medication to help. You also mention an ezetimibe allergy. I had a problem taking ezetimibe. Now I take 1/2 pill. After being off of it and honestly, pretty apprehensive about trying again…I started twice a week and worked up to daily. I have learned that taking a full tablet doesn’t help much more than taking 1/2.

The latest episode of Mayo Clinic Cardiology’s continuing medical education podcast series may be fantastic for you to listen to. It fits in with your question and discussion with @njx58. The audio is short (11 minutes), addresses questions you have, and may be good information to help have more conversation with your doctor. You’ll need to scroll down the page and find the September 16, 2025 episode.
- Mayo Clinic Statin Myopathy: https://cveducation.mayo.edu/store/pages/podcasts

(Teaser) Let me know if you draw a stick person! 😀

The more little things you continue to adopt, the better. In the meantime, are you staying active eating healthy?

I tried all the "pill" statins....and the side effects were awful for me. I switched to Repatha, then Praluent because of insurance), then back to Repatha and now again taking Praluent as I noticed my A1C was slightly higher with Repatha. These injections, took my #s down in 1 month and have stayed great. Initial injections caused side effect back pain and then that resolved (but I also have back issues to begin with). I have 4 LAD stents since 2023 and now microvascular so I wouldn't think of stopping.

I had no symptoms. Always had high cholesterol numbers in the 200s and overweight. I had a coronary cardio tomagraphy (CCTA) which showed 80 percent blockage in the widow maker. I immediately went on a low fat whole food plant based diet - no oils, no sugar and very low sodium (Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn plan - who was one of the first drs to show you can halt or reverse heart disease by eating this way). In four months my cholesterol went from 275 to 145 and LDL went from 176 to 80. My cardiologist put me on aspirin and repatha (I couldnt do statins cause the muscle ache). A year later Im down 50 lbs. cholesterol now 80 and LDL 25. I will get another CCTA test (and send to a company called Cleerly - which uses AI to give a report) to see if there has been a halt or improvement.

Well that is good
To know. Was it the Repatha or the diet that lowered cholesterol. My cardio dietician said 4 tbsps of olive oil daily. All the different advise makes me crazy.

@swilkins1974 The diet lowered it from 175 to 80 and ldl 176 to 80. If you have heart disease you want to have your ldl lower than 55. Drs. get very little nutritional training in med school- the 4 tablespoons of olive oil i wouldnt do. Look at this study - Recipe for Heart Health: A Randomized Crossover Trial on Cardiometabolic Effects of Extra Virgin Olive Oil Within a Whole-Food Plant-Based Vegan Diet - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39045758/

Conclusions: Both plant-based diet patterns improved cardiometabolic risk profiles compared with baseline diets, with more pronounced decreases in LDL-C after the low EVOO diet. Addition of EVOO after following a low intake pattern may impede further lipid reductions.

Dr. Esselstyn says, "NO OIL! Not even olive oil, which goes against a lot of other advice out there about so-called good fats. The reality is that oils are extremely low in terms of nutritive value. They contain no fiber, no minerals and are 100% fat calories. Both the mono unsaturated and saturated fat contained in oils is harmful to the endothelium, the innermost lining of the artery, and that injury is the gateway to vascular disease. It doesn’t matter whether it’s olive oil, corn oil, coconut oil, canola oil, or any other kind. Avoid ALL oil."

@rochelle369
I am very interested in getting a CCTA with Cleerly interpretation but Cleery are not in Canada and it is not possible to get insurance to go to the States for medical tests. I am wondering if anyone in Canada has had a CCTA here and had it sent to Cleerly in The U.S. for AI interpretation. Anyone?