High cholesterol is a huge problem in America today, but are the statin drugs used to control high cholesterol potentially dangerous? Could these medications pose a health risk to cancer patients?
BY Bonnie Annis
PUBLISHED March 24, 2018
Bonnie Annis is a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed in 2014 with stage 2b invasive ductal carcinoma with metastasis to the lymph nodes. She is an avid photographer, freelance writer/blogger, wife, mother and grandmother.
I never thought I'd be diagnosed with high cholesterol, but at my recent checkup, the primary care physician shook his head while reading my blood work. "It seems your bad cholesterol, your LDL, is high.
I was unfamiliar with LDL cholesterol and asked the doctor for an explanation. He took time to explain we have two kinds of cholesterol in our bodies: the good kind, HDL, and the bad kind, LDL. LDL cholesterol, he explained, can begin forming in our bodies when we are children. As the levels increase, they can cause sticky plaque that adheres to the walls of our arteries. This is extremely dangerous because it can lead to impaired blood flow and can contribute to heart attacks or strokes. The more he shared, the more concerned I became.
At the end of my appointment, I was handed a prescription for the statin drug, Atorvastatin. I knew a little about it because my husband had been put on the medication several years earlier when his levels had skyrocketed. The medication had helped and within a short period of time, bringing his LDL levels within a normal range.
At the end of my appointment, I was handed a prescription for the statin drug, Atorvastatin. I knew a little about it because my husband had been put on the medication several years earlier when his levels had skyrocketed. The medication had helped and within a short period of time, bringing his LDL levels within a normal range.
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