900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

ccc2009 — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:14:12 GMT

I am watch my 74 year old mother decline rapidly on Mevacor. It breaks my heart to watch these doctors do this to her. When I tell her the dangers of the drug she's on she just says her doctors say she must stay on it. Her ability to walk, talk and function normally are declining rapidly. Her family doctor sent her to a neurologist who is testing her for Huntington's Disease. Everything I've found on this disease does line up with her symptoms at all. Why do all these doctors turn their heads to the increasing evidence about these drugs? She was a very healthy woman until they put her on this statin and they can't put it together. Very Frustrating.

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

curious7 — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:51:41 GMT

Most of us here on this web-site understand the dangers of Statins. When questioning a Doctor treating a relative, I requested complete information as any and all side effects caused by the use of this drug. I informed the Doctor that I wanted to understand first hand what to look for in case negative symtoms occured. His retort was that I was frightening his patient. I insisted. While reading the paperwork provided several questions arose, I was given an answer to each and every one but I was asked to leave the area where other patients could overhear us. Of course my relative then had a few questions as well, which seemed to make the Doctor very angry. Questions such as what is an inflammatory body? How can one reverse this state of inflammation? Will I then need these drugs if I reverse the inflammatory state of my body? The Doctor either could not or would not answer all the questions. I also asked the dangers to my relative's liver and heart, and bones posed by these drugs, and the answer was anything but clear. Legal, or illegal drug trafficing hurts us all. There are no independant tests which the FDA will listen to, because they are so intune with BIG PHARMA. This and only this is the kind of garbage we will get should there become Universal Health Care in this nation. The things nightmares are made of.

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

Fred Potter — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:43:38 GMT

One thing concerns me. How well are CoQ10 supplements absorbed, and does it reach the mitochondria?

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

vince_203 — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:40:29 GMT

Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is missing the point . The main cause of heart disease is probably inflammation and statins probably work because they are powerful anti inflammatory so are omega 3 fatty acids .. LDL is essentially a irrelevant but easily demonized spectator who has been portrayed as the main villain but really is just a great marketing tool. A recent study Jupiter found that people with normal LDL levels but high inflammation benefited slightly more than expected. If you are not reducing inflammation while you are reducing LDL levels it is my opinion that you are accomplishing very little

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

ThomasT — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:33:08 GMT

and hundreds of studies show that .. as neither dietary nor elevated blood cholesterol causes heart disease, nobody should be on statins, period. Just a 24 billion $ scam

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

DLARAH — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:56:02 GMT

I read all the comments above, particularly the ones of wellmeaning doctors, however those doctors would do well to aquaint themselves with:

germannewmedicine.ca/.../intrognm.html , which is just an introduction to a completely new paradigm of medicine.

This new way of looking at the biology of the body, which also will show, that up to now, all the so called knowledge about how things function in the bodies of all animals and also in plants has been wrong!!! There are NO viruses; bacteria are our helpers to keep us healthy and once we lose the 'fear of god' we learned to live with all our lives, we will be able to work WITH nature instead of second guessing it. The firehose analogy is perfect for pointing to our collective folly!!!

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

BellaTobias — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 03:21:59 GMT

Dr. Mercola, Great, great reporting. I have researched statin poisons for three years now - began after my MI in 2006, at which time I was put on Zocor. Since that time, I've been giney-pigged on every statin currently FDA approved, and with all, had the same, severe side effects. For those of us that have done our research, at least we realize that cholesterol is not the enemy. I am currently using krill oil and fish oils, along with B6, B12 and Folic. None of these have side effects. Thank you for your site and your research.

Bella

ps - when I forward info like this to others, they truly are not getting it. The answer is the same - "I'm not having those side effects."

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

JoshandSarahsMom — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:43:07 GMT

I know I've posted this before, but I will always believe that years of statin use contributed to my father's death from "Mad Cow Disease". I have no proof, and can't really even find any information out there about how they could be related. But he was the picture of perfect health at age 60, except for having taken statins for at least a decade or more, I'm not sure. The last year of his life, he was having a lot of back pain and general muscular aches and pains. He started to go down mentally a month or two before he died. Then he was diagnosed with MCD, and was dead within weeks. I wonder if the statins lowered his immune system or did some kind of brain damage which allowed the MCD to occur? It was supposedly the "spontaneous" kind.

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

rowlady — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:45:55 GMT

I've enjoyed reading these comments, as I feel the conversations are valuable. I'm a 55 year old, very healthy vegetarian athlete. From the time I first had my cholesterol checked in 1978 until today my cholesterol has ranged from 265 to 345. The ratios are "OK." This is genetic, as my very healthy brothers also have high cholesterol. I've been using the dietary foods and suplements that supposedly lower cholesterol since the 70s with no more than a few points difference. Every two years I have a vascular screeining with ultrasound to detect any build up or blockages in my arteries. There is none. Last year I decided to try red yeast rice. After about 10 months I was having muscle aches and joint laxity. My research revealed that the natural statins present in red yeast rice can have the same side effects that synthetic statins do. A couple of months after discontinuing the red yeast rice I was back to my (relatively) pain-free self. I have decided (perhaps unscientifically) that for me cholesterol seems to be a positive. I will continue to use Omegas, CO-Q10, Steel cut oats, to exercise rigorously, to keep my stress down...but for now, my cholesterol is my pal.

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

azoom_20 — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:56:14 GMT

Any drugs have "side effects", because there are not natural in nature. Yet, "natural food" have also side effects.

