Hello everyone, just thought I would share my experience with you…
In March 2024 I was on my own, walking my dachshund ruby in quite a remote area when I had a bilateral Cerebellum stroke and it was the most frightening moment in my life to date and I am still terrified of having another one. I was able to call for an ambulance, had a CT scan on admission which didn’t show any sign of a stroke so had no medical intervention at the time, only to find out after a delayed MRI 2 days later I had had this stroke.
I was prescribed clopidogrel and atorvastatin as routine and was allowed home after 2 nights in hospital. I was 56 at the time and to be honest overweight but my total cholesterol was 5 which I thought was good! I have lost 2 stone, changed my diet, don’t smoke or drink and now am physically back to normal, mentally not so good though!
I have struggled with side effects from statins since taking them (tried 2 so far, Atorvastatin and rusovastatin) but always been told by my cardiologist and doctor that I must stay on one as they are life saving so I am frightened of coming off them even though my cholesterol is at this time 4.2.
I understand that statins stabilise plaque build up, of which I don’t know if I have or not, so I am worried if I stop taking them I am putting myself at risk of another event. Can anyone relate to this dilemma or give me any advice or information on it because I really don’t know what to do!
Thank you, Karen👏
Hi @geranium56 Karen
Welcome to the community, I’m sorry to hear about your stroke. It sounds like a terrifying experience, being out on your own when it happened.
Great to hear you’ve made a good physical recovery. You could try reading some of the information on our website about the emotional side effects of stroke which may help you.
With regards to your medication, it’s always best to speak with a professional about these sort of things.
If you need anything whilst you’re using the Online Community, please don’t hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.
Anna
@geranium56 hi & welcome to the community. Sorry to hear of your bilateral stroke.
Statins and clopidogrel are the recommended medication following a stroke & the statins in a lot of cases are provided as a risk reducing measure. My cholesterol was high when I had my stroke (but not the cause of my stroke) and is now within normal ranges. I don’t have side effects I know of so am happy to keep taking them. There are others who have the complete oppoaite view. My advice is to talk it through with your dr as they will be able to explain the pros & cons which will be different for everyone. Ask them all your questions around it & talk through any reservations you have.
Good luck on your recovery journey.
Ann
I personally think you need to talk this through with your health provider so you get informed choices that you can person base your decision on maybe? I don’t have side effects and hubby is on statins too he’s been on them for years and doing ok.but like a poster said we all are different. I hope you get to the conclusive help you need with your health provider🥰
Hello Karen, @geranium56 and welcome to this community, where it is hoped you may find answers that you seek 
You may already have seen from other posts on this forum that the topic of statins comes up quite often and views vary as to whether they are good for you or not and importantly you have first-hand experience as you are currently using them as part of your post care plan.
Below is a screen print of the number of threads/posts available on the subject and I guess you may well have read some of these as you have been a member of this community for a good few months.
I would like to focus on the above paragraph from your post and see what might be possible.
Before going any further, I just want to make it absolutely clear, I am not a medical expert, and I am not even a stroke survivor. I am not offering any advice other than to say “listen to your body - your body always tells you what is happening with it”.
What follows, is my attempt to understand the situation you find yourself in and then to think what I might do if I was in that situation myself. So here goes …
It seems you have been experiencing side effects which you believe may be caused by side effects and whilst physically you feel you are back to normal, mentally you don’t feel so good.
To try and help you, it may be worth discussing with your GP and /or cardiologist raising your concerns. It is perfectly acceptable to go back to your GP and explain you are experiencing side effects and what can be done about it. It may be that they may offer you alternatives, or they may think it is OK for you to stop using the statins, though as I understand it this is unlikely as they always say it’s statins for life.
Personally, if I was you, I would like to have an understanding WHY I have been put on statins.
Was it determined that it was high cholesterol that caused your stroke?
If not and your cholesterol was normal (you mentioned it was 5) then there is a question to be answered: why is it necessary for you to be on cholesterol managing medication?
Another question I would ask myself would be how much benefit am I getting from using the statins? It’s a risk/reward question. Is the risk of taking statins (the side effects that are causing you concern) worth the reward of taking statins (reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke).
I would hope that by asking these questions (and further questions may arise from the answers you get) it may help you to move forward. The way forward may be to look for alternatives to the statins you are using now, stop taking the statins or live with the effects.
Karen, I hope this at least gives you something to think about.
Wishing you all the best.
Namaste|
