https://inews.co.uk/news/health/sta...search-doctors/

Statin wars continue. I, masochistically, listen to Dr. Radio on Sirius/XM, and there's a radio show hosted by Interventional Cardiologist Fred Feit. He's firmly in the statin camp and takes them himself. Listening to this show, you would think that anyone not taking statins is in grave danger. His guests support the protocol and any study or report that is negative about statins is roundly criticized and debunked. If you were to get your medical knowledge from Fred, you'd be making an appointment with your GP or cardiologist to get some of that good stuff.

Yet, all this is based on the weak knowledge surrounding cholesterol and lipids in general regarding the role of lipids as a viable heart and vascular health marker. Some recent research has shown that older people have lower mortality rates with higher blood lipids, which is Malhotra's argument. This won't be settled soon, as it's obvious that the article referenced in "Health" confirms that the camps for and against statins are digging in and preparing for a long battle. This makes it tough on the public, as we continue to be required to be knowledgeable advocates for our own health. Many people are very uncomfortable in that role.

They had better get used to it.

Old pyramid vs keto. Vitamin D supplementation and sunscreen recommendations. Genetic mutation theory of cancer vs metabolic theory of cancer. Nutrition and its effect on mental illness.

That’s just off the top of my head. We live in very interesting times

Well, it would be nice if somebody unbiased actually analyzed all the data on adverse events in all the major studies. Unfortunately Professor Collins is not exactly an independent, unbiased, researcher! He is well established as a statin supporter so one has to wonder just how unbiased his analysis will be. What will he be willing to consider an "adverse event?"

My guess is that many many people who experienced adverse effects (such as severe muscle pain, lethargy, depression and mental fogginess simply dropped out of the studies) and therefore weren't counted as having experienced an "adverse event." If/when they reported such symptoms, their doctors discounted the symptoms as "normal symptoms of an aging population" and unrelated to the drug. I would imagine that one's motivation to keep reporting in to a medical study is likely to fall off if one starts feeling ill one's doctors keep saying that your aches and pains are "normal" and not a result of the medication...especially if you KNOW they're not normal!

So, when Prof Collins reviews the data, will study drop-outs be counted as potential adverse event sufferers? Or will they be ignored completely?

At the very least, the drop-out rates between those in the "intervention arm" of the study (i.e., those receiving statins) and those in the control arm of the study should be carefully compared. And if the drop-out rate is higher in the intervention arm, then ALL the extra drop-outs ought to be counted as potentially having dropped out because of some unreported adverse event.

But you kinda know that, as a proponent of statins, Prof Collins is probably NOT going to do that!

If Collins really wanted to help settle the issue regarding statin safety, seems to me that he would invite Dr. Malhotra or some other "statin denier" to review the data WITH him. And furthermore, the two of them would sit down together BEFORE looking at the data and agree on exactly what criteria determines an "adverse event" and on how to treat the study drop-outs.

Personally, I think the only way to get half-way real numbers would be to try and contact every participant who dropped out of the studies and ASK them why they dropped out. Then, based on the proportion of those contacted who report having dropped out because of some adverse event, assume that the same proportion of uncontactable drop-outs also experienced some sort of adverse event that never got reported in the original data.

But, even if Prof Collins is willing to do that, then there is the second issue. Will drug companies that have kept the raw data from their statin studies under lock and key for a quarter of a century actually turn over ALL data showing potential harm to Prof Collins unless they feel that he is clearly and safely "in their pockets?" I sincerely doubt they would share their data with him if they thought he was going to allow a reputed "statin denier" to look at it.

It seems funny to me that it is fairly widely reported that up to 50% of people who are prescribed a statin, STOP taking the drug within 6 months! Ya gotta wonder, why do so many quit!!! I mean, it's not particularly expensive. You would think if it weren't doing any harm, most people would keep taking the drug on the off-chance that it might do them some good.

I mean, look at how many people continue to take various vitamin supplements year-in and year-out on the off-chance that they might do some good and with the conviction that, at least they aren't doing any harm. Vitamins can be at least as expensive as statins... and aren't covered by insurance.

Do people in general quit taking their other prescribed meds at the same rate as they quit taking statins???

And, how many more people have a statin prescription, pick it up at the pharmacy but then flush it down the toilet rather than taking it; going thru the ruse because they don't want their doctors to write them off as difficult or non-compliant patients. .

Me? I don't care if the "standard of care" does become "everybody over age 75 gets prescribed a statin," I am NOT going to take any statin ever again. No way, no how, never again! And it's not because of Dr Malhotra and some other "statin deniers" has been telling me the the risks of a statin might outweigh the benefits. It is because I experienced - in my own body - that the risks definitely outweighed any possible benefit! And that was almost 20 years ago...before the internet was rife with warnings about statins.



As long as my insurance company doesn't insist that I take a statin or face higher premiums, I'll continue to be honest with my doctor. IF it gets to the point where one has to "be compliant" of face higher insurance premiums, then I'll take the prescription but toss the pills out.

My plan as well.

Be sure and take 'em in to be properly disposed of when you city has "excess medication" collection days. Otherwise all those statins being flushed down toilets will showing up in measurable quantities in our drinking water!

I had an adverse event about 20 years ago too. I stopped taking Lipitor and now I tell my doctor (different doctor) that I will never take another statin drug. In fact I don't even have the blood work done because I don't see the point. Lipitor gave me severe crippling joint pain that went away within 2 weeks of stopping the drug. The joint pain did not develop immediately but took many months to develop. It was a doctor who suggested I stop the Lipitor, that it was likely the cause of the pain. I would have never connected the 2 but clearly this doctor had seen it often enough for it to be the first thing she suggested I do. That was 20 years ago.

