Dr. Mercola February 19 2008 87,668 views
Statins, a popular set of drugs used to lower cholesterol, can result in muscle weakness and pain, and even debilitating and life-threatening muscle damage. A new study offers the first evidence that a gene known as atrogin-1 plays a key role in statin-related muscle toxicity.
Statins such as Lipitor, Zocor, Pavacol and Mevacor lower cholesterol by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, a key enzyme in cholesterol synthesis. But they may also activate the gene atrogin-1 gene, which plays a key role in muscle atrophy.
Three separate tests showed that even at low concentrations, statin drugs led to atrogin-1 induced muscle damage. As the concentration was increased, the damage increased as well.
Statins, which are a class of drugs used to lower your cholesterol, are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the world, and I believe, one of the most unnecessary drugs there is.
With at least 12 million Americans taking statins, and experts' recommendations that another 23 million “should” be taking them, it's important to remain educated on this issue. Especially since statin drugs are linked to many, many dangerous side effects.
Are the Benefits Worth the Risks?
There are several different statin drugs currently available on the U.S. market. If you, or anyone you love takes any of these drugs, I highly recommend you review their prescribing information by clicking on the drug brand below. These “package inserts” will also tell you some (but surely not all) of the most common side effects associated with them.
Statins have been known to cause muscle weakness and pain, but no one knew exactly why. This latest study sheds some valuable information on the subject and adds to your arsenal when discussing whether or not you really need to be taking a statin drug with your doctor.
There are a small group of people with genetic enzyme defects that have cholesterols levels above 325-350. These are about the only individuals in my experience, who seem to benefit from statins. In my clinical experience over more than two decades and thousands of patients, there have been a grand total of three patients that required statins to control this genetic problem.
One thing is for sure. You should NOT ignore these symptoms, as they can deteriorate into even more dangerous conditions, including death. For example, Bayer's statin, Baycol, was pulled from the market in 2001 after 31 people died from rhabdomyolysis, a condition in which muscle tissue breaks down resulting in kidney failure.
Other serious and potentially life threatening side effects include, but are not limited to:
Why Statins are One of the Most Unnecessary Drugs in Medicine
Statin drugs work by preventing the formation of cholesterol, and reduce LDL cholesterol, which is considered the "bad" cholesterol.
There is no argument that these drugs do work very well at lowering your cholesterol levels. However, they in no way, shape or form, treat the cause of your problem. They are nothing more than a potentially toxic band-aid.
So just what is the problem with statins, and why don’t you need them to manage your cholesterol levels?
Well, first of all, you need to understand that there is no such thing as “good” or “bad” cholesterol. Both HDL and LDL cholesterol perform vital functions in your body, which is why it’s actually dangerous to bring your LDL levels down too low.
HDL (high density lipoprotein) and LDL (low density lipoprotein) are actually proteins that transport the cholesterol to and from your tissues. Cholesterol in turn is a precursor to steroid hormones. For example, you can’t make testosterone or estrogen, cortisol, DHEA or pregnenolone, or a multitude of other steroid hormones that are necessary for health, without cholesterol. Even more importantly, you can’t make new cell membranes without cholesterol.
So, the major reasons your body makes cholesterol in the first place, and why you have LDL, is to take the cholesterol to the tissue so you can make new cells or repair old damaged ones.
However, there are different sizes of LDL particles and it’s the LDL particle size that is relevant. Unfortunately, most people don’t hear about that part, and very rarely, if ever, get it tested. Naturally, the drug companies really don’t want you to know that part of the science, because it would severely limit the number of people going on cholesterol-lowering drugs, since statins do not modulate the size of the particles.
The only way to make sure your LDL particles are large enough to not get stuck and cause inflammation and damage is through diet. In fact, it’s one of the major things that insulin does. If you eat properly, which is really the only known good way to regulate LDL particle size, then it does the right thing; it takes the cholesterol to your tissues, the HDL takes it back to your liver, and nothing gets stuck causing damage.
