Active Low-Carber Forums - Statins DO cause muscle damage

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- - Statins DO cause muscle damage (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=472900)

Statins DO cause muscle damage

http://www.statinnation.net/blog/20...amage-new-study

Quote:

For decades, many health authorities have played down or even ignored the muscle damage caused by statins. We are repeatedly told that the risk of muscle damage is low.
However, a new study conducted by the Cleveland Clinic that will be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, has again confirmed that large numbers of people do indeed suffer muscle damage due to statins. This study is unusual because it only included people who had previously reported that they are intolerant to statins - these people were given a statin or a placebo. The people who took the statin had a 61% increased risk of muscle damage compared with those who took the placebo.

Which shows that people do not just imagine the muscle pain, as has previously been suggested by statin supporters.

In response to the study Dr Steven Nissen, chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, said: "The study has important implications for both guidelines and regulatory policy, because it provides strong evidence that muscle-related statin intolerance is a real and reproducible phenomenon.”

72 million people are eligible for statins in the United States, 12-17 million people in the UK, and millions more in other countries. We already know that most of these people will not obtain any benefit from the statin - they are being exposed to significant adverse effects for no prospect of a health benefit. This latest study should prompt our health authorities to rethink the billions of dollars that are being spent on cholesterol-lowering.

However, unfortunately, this study is already being used to suggest that patients should simply switch to another, more expensive, medication. The study was funded by Amgen Inc., the maker of a PCSK9 Inhibitor - an injection that lowers cholesterol. These PCSK9 Inhibitors have been approved based on the dramatic reductions in cholesterol associated with them - despite that fact that low cholesterol is strongly associated with increased deaths from all causes.

As a reminder of this, please see the video excerpt below: (go to link above)

Versus the positive spin this same study is given by LATimes!

Even people with low risk of heart attack, stroke can benefit from taking statins, study says

http://www.latimes.com/science/scie...0714-story.html

Or as on CBS news last night.... Oh heck, yeah, the patients were right...there is muscle damage. But don't worry we have a new drug that doesn't cause damage..it just cost $14,000 a year.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-c...said-for-years/

They are often given to older patients. When they complain about muscles aches and memory problems, they are told what do they expect, they're old.

Infuriates me.

Many years ago I took Lipitor. I didn't know any better. It didn't cause muscle pain but it did cause severe disabling joint pain. I could barely walk up or down a flight of stairs. I stopped the Lipitor and the joint pain went away never to return. When I moved to the town I live in now I told my new doctor that there was no reason for me to get my cholesterol tested since I would never take a statin drug again. She suggested that there were other drugs I could try if need be. I just said "no". I continue to hold firm to this position and she no longer even suggests that I should go get my cholesterol numbers checked. Many people cave when their doctors insist. Luckily I am not one of them.

Jean

Quote:

Originally Posted by cotonpal

Many people cave when their doctors insist.

Many doctors cave when their patients insist!

Quote:

Originally Posted by WereBear

Many doctors cave when their patients insist!

That too unfortunately.

The Great Statin Con? New article by Dr Aseem Malhotra in the UK Huffingon Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-..._b_9607316.html

http://www.dietdoctor.com/great-statin-con

Just finished The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz, and from my knowledge there with the statin situation it all boils down to this:

Quote:

We are going to disrupt the most basic life-giving mechanism of the body to create a lab result which is supposed to lower your risk of a heart attack, based on a theory which has never been supported in over fifty years of research.

If they told the truth, would there be any takers?

Two more studies:

http://www.statinnation.net/blog/20...-againdestroyed

The Rationale for the Use of Statins is (again) destroyed.

Quote:

The diet-heart hypothesis (the basis for the introduction of statin medications) has again been annihilated by two recent studies.

For about the last 60 years we have been told that eating foods containing saturated fat raises cholesterol levels and this increased cholesterol level causes plaques to form in the arteries - referred to as the lipid hypothesis or the diet-heart hypothesis.

Meta-analysis after meta-analysis has failed to show any link between dietary saturated fat and heart disease. And people who have heart attacks have repeatedly been shown to have normal or average cholesterol levels - not high cholesterol. Now, two more studies have recently been published to yet again destroy the diet-heart hypothesis and the basis for the use of statins - which are estimated to be taken by 100 million people around the world.

The first study, published in the British Medical Journal, examined the validity of the diet-heart hypothesis by recovering and analysing previously unpublished data from randomised control trials. The study found that replacing saturated fat for vegetable oils did lower cholesterol levels, but this did not reduce the amount of heart disease or heart attacks. In fact, for each 30 mg/dL (0.78 mmol/L) reduction in cholesterol there was a 22% greater risk of death.

This fits with all of the other studies done around the world, going back more than 40 years now, showing that low cholesterol correlates with increased deaths from all causes - in particular, deaths from cancer and other diseases related to the immune system.... more

It's the Daily Mail, but still a good article.

Quote:

'Statins DO cause muscle pain - I've seen it first hand': Physiotherapist says the drugs affect some of her patients so much they're barely able to move
Sammy Margo is a chartered physiotherapist based in London
Says 40% of her patients who take statins suffer muscle aches and pains
Some suffer pains so badly they can no longer move -which is worrying
GPs often dismiss their concerns as drugs effectively lower cholesterol

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...-able-move.html

Comment in this article about increased muscle pain after changing to a cheaper brand. Which makes me concerned about statins coming off patent, manufacturing being switched to the overseas generic companies, and the big servies like CVS going for the absolutely cheapest provider.
I had an issue after tamoxifen manufacturers were switched, so am sensitive to the generic quality concerns. When even the patented brand name causes side effects, what might happen when Teva, Sun, and the like make them?

I have refused my doctor's suggestions to take statins and will continue to do so. Unfortunately, the damn things are still going to affect my health because it makes my 'blood boil' every time the doctor mentions it. :)

:lol: :lol: :thup: made my DH so upset, he is in search of a new doctor. Not easy but by virtue of our location around a 'Medical City' there is a chance. One being interviewed this week look promising from recommendations, but then his practice is all gun-ho on testosterone, hormones, longevity extension, and some other questionable MD offerings. Can never win ;)

And News Flash, oh how wonderful for the statin pushers, the FDA approved a Generic Crestor yesterday. Let's hand it out like candy :rolleyes: