Statins cause heart failure - British Heart Fou...

British Heart Foundation

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Statins cause heart failure

fergusthegreat profile image
27 Replies

I just read a link on one of the posts about statins quoting a report from 2015 and published in the Clinical review of Pharmacology .

It states that statins can cause heart failure by damaging the heart muscle.

Does anyone know if this is true as it's very concerning if it is.

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fergusthegreat profile image
fergusthegreat
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27 Replies
Lezzers profile image
Lezzers

All meds carry risks, my husband has been on statins for years they didn't cause his HF, his HA did that.

in reply toLezzers

Exactly Lezzers. I've been on Simvastatin 40mg for years. Regularly checked by the Doctor mind so that's ok with me.

Fortepiano profile image
Fortepiano

This was a fake news link posted 3 times now by Londinium. Harumi Okuyama is a pharmaceutical scientist who is one of the 127 odd members of THINCS , the anti cholesterol anti statin group founded by Ravnskov, a retired nephrologist. THINCS is the source of virtually all the cholesterol hypothesis is wrong / statins are the devil's seed and cause cancer etc fake news that appears on the internet. As needs to be repeated endlessly, no reputable scientific bodies accept this stuff. But of course this is because the AHA ESC, BHF all academic cardiologists etc are all corrupt and this little group knows the TRUTH! Okuyama has written a lot in this vein accompanied by the usual THINCS suspects, Ravnskov, Kendrick et al. The European Atherosclerosis Society recently issued a position statement on cholesterol, but Okuyama thinks they're all wrong too.The Clinical Review of Expert Pharmacology despite its name is a very minor low-grade journal. This is an just a 4 year old opinion piece devoid of evidence. It has had absolutely no credence in the scientific community.

The conspiracy theorists on here swallow the THINCS line that everyone but themselves has got it wrong, the AHA and every scientific body are corrupt etc etc.

Or instead you can recognise that in science consensus rules, and the vast number of scientists, academic cardiologists etc who roll their eyes when THINCS is mentioned are correct.

Whenever a link is posted here I would look very carefully to see if it comes from a reputable source and who the author is ( and indeed who posted it as a few posters spend all their time disseminating this sort of stuff! ). As Michael's original post about fake news showed, this misinformation is dangerous.

Jack2019 profile image
Jack2019 in reply toFortepiano

go back a few generations and learn what the whole scientific community was recommending to help patients. Outliers of the time, researchers , Doctors and Ancel Keys (not a doctor) managed to change conventional medicine with their research. The very nature of advancement in science depends on outliers and researchers to assume we got it wrong and push forward with new findings. And research has definitely advanced since the cholesterol theory was established.

Fortepiano profile image
Fortepiano

Miller and Sherif may be perfectly good surgeons but they hold maverick views on cholesterol and statins that are not accepted by the mainstream medicine - their views are fake news indeed. Miller is a full-blown THINCS member, Sherif is against prescribing statins to healthy people as a preventative but even he accepts their role in people with heart disease ( i.e. most of these foum members).

Your last link which you are posting for the 4th time is the one by another THINCS member, Okuyama, which I have already dealt with.

References mean absolutely nothing when the citing paper is poor.

I am sure you have an endless number of internet links in store for us, but the fact remains, these are the views of a few maverick individuals, which have not been accepted by mainstream medicine - there are thousands of papers on statins, and the expert committees who form cardiovascular guidelines look at the totality of the evidence and update their guidelines accordingly. They remain completely unconvinced by this sort of stuff.

Posing 10 fake news links in a thread - is this a record?

fergusthegreat profile image
fergusthegreat in reply toFortepiano

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question and having just read an article in the European cardiology review stating the mortality benefits of statins for patients with diastolic heart failure I think I shall continue with mine.

However I might start taking a Coq-10 supplement as well.

Prada47 profile image
Prada47 in reply tofergusthegreat

Hi Fergus

Good reply and for the record I will continue to take mine

Lezzers profile image
Lezzers in reply toPrada47

And I shall make sure my husband continues to take his......he always does as he's told!!!

Fortepiano profile image
Fortepiano

Yes, anti statin conspiracy theorists are often anti vaxxers.

Fortepiano profile image
Fortepiano

Of course I'm never going to convince a conspiracy theorist who believes mainstream medicine is fake. Perhaps you should note your belief in your posts, so people are aware of that bias. I can happily say I am biased in favour of mainstream medicine which has saved my life and that of my husband a few times, and of course biased in favour of that backbone of mainstream medicine and indeed all science, the scientific consensus.


It didn't take long for Galileo's views to become the scientific consensus. You are presumably referring to the catholic church, who do not now claim medical expertise!

I'm off now, so do feel free to post another lot of links.

Fortepiano profile image
Fortepiano

No, just not surprised - it's a common conspiracy theory combination. I think the troll is the person who has joined the BHF site purely to pursue an anti statin pro cholesterol agenda whch is directly opposed to the BHF advice.