The second thing you need to know is that statins work by reducing the enzyme that causes your liver to make cholesterol when it is stimulated by high insulin levels. Again, you can achieve the same, or better, result by simply reducing your insulin levels by eliminating sugar and most grains.
Additionally, statins are non-specific inhibitors of not just one, but a number of very important liver enzymes. For example, not only do they block HMG coenzyme A reductase, they also block Coenzyme Q10.
CoQ10 is a vital enzyme that your body needs for energy and cardiovascular health. It is widely recommended to repair heart damage, boost the function of the heart and acts as a protectant against heart attacks and valve damage. Additionally, CoQ10 has been shown to be beneficial in heart and lung cancer, as well as maintain cognitive function. Thus, when you take statins your production of this enzyme is dramatically depleted and you do not reap the health benefits associated with it.
What’s the Best Way to Normalize Your Cholesterol?
Just about every person, other than the tiny minority with the genetic enzyme defects mentioned above, can normalize their cholesterol levels with the Total Health Program, which includes modifying your eating habits based on your body's unique nutritional type.
If you truly want to normalize your cholesterol levels, following these simple lifestyle changes can get you there:
The pen is mightier than the sword, it’s said, and one of my goals is to send out the message that statin drugs are clearly not the weapon of choice for high cholesterol. I urge you to share this information as well, by forwarding this article to your friends and family.
More scientific sophistry: “We learned that atrogin-1 is rapidly turned on in wasting muscle.” In other words the wasting precedes the expression of atrogin-1 and not the other way around. The wasting caused by statins is caused by lack of cholesterol. Baby muscle cells need cholesterol to grow and divide. Old muscle cells die off, and with no means of replacing them the muscle then atrophies. Atrogin-1 may speed the process, but in the case of statins is probably a red herring. And sure enough – having looked at the full study my suspicions are entirely founded. Cue another drug.
“Our results suggest that other agents that increase PGC-1a action or activity, for example, metformin, might be useful in preventing or countering the detrimental effects of statins in muscle.”
Metformin causes hypoglycemia? Where did you find that? Golly, that would explain a lot, though...
WHAT!?!What has happened to our most knowledgeable science writer?
GammaGirl is a specialist whose expertise is one of a kind - on this site or anywhere. Her experience coupled with her biting wit are two reasons that keep people coming back to this site. She could not possibly have done any of those behaviors of which she stands accused.
Her de-activation is an outrage.
I'll second Islander's comments. Something very evil is going on here at mercola.com For a site espousing freedom in our food and environmental choice, alternative health, supporting Ron Paul etc, censorship is alive and well. Another great loss to this site, for what? I know what PPARGammaGirl writes and I also know that she has not done anything warranting this!
Unfortunately she chose to actively solicit people privately to partcipate in other blogs and keep them out of Vital Votes. This is a violation of our terms of service.
Dr. Mercola, I'm sorry but that's baloney. PPAR posted here frequently and knewledgeably. As active as she was, what would make you think she was trying to keep people AWAY from this site. I'm absolutely appalled at this statement!!!
Dr. Mercola, I belong to at least 5 nutrition groups, another forum and visit multiple other alternative sites daily. Does this mean I'm violating your terms of use? This whole mess is beyond ridiculous. And why was Islander deactivated?
Doctor Mercola I AM SHOCKED!!!
How do you know what people do in their private lives? Are your friends at Google hacking Gmail accounts or what?
I have to agree with Patty. GammaGirl has been a valuable and enthusiastic contributor to this site for over 18 months. To think that she attempted to "keep people out of Vital Votes" is preposterous. As far as participation in other blogs is concerned...as far as I know, we can still exercise our First Amendment rights to surf the 'Net and participate where we choose.
Something is very wrong here. I think, Dr. Mercola, you may have been ill advised.
Dr. Mercola, you have been given wrong information. I e-mail GammaGirl daily and she has done no such thing. You are welcome to contact me.
