Comments on: The Truth About Statins

BusinessWeek And CBS News Examine Whether Statins Are Over-Prescribed

[bjmonihan]

Your first question should read "helps" avoid a heart attack, otherwise as it is written it sounds like those who maybe at risk all they need to do is take an aspirin and they''ll avoid one.

[broomxx]

To FloydZepp,

You are correct that Red Yeast Rice is effective in lowering cholesterol, since it contains lovastatin, which is the generic form of Mevacor. The problem is that it contains only about 1-2 mg of the drug per dose, whereas a dose of at least 20 to 40 mg is necessary to get the LDL cholesterol down enough to have a significant influence on risk. This has been demonstrated in numerous scientific studies. I realize that many laymen have an inherent fear and mistrust of prescription meds, but this is a case of simple misunderstanding. In order to get the benefit and risk reduction, you need to get the LDL level down to at least below 100, if not lower. Many people simply mistrust, but don''t really know what they are talking about. This is my field - I''m a cardiologist.

[lawyertom1]

Part 2 of 2. What concerns me is that a lot of folks are popping Rx in the hope that otherwise they do not have to change their seditary and fat-ingesting life style. Probably won''t do the trick. The low fat diet plus exercise provide so many other benefits that you should not think of them solely in terms of blood lipid related diseases. There is good, but not conclusive evidence, that you will help with stroke, dementia, cancer etc. etc. There is no free lunch (e.g., popping the statin), especially if you want to live a healthy, joyous, long-term life.

[lawyertom1]

Part 1 of 2. The issue is more complex than many comments indicate. Yes, you want to lower saturated fat in your diet. However, if you do not simultaneously lower total calories, the excess calories (from whatever source) will be stored as fat, thus causing problems. Exercise is good because it improves cardio-vascular health and burns calories. It also pays to increase fiber intake because fiber helps to capture bile (which is transporting various fats as it moves through the GI tract) and flush out the associated fats. Besides these measures, you should also consider taking niacin, a vitamin, but under a doctor''s supervision. The levels of niacin that help with lipids can, in some folks, cause problems (e.g., liver). So, you need to have various blood analyses run to make sure that niacin is not causing one problem while assisting with addressing another. Taking Omega-3 rich fish oil is another potential benefitial step that may help. If, and only if, all of these measures fail, then you might want to consider statins or other lipid related drugs.

[lf1952]

Clarification to my earlier post:
If Statins give you muscle pain, try taking Co-Q10 IN ADDITION TO THE STATIN to get the benefit.
This entire issue is media created hype. READ the data, not what people looking to get their name in the news say, which may not be what you think they said. Example: There is now clear evidence that people with heart failure also do better on statins - these people may, or may not, have coronary artery disease. We know if a patient has "acute coronary syndrome" they will do better WITH a statin, than without, REGARDLESS of their cholesterol.
Eating a low fat diet and doing aerobic exercise most days WILL lower LDL and raise HDL. A statin should NEVER, EVER be prescribed in PLACE of these. A statin should be prescribed IN ADDITION TO these. We now know that narrowing in the carotid and coronary arteries are IMPROVED by achieving LDL 60. Almost no one can do this without a statin. PLEASE SEE YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE YOU STOP A STATIN!! This is as close to a cure for vascular disease as we have!!
If you have ANY vascular disease and are NOT on a statin, PLEASE see a doctor. If you are a diabetic and not on a statin, SEE YOUR DOCTOR.
These are VERY safe and effective drugs, regardless of the hype. I have prescribed statins since they were still research drugs - I have never, ever seen a dangerous side effect except in ONE heart transplant patient - one of the first ever treated with statins - and he did fine with treatment.

[nevadan2]

re: Why not just NOT eat saturated fats? posted by George 2221

In "The Great Cholesterol Con" Colpo presents very clear data that shows that saturated fats have never been a problem - polyunsaturated fats of the Omega 6 variety and transfats are a couple of fat culprits and these come mostly from grain based oils (e.g. corn, safflower, sunflower, soy seed oil) which are widely used in the fast food industry.

This book also discusses what the actual known causes of heart disease are: stress, high blood pressure, lack of exercise, overweight, high insulin levels, etc. Most of these can be corrected without any help from Big Pharma.

[nevadan2]

Another great read: "The Great Cholesterol Con" by Anthony Colpo (be carefule as there is another lesser book with the same title. Colpo reviews the very same published papers that are quoted to promote the cholesterol con and finds that very often the actual data/results don''t match the "Conclusion" section. It seems that very few in the medical profession have time to read anything but the "Conclusion". His book is a couple of years newer than the other good book recommended above by Uffe Ravnskov who writes the introduction to this book.

