statins

[bronte]

Hi ive been on statins for high cholesterol for a few years but im now worried as ive read that they can cause certain cancers particulary breast in post menopausal women.Ive been looking in to this and apparantly its true ive come off mine and saking plant sterol supplements until i get in to disguss it with the doctor

[KeeKee]

I guess that's the same as hormone replacement also causing breast cancer in rare cases. Doesn't mean it will, it a pros/cons situation.

[PASchoolSyndrome]

Please talk to your doctor before stopping any medication. The benefits may way outweighs the risks.

And I can't speak for statins, but as KeeKee said birth control increases your risk of breast cancer.. Maybe. And if it does, which they haven't found a correlation with the new lower dose estrogen pills yet, your risk may have gone up from 1% to 2%. Keep all of these relative statistics in mind before reading something that says "your risk increases by half!".

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your issue.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

[panic_down_under]

Hi ive been on statins for high cholesterol for a few years but im now worried as ive read that they can cause certain cancers particulary breast in post menopausal women.

Is this about the paper by McDougall JA, from 2013? If so, this contradicts many papers written before and since which found statins reduced cancer risk, including breast cancer.

It's unwise to make medical decisions based on one study. You also need to weight the benefits against the risk. You could be at much higher risk of heart attack or stroke than you are of breast cancer. I think you need to discuss this with your GP asap. You could be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

[Magic]

I have been taking statins since 1998. They can course muscle pain, I left them off for a while a few years ago, but I am back on them.
I know a healthy diet is good, but sometimes I dig in to anything.
Panic down under is quite right.