I am 55 yrs old. I eat VERY healthy (Mediterranean style). Never eat junk-food, don't use any sugar, or almost no salt.

I exercise often (interval training), I am not fat, never smoked, yet I have high levels of cholesterol.

After more than 20 years of research, countless tests: "they" found that it was related to my family genes. So, I have "familial hypercholesterolemia."

I HATE drugs! So, I tried every natural ingredients I could find, from all over the world... name it, I tried it!

Oh, it lowered the "bad" ratios a little bit. Natural stuff didn't work. So about 6 years ago, I took 10 mg of Lipitor.

Lo and behold, it worked! My Trigl, were down, my LDL was well within range, etc.! I had no side effects.

A year ago, after listening and reading the Dr Mercola's of this world, I decided to stop using that drug, and try out if my system would remain "normal." Nope! It came back to higher levels. After discussion with my doctor, I took a CRP test (C-Reactive Protein), which came normal. He then sent me to do a complete and thorough heart exam. I did a rest cardiogram, an effort one on a threadmill, and I consulted an "expert cardiologist". I told him my "story". He told me that since I didn't have problems besides Chol-Trigl-LDL problem, then it would be my choice to go back to low dose of Lipitor, or not.

He told me that maybe I wouldn't have any problem by NOT taking the drug, yet I still had a 50-50 chance of having a real problem within 10 years. He said: "So, do you want to take that chance? Are you good at lottery?" (No, I'm not!)

Today, I have decided to go back to low dosage Lipitor.

Indeed, you are all right by saying that drugs are not the solution for 99% of the people, but there is still another 1% of us that can't do anything naturally to change things. After all, I can't fight with my own family genes!

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

DrMerv — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:41:07 GMT

Cholesterol is a non issue. We all need cholesterol for normal body functions. Inflammation is the BIG BAD issue. When we get jnflammation in our blood vessels it could 'eat' a hole in the vessel so we could bleed to death, so the body take fatty substances and minerals and forms a Patch-plaque over the spot to stop bleeding. When a piece of 'patch-plaque breaks off it can result in; a. a stroke when the piece goes to the brain, or b. a heart attack (coronary) if the piece goes to the heart. These attach are the result of loss of Oxygen. Also to big a patch-plaque can reduce or block blood flow, with same bad results. If one is one the right diet, take Protolytic Enzymes (adeguatel and proper) and omega 3 oils - inflammation is controlled and therefore basicall No heart attack or strokes. Many persons have low cholesterol yet have much patch-plaqueing and need 'heart bypasses'. Because INFLAMMATION' is the ISSUE.

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

Stang07 — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:05:11 GMT

As a physician assistant in family practice medicine, I consider the statins the most useless medications anyone can take. What do we have here? A mediciation that interferes with the normal function of the body. Are we more clever than mother nature? Lets look for the physiological cause of hyperlipidemia - hypothyroidism! But now we get into the argument of proper diagnosis - TSH, free T4, free T3, antibodies, etc... vs. symptoms and body temperature. I have at times considered getting out of traditional medicine because I am tired of prescribing these virtually useless medications, and it hurts my consicence. I have studied under Broda Barnes, MD, probably one of the world authorities of thyroid and other endocrine problems many years ago. The man was light years ahead of his time. Read his book - "Solved - The Riddle of Heart Attacks", and see why the lipids have very little to do with the development of atherosclerosis. The mucopolysaccharides are probsalby the main cause. These are glue-like substances that hold the tissues together. They are elevated in hypothyroidism, hold onto water which starts the arterial degeneration. This was determined probably 100 years ago. Just research the old medical literature - the answers are there! I have spent hours researching these papers. There are perhaps other things that may contribute to atherosclerosis - viral induced lesions of the endothelium, xanthene oxidase, homocysteine, free radical damage etc...Anyway, I do agree with dr. jimni and his comments in this blog.

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

Ray K — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:01:10 GMT

In Mercola's comment, he states in blue letters that "cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease." If that's so, then why does he go on to offer lifetyle suggestions for lowering it? What is so dangerous about cholesterol that he still feels it must be reduced?

Yes, I know that many holistic doctors view oxidized cholesterol as a problem. But it's not clear that any of his suggestions prevent cholesterol oxidation. He states that elevated levels of iron can cause major oxidative damage in the blood vessels, heart and other organs, but he hasn't stated that excess iron also increases cholesterol oxidation.

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

VB — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:43:00 GMT

Hmmm I am currently using statins on my doctors advice, Crestor 10mg (rosuvastatin) and Ezetrol 10mg (ezetimibe). I changed statins from Lipitor after I was overzealously presecribed 80mg a day (up from 40mg due to such "good success") which burnt my nerve endings in my hands. My doctor at the time said I was unlucky as the side effect was only found in 0.1% of patients prescribed with Lipitor. That was comforting! I now take 100mg of CoQ10 based on a radio doctors advice and I now see Dr Mercola recommends it as well or Ubiquinol (will need to read up on this), plus DrM's Krill tablets (2 a day). I still suffer from aches and pains including muscle cramps, lethargy and raised temperatures but I am a bit of a basket case as I take Effexor for depression and have sleep apnoea. I am 45 and it feels like male menopause! If I decide to go off my medication what should I monitor? and how will I do this if I go against my doctor?

re: 900 Studies Show Statin Drugs are Dangerous

joeday — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:06:55 GMT

I had carotid artery surgery and it cleared out the gook in those arteries. Was it necessary? Was some of that gook cholesterol? Does cholesterol cause strokes if not heart problems?