My doctor did nothing . But I've always had a healthy diet before it was in the mainstream to do so. I also used to exercise . And I don't smoke or drink ! I know people who smoke a lot , drink a lot , eat junk food and have no health issues whatsoever. Lol! Lucky them!

I have a very strong family history of heart disease from both parents. ( Who also had healthy lifestyles!) . So in my case Genetics play a huge role.

I know nothing about Triglycerides at all . So thank you for all that information , I will definitely look into it.

I'll watch 'The magic Pill ' and will look out for the docu 'Fat' . Thanks again for that .

IMO There's no harm in thinking 'outside of the box ', in fact it's beneficial . I don't know why some people get defensive and angry when people voice opinions that are outside the mainstream of everything that we've been told. Surely we learn by exchanging ideas and opinions!

Jack2019 profile image
Jack2019 in reply toNomorechocolate23

You could also ask your doctor to do an insulin sensitivity test and a glucose tolerance test, don't settle for just an hbA1C test. The results of these tests are very useful in predicting your risk of developing not only heart disease but many other metabolic problems. Spend a little time researching the effects of insulin resistance. IMO insulin resistance is like high blood pressure, they are silent killers if left untreated for decades.

Nomorechocolate23 profile image
Nomorechocolate23 in reply toJack2019

Jack2019 Thanks ! I've had a glucose fasting test . It's where you don't eat and only drink water for 8-12 hours . Is it the same as the glucose tolerance test?

I was diagnosed with diabetes 2 about 5-6 years ago. Nothing to do with my diet or weight. Again it's to do with Genetics on my father's side . His side of the family have a lot of illnesses and I seem to have inherited quite a few !

I will ask my doctor for an insulin sensitivity test but I don't know if she'll agree do it . And I'll do the research on it on the Net .

Thanks again for the invaluable info!

Jack2019 profile image
Jack2019 in reply toNomorechocolate23

Goggle Jason fung, he deals extensively with type 2. No insulin testing is not the same a fasting glucose test. Good luck, type 2 can be managed with lifestyle changes, in most people.

Apologies for my ignorance but what is an ApoE blood test? I haven't a clue ! I really would like to start eating exactly right ie what's suited to me !

Okay thanks ! Great advice . Will do so!

thehypnotist profile image
thehypnotist

It is well accepted by Medical research that stations can cause heart problems in some people, not conspiracy theory! Even the leaflet in the packet carries a warning! There has been a recommendation for a few years, that users should take coq10 to protect against it. NICE approved I believe? I cannot tolerate statins, though many can. I'm now part of a 5 yr study looking at this using stroke and heart attack survivors.

Neodog01 profile image
Neodog01

If it’s free and a couple of people with letters before there name recommend it, then I’m going to take it😊

Jack2019 profile image
Jack2019

that certainly is a problem with our overburdened health care system.

Jack2019 profile image
Jack2019 in reply toJack2019

spend the time and money know or spend a lot more time and money once the patient hits their fifties.

Milkfairy profile image
MilkfairyHeart Star

I am going to keep taking my statins too.

Why because it reduces inflammation and stabilise even tiny areas of plaque that could be dislodged when my microvessels and coronary and cerebral arteries go into spasm.

I don't fancy a heart attack or stroke.

I dodged a heart attack 7 years ago.

My long term destiny could well be Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

The jury is out on Q10 and to be honest I couldn't bear to take yet another tablet!

landofhope profile image
landofhope

some people trust the Pharmaceutical company's without giving it any thought, and if they are ok with that, its fine, but to say anything that points out a different view is a conspiracy theory or cry of fake news, i would suggest that they just take a look at ,BIG PHARMAS FINES

and

Wikipedia list of largest pharmaceutical settlements,

we need the pharmaceutical company's to be above board and honest about their products, but in some cases they are not

landofhope profile image
landofhope

always read the leaflet inside the med box.

fergusthegreat profile image
fergusthegreat

In a database of over 1,600,000 patients on statin therapy and followed for 2 years incident heart failure was 0.3%.

So yes there seems to be a very small risk but for 99.7% of people I think the benefits definitely outway the risks especially if you have pre existing heart disease.

Study was published in the European journal of Cardiology.

MichaelJH profile image
MichaelJHHeart Star

The negativity surrounding muscle pains and statins is so bad now that in a trial reported in the Lancet people on placebo reported muscle pains as much as those on a statin. Muscle pain is associated with statins but often disappears with a change in statin (I had to change from Simvastatin to Atorvastatin). In a few cases a rare muscle condition develops called Rhabdomyolysis! This like a change in liver function should be picked up by the patient reporting serious pains and blood tests, including liver function, routinely carried out by your GP. For the heart muscles to be affected is even rarer and should really be picked up before heart failure develops.

If someone thinks this risk of around 1 in a million is not worth taking they would obviously never have stents or a bypass as the odds of death are far higher! In evaluating risk you have to be cool, calm and collected even if it hard!

Kennie55 profile image
Kennie55

greetings fergusthegreat i see you posted TWO years ago and yet an invitation to speak to you is on this feed with only one post from boris789 - i am new here - this is bit confusing is anybody still here boris789 seems to be talking to himself

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