Dr Amir Khan

Statins also stabilise these fatty plaques.

So there's less risk of them coming off, flying off and blocking something.

They can reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke by about 20-25%, which is a significant reduction risk.

And so I would say to patients, yes, if you can have a statin and you advise that you need a statin, go on a statin.

There's a lot of misinformation online about what they do and how harmful they are and actually what their safety profile is.

Their safety profile is really good.

Remember, we've got millions of people on these drugs.

So when you hear about, oh, I had these side effects, it's because there's so many people on them.

You don't hear about the people who are doing fine on them.

Yeah.

So proportionately, still, the side effects are pretty slim.

The most common thing we see is muscle aches with statins.

People get joint pains and muscle aches.

What I would say, yes, that is a real side effect of the statins.

But if that is you, don't just stop your statin.

Talk to your doctor or your healthcare professional about going on a different statin.

We've got a selection of them.

Some of them might cause muscle aches in you.

Some of them won't.

We just don't know how you'll respond to that particular statin.