Hello Doctor, I am 44. I prefer healthy life and all nice in terms of health, except that I was suffering from gastric issues, IBS and related issues. I had covid also in April 2021 and somewhere in Oct 2021, i started feeling anxious and all negative thoughts. In about Aug 2021, i noticed that my heartbeats is high than normal, which initially i tried to control with routine meditation. But somehow, was not feeling that well from within and mind was like getting anxious, as if , something is happening which i could not understand, what. I visited to MD - Medicine, in Oct 2021. As a process, the vitals were taken and BP reading was taken which was 145/90. The concern MD, which after going through the reading, did not tagged me as BP patient and advised me to have changes in lifestyle with yoga, walking, meditation and dietary changes. I throughly followed the advised and started feeling better from Jan 2022 onwards and it was all nice.
Again from Sep 2022 onwards, i started feeling the same issues. And i visited the MD in Oct 2022. From Nov 2022, he put me on 25mg dose of beta-blocker , daily in the morning after breakfast. While, i was on beta-blocker, i was still not feeling that nice from within and i unilaterly took the decision to go for complete blood tests in Nov 2022 end. The results were,
- Lipid profile - was disturbed.
- Sugar : I was in pre-diabetic range.
- Uric Acid : I was on borderline high.
I visited the MD with the report and he add another dose of 10 mg of Statins from Dec 2022 onwards. I followed the medication along with dietary changes, yoga & meditation routine and took the tests in Jan 2023, which shows the results as under,
- Lipid : Normal
- Sugar: I was back to Non-Diabtic range from pre-diabetic.
- uric acid - normal.
And all other parameters improved too like Hemoglobin - 15 and all other paramters of cbc was normal, thyroid - normal , Liver function - normal - when certain times SGPT was bit on higher sides, but normal in this report.
With this report the MD stopped the statin drug from Feb 2022 onwards and advised me to continue with beta-blocker of 12.50 mg instead of 25 mg. I followed the same routine for full Feb 2022 and again took the test in March 2023, and results were as under,
- Sugar : non-diabetic
- all other paramters - normal
- Lipid - Not normal.
So again from March 2023, the MD started with the same statin dose of 10 mg and beta- blocker of 25 mg.
I took the test in April 2023 and again the reports were normal, so now, again he reduce the statin dose to half ie 5 mg and continued with the same dose of beta-blocker 25mg.
My questions:
1. AT present, i follow proper diet schedule as prescribed by dietcian , have been doing meditation and yoga on regular basis.
2. Stress level is minimum.
3. I am feeling overall better.
4. BP levels are always normal
5. Gastric issues, IBS seems to have gone.
6. Sleep patern is improved.
My question:
a. I feel, in the next visit the MD may stop the statin. Can the lipid profile remain in normal range , when i am follwing all diet patterms , with yoga and exercise. Why the lipid profile became abnormal, previously even when i was following all routine very property ?
b. Is it okay to consume beta - blocker 25mg regularly, even after doctor told me to stop statin or may stop my statin in next visit?
c. Is there any way to know, to find, if i am feeling better normally or due to medicine? as i am feeling normal and unable to check, what after i stopped beta-blocker?
Any other care which i should take and lead a healthy life.
Ans: Hello. These are good questions and a lot of people go through the same stages. Cholesterol levels are generally genetically determined and don't change much from dietary or lifestyle changes. It can be reduced by medications. However if it is the only risk factor for heart disease/stroke, then it need not be corrected unless it is very high, LDL> 160. On the other hand the B blocker, if it was taken only for BP, may be stopped if BP comes down and remains normal. A closer monitoring may be required for that. If BP stays normal or low on taking the medicine, reduce the medicine and recheck, if it still stays low or normal, stop and see. Take it slow.