I’m currently taking 10mg of Crestor, but my LDL has stubbornly remained above 100. So, my doctor is recommending doubling my dosage to 20mg.
Is that a high dosage? Should I expect to see side effects? My other stats are in the normal range, but I did that calcium test and it is very high (over 500?) for my age (58).
My calcium test was also high, and I was recently moved from 20mg Lovastatin to 10mg generic Crestor. My total cholesterol immediately dropped to 116, and my cardiologist seemed happy with that, although he also said they may bump me up to 20 mg if my numbers start to rise again. I have familial hypercholesterolemia. I’m unsure about the potential side effects of taking such a high dose.
I’m on 40 mg of Crestor and don’t notice any side effects.
Thanks! I should probably ask an AI or something, but they’re blocked at work.
It’s helpful to include the real name of any med (rosuvastatin in this case) for all the folks who don’t use or know the branded names of meds. Which includes most non-US folks too because the trade names are often different by country.
I went from 10 to 20 to now 40mg/day of rosuvastatin / Crestor (r). With no identifiable side effects other than decreasing LDL & total. Which is kinda the idea.
Yes, that’s the stuff, thanks!
It’s annoying to me that the doctor is treating me as though I’ve already had a heart attack (by trying to get my LDL below 70). My triglycerides, HDL, total, VLDL are all in the normal range (since I’ve been on rosuvastatin), and my LDL is at 100, just above the 99 considered normal.
He first tried to get me on that injectable stuff, in addition to rosuvastatin, but I didn’t want to have to start taking a every two-week injectable (on top of the every four-week one that I’m taking for something else).
Expanding my question (although I’m still interested in folks experience with higher doses), does my high calcium score really warrant this kind of aggressive treatment? I’m not overweight, I am in very good shape, don’t smoke, don’t drink to excess. Is he being overly cautious, or is this the right treatment (right = try and push LDL below 70 in this case).
If you’re diabetic, as I am, the recommended cholesterol numbers are a bunch lower than for normies. Hence my 40mg dosage.
Beyond that I’m not competent to offer anything ref your doc’s recommendations.
I’m not diabetic. I’m glad you’re not seeing any side effects at 40mg!
My calcium score was over 900, which really worried me. Given my age, medical history, and lack of heart attacks in my family, my cardiologist wasn’t nearly as worried about it as I was. Since I eat healthily, maintain a healthy weight, exercise daily, don’t drink, and don’t smoke, his advice was to keep doing what I’m doing. Apparently, having plaque build-up in your coronary arteries doesn’t necessarily mean you are due for a heart attack.
That’s where I am – no family history of heart attack, even through my grandparents, very active lifestyle, etc.
When I saw my cardiologist, he mentioned he had a patient who was 28 years old and had a calcium score of 24,000. That helped put things in perspective. He also told me that, given my age and familial hypercholesterolemia, he would have been surprised if I had a low calcium score and would have wanted me retested.
That’s encouraging. I wonder why my cardiologist is being so aggressive – maybe he’s just very risk averse.
My LDL was higher than my doctor liked on my dose of Lipitor/atorvastatin, but the studies seem to show that being on any dose of a statin is clinically so much better than not being on a statin it wasn’t worth playing with the dose. Losing the last 15 lbs after I added Ozempic for my T2D ended up bringing everything well into the normal range anyway.
I want to lose five pounds, but that’s all I really need to do. I’m already in the normal range.