Still having a hard time accepting any health story that runs in the Daily Mail (however, they did feature Dr. Unwin in FeMail this week ), but they are back at it with statins, now blaming the patients.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...f-patients.html

Fortunately, I read Dr. "Spacedoc" Graveline, who had episodes of total global amnesia while on them. He also blames them for his ALS-like muscle disorder.

And this from a man who took them for less than a year.

Jean - Fortunately for me, my negative reaction to statins was almost immediate.

Within less than two weeks of starting the pills, I started having deep muscle pain and feeling unbelievably weak. At the time my office was on the 6th floor and, pre-statins, to avoid waiting for the elevator, I would regularly walk and down the 5 flights of stairs a couple of times every day. I felt strong and healthy, had not missed a day of work due to illness in years, was not taking any prescriptions of any sort and the only pills or supplements I ever took were aspirin and an occasional over-the-counter anti-histamine for allergies.

I started the statin and, almost overnight I suddenly found myself unable to walk a single flight of stairs with stopping to rest! Then it got to where I couldn't put on a pair of jeans while standing up. I just didn't have the necessary energy to balance on one leg and lift the other. One morning, I got down on the floor one day to look for something under my bed and had to call my husband to come help me get back on my feet! I couldn't summon the energy to stand up!

At first I thought maybe I'd come down with a bad case of the flu and would feel better in a few days. I called in sick. But, then the middle-of-the-night leg-cramps started... absolutely excruciating!!! I'd literally start shrieking in pain, so loudly that one night our next-door neighbor called the cops thinking that someone was being beaten to death! My inner thigh muscles would knot up to the point where it looked like a softball-sized chunk of muscle and flesh had been removed from from my leg! If I tried get out of bed to stretch my adductor muscles out, other muscles in my calves, ankles, feet and thighs would go into spasms. And about the time my husband would get the cramps massaged out of one leg, the other would start cramping. Neither of us were getting any sleep. This was definitely NOT the flu!

Since the ONLY thing different in my life were those danged pills, putting 2 + 2 together wasn't that hard... especially once I read the small print on the package insert and saw "muscle pain" as a possible side effect!

When my doctor had given me the script for the statins, I had been in the last month of my insurance year. I had had zero other prescriptions that entire year and on my insurance one pays an extra large co-pay for one's first script or refill each year. So to help me avoid paying that "first prescription" co-pay two months in a row, my doctor had given me a 30 day supply of samples from the drug rep. I ended up never filling the prescription he wrote for me. So, I know for a fact that I took the statins for something less than 30 days!

The overwhelming feeling of weakness started going away within just a few days of quitting the pills, although it took years - and discovering CoQ10 - before I was again able to walk up 5 flights of stairs! The insane, every-night cramping also began easing up almost immediately.

But I think the statins permanently damaged my body's ability to synthesize/use Vitamin D as I STILL get leg cramps (albeit, just "normal" ones) if I skip my 6000 iu/day dose of supplemental D3 for more than a couple of days in a row. Even with taking 6000 iu of supplement D3 everyday and eating plenty of foods that are naturally rich in vitamin D, my tested levels remain at the lower end of the normal range. Prior to taking statins my vitamin D levels were normal without any supplementation and the only time I had leg cramps were if I'd overdone it on exercise or let myself get dehydrated.

Now, whenever a doctor tells me (or anyone in my family) "I've got this new medication for you," we immediately ask: "What are ALL the potential side effects? What other treatment options do we have such as changes to our diet? And, what if we just don't do anything... how BAD would that be?"

Bevangel - My story is not quite as dramatic or painful but I was going in the direction of a serious disability. Because of the joint pain i was having I could only walk stairs like a toddler, a step at a time with two feet on each step holding onto the railing. Maybe joint pain isn't spoken of usually as a possible side effect because it takes some time to develop but, if I the connection between Lipitor and my joint pain hadn't been discovered, I would have ended up disabled if not in a wheel chair. This is a bad drug, although many people certainly take it without having such dramatic side effects. I take no prescription drugs now and I am hoping to keep things that way. Food certainly is my medicine which is as it should be. Food is what we eat to sustain our lives. It's really scary that less than 30 days of a statin has had a permanent effect on your health, and not for the better.

Maybe doctors are waking up to the possibility...
See: Statins and Joint Pain, 2008 article


That it is! At least I figured it out, quit the drug, and have pretty much found a way to counteract the lingering effects! As long as I take my vitamin D3 and CoQ10, I'm good! Granted, I wish there was some way to make Merck &Co, mfg of the Vytorin I took, pay for the CoQ10 I still need. That stuff is not cheap! But other than that, I'm good.

And you too have - I hope - pretty much recovered completely.

How many other people died? How many quit taking statins but still suffer painful lingering effects on a daily basis? And how many millions continue taking statins that may or may not be providing them with any benefit what-so-ever and blindly accept that their various ill-health issues are NOT in any way related to the statins they take? After all, all the scientific studies done by the drug companies "proved" that statins were "well tolerated."

But, of course, there is no way to ever PROVE that statins "caused" all our various issues. All we have are our individual anecdotes.

Still, the anecdotes keep on piling up...

I can remember my father developing what we thought was dementia (not Alzheimer's) and he started having a very difficult time getting around forced to resort to a cane after he had been taking statins. Now, he had a pacemaker for arrhythmia, so he was likely considered high risk given his conditions. The question remains, however, were his conditions and mental challenges accentuated by the statins he was taking? We'll never know, but the widespread acceptance, recommendation, and distribution of statins by the medical community is likely a root cause for many of the symptoms widely reported. Can't get his life back, but don't have to make the same mistakes myself with a pill that's so broadly recommended and so clearly misunderstood.

I had recovered completely within 2 weeks of stopping the Lipitor. I feel very fortunate.

My MIL died of ALS. Horrible disease. We believe her statin caused it.