[jerr11]

Statin drugs are a scam.

Check out "The Cholesterol Myths" by Uffe Ravnskov. I got my copy on Amazon.

[lf1952]

There is no question that (at least some) statins reduce "cardiovascular events" - heart attack and stroke. There is very solid evidence that every diabetic fits into the "high risk" category. It is important to realize that statins show clear protection, but drugs such at Zetia and Tricor only have been shown to change cholesterol numbers and everyone "thought" that would make the same changes in outcomes that statins had - data says they don''t so far.
Most patients will muscle pain from statins can take OTC Co-enzyme Q10 ~150-200mg and get all the benefit of statin without the side effect.
The anti-inflammatory benefit of statins is likely to be the main thing that provides protection, NOT the absolute cholesterol number change. Many patients who have never had a heart attack, but have diabetes, increased carotid intimal thickness or other "markers" for coronary disease NEED to be on statin. Be sure YOUR statin has OUTCOME data that it makes plaques shrink and that it reduces heart attacks and strokes. It could be actively dangerous to stop a statin - TALK to your health care provider before even considering doing so. BTW, contrary to one post, physicians do NOT make money on drugs they prescribe.

[estabwary]

If you really want some eye opening info, look up what effect statins have on the CQ10 levels of muscle. Your heart is a muscle. IMO, that''s the real untold story.

[grazinggoat]

The doc''''s all get money from the pharmacy companies for prescribing these meds right!
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Posted by swwils at 08:25 PM : Jan 17, 2008

-I doubt it! Specialists (Speakers) do, in order to influence the General Practitioners. Obviously Pharma do clinical research, with Placebo in place. When a clinical research has been proven positive (with the active ingredient-medication) in the first significant perido of time, the study is stopped pretending harm to be avoided to those patients taking the placebo and they are given the active medication.

The initail conception of the study often needs a certain time before significant differences in trends are observed. What if heart medication were similar to antibiotics (which are developed resistence by germs), may develop a tolerence to disease, past this period of time... heart diseases being a continuous process in which the heart functions worsen with time and ageing, despite medications!

[jsilver2th]

As a former Lipitor user, I believe for me it was a painful mistake, like all "medications" read the labels, warnings, and side effects.

[j62kd4b]

Statins do affect women as frequently as men - muscle deterioration of the leg muscles is very common - when I realized my muscle decline, my doctor to THIS DAY says I imagined that I could not LIFT MY LEG or foot - my HDL which was to benefit from 5 different statins over 5 months, LOWERED from 41 to 31 - 3 days after THROWING AWAY ALL MEDS MY HDL was 37 and 6 MONTHS LATER I REGAINED FULL USE OF MY LEGS - yes, I used a Sports Club & swim frequently I am not a STAYABED!

[godofredo29]

rhabdomyolysis

[godofredo29]

One word: rhadomyolysis. That "rare but serious side effect" they talk about is not that rare, especially for guys.

[prinzowhales]

Just statins? Dr. Leonard Horowitz has a tape of the leading vaccination scientists of the day admitting that they knew the cancer-causing virus, SV40 was in the polio vaccines...that they brought AIDS into the country and are essentially the scum of the earth... If it were not for the calming effect of the Fluoride Americans swill in their water, dental care products and psychotropic medications the trees would probably already be decorated with the dirtbags from Big Pharma and their trained monkeys at the FDA.

The first formulation of Vioxx contained CoQ10... they took it out...show d*mn good and well they knew about the depletion problem and decided tens of thousand dead Americans would be good for the undertaking business...''help "grow" the economy...''

[swwils]

The doc''s all get money from the pharmacy companies for prescribing these meds right!

[clovisbuford]

Not that I am all that fond of the drug industry ,but seems to me jacob marley is on a roll on this coq 10 thing . Is he a nutritional supplement salesman , rival drug product? His posts almost seem of the rabid ron paul fan genre , flood the comments section ,because you obviously have the answer and eeryone else should bask in your brilliance.

[mjennys-2009]

The one think that was forgotten is statin drugs affect the heart muscle and one should take a cq10. The cq-10 strengthens the heart muscle where the statin drug breaks down the heart

[jacobmarley3]

Statin Adverse Effects: Implications for the Elderly
The Geriatric Times
by Beatrice A. Golomb, M.D., Ph.D.

http://www.cmellc.com/geriatrictimes/g040618.html

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Docs often write off patient side-effect concerns
Source: Drug Safety, 2007; 30: 669-75

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20479490/

"In a survey of 650 patients, taking cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins, who reported having adverse drug reactions, many said their physicians denied that the drug could be connected to their symptoms, Dr. Beatrice A. Golomb of the University of California at San Diego and her colleagues found."