I would respectfully ask you to reconsider your decision.
Dr. Mercola...I have a question for you...if you dare answer. IF PPAR was doing any such thing how would you know? Have you illegally hacked into out email accounts to see what is being said? Your statement smacks of violation of the first amendment except for the fact I doubt any such thing happened. I dare say your new master user passed you some false information to cover his butt on what he was doing? What's your excuse for deactivating Islander?
RE: PPAR GammaGirl: This is nothing but fiction. Keep people out of VV? I could stand on a street corner and plead with the 59,000 people who have viewed this page to never return, and I might as well give away my nose for a whistle. Further, I can find no loyalty oath in the Terms of Service. In my private life I am free to visit any health & wellness site on the ‘Net and to recommend the better ones to others. Attempting to exert this kind of control over some of your more active and educated members indicates an insecurity on your part - not a violation on ours.
Much of life is about image. I don’t think the image you are creating, Dr. Mercola, is the one you want to perpetuate.
Islander I think you must be psycic - because you have (far more eloquently than I could express) echoed my thoughts exactly. The image is now indisputably tarnished - the Emperor has exposed his nakedness and lost a good deal of credability in the process. I have followed GammaGirl's comments (especially as she is another New Zealander), for some time now and cannot believe what Mercola says - sigh, I'll probably be banned for saying that too. I am VERY disillussioned with what seems to be happening here. Dr Mercola you say you want people to be "informed" about there health but then you go and employ all the same tactics of the people you criticize - doesn't that make you the worst kind off hippocrite?
Dr. Mercola owns this website, doesn't he have the right to do with it as he pleases. Besides, he's paying for every kilobyte of information that we post on here.
I apologize for the confusion regarding PPARGammaGirl and Islander. I was given some information that I believed warranted their removal at the time; however, after more detailed investigation it has been made clear to me that the decision to do so was in error.
I have reinstated their access, and sincerely value their steady contributions to Vital Votes.
Vital Votes was created in order for you to be able to post how are able to take control of your health, and help others to take control of theirs.
It was originally designed as a safe haven to share valuable information and as a place where minds could gather to discuss health and other topics. I encourage this to continue happening. Thanks to all of you faithful readers.
Dr. Mercola, as I have been one of the mouthiest protestors, I just want to say thank you for reconsidering.
Dr. Mercola, thank you for re-examining the information and the re-instatement of GammaGirl and Islander.
Thank you, Dr. Mercola, for the wisdom to re-evaluate your decision and the grace to apologize publicly.
My total cholesterol used to range between 85 and 100 because my LDL cholesterol was about 15 to 20. I grew up with it that way and have no evidence of muscle wasting, so is it really the lower cholesterol causing the muscle wasting or is it the drugs? Granted, I didn't feel all that great with that low of cholesterol and have taken steps to remedy it. I have raised my LDL cholesterol to about 35 or 40, so I do feel much more energetic. Triglycerides were equally low ...about 10 before and now up to 35. Obviously my HDL cholesterol was fairly high, 75 to 80 then and now is 85 to 90.
My questions are: How low is too low for a healthy level of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and what is too high of a level for HDL cholesterol?
An anesthesiologist who shops at my store told me that the statin drugs were the worst class of drugs "out there." He also informed me that they lower cholesterol and cause heart attacks.
That's probably the punch line to a joke at the FDA Comedy Club.
I couldn't begin to tell you how many customers have told me that they quit taking one statin or another due to the muscle aches they got from them.
On an barely related subject, one day almost two months ago as an experiment, I took 400 mgs of CoQ10 to see if it would give me more energy. I'd been needing to walk with a crutch due to old broken bones in my back since infancy that had finally caught up with me. So I was really dragging.
Lo and behold, from the very first day of daily doses to my utter surprise, my nerve pain dropped about 90%! I haven't used the crutch since. It seems to be working for others I've recommended this to as well.
If you have nerve pain, maybe this will work for you, too.
Kelley