Helllo ladies
So am feeling a bit worried. Just had the results of a blood test to be told by drs receptionist that it my cholestrol level is 6.8 which is very high and I can’t get a doctors phone appointment until 9th September!
I’m fit and healthy, eat a very healthy diet indeed, I don’t smoke and I’m not overweight but I have been on Anastrazole for 3 years and have read that this may be the reason?
Has anyone else experienced this and what did you do as I’m worried!
Thanks very much!
MM
xx
Hi MM
Raised cholesterol levels are a listed SE of anastrozole unfortunately. I have been taking it for 4 years and my levels rose from 4.3 to 6.5. I now take a low dose statin and levels have returned to normal and it seems impossible to reverse it by diet and exercise.Like you I am fit and run 5k daily etc. I was reluctant to take another med to address the problem but have had no SES from the lowest dose statin so maybe try it.
Best Wishes
Elaine x
Hello MM
Before being diagnosed with breast cancer last year I had been trying to lower my raised cholesterol level through diet. Those efforts rather went out the window when I had bigger fish to fry. Like you I am a healthy-eating, active non-smoker. Perhaps just a smidgen overweight! When I later realised that Anastrozole itself can cause elevated cholesterol levels I requested a blood test from the GP surgery. The onus for organising this seems to be very much in our court. There is little evidence of any joined-up thinking. I got the results of this today: 6.8 like you. The Nurse Practitioner I spoke to on the phone said this would give me a 10% increase in risk of a cardiac event over 10 years and NICE guidelines recommend I be offered statins. So I have a prescription for 20mg Atorvastatin. It will be interesting to see if I can distinguish the joint pain caused by Anastrozole from the joint pain caused by statins! If it proves to be too grim I’ll ditch the statins rather than the Anastrozole. But I’ll give it a try…
Pat x