What are the advantages of statin medication?

[sandybrown]

Recent posts had a lot to say about statin therefore I am asking this question.

[Hidden]

That is a very interesting question, Bala...!? I shall be watching for the replies. IMHO......only for the pharmaceutical companies.

[MikePollard in reply to Hidden]

Me too!

[MarBri]

My husband was given statins after a heart attack and the side effects were terrible. He stopped them and was fine. He really didn`t get any benefits just the opposite.

[BryanDobson]

what is it with all the scaremongering on statins on this site? Yes some have side effects but all drugs do. go back to the doctors and try a different one. they are not all the same. some of us have no choice but to take statins if the alternate is a heart attack at a younger age....

also why do people even bother to go to the doctors if you are going to just rubbish their advice. you might as well make up your own concoction of shark fin, rhino tusk and tiger ear if you are not going to take the advice of an expert

[CDreamer in reply to BryanDobson]

1. Not everyone believes that doctors are experts, they maybe on pharmaceuticals but I am the expert on me. We visit the doctors for advice on options.

2. It is is discussion not scaremongering.

3. We all have a choice, I am sure they may work for you but I for one would not be even trying them - my doctors comment - in your position I don't blame you.

4. I for one do not blindly follow advice without having trust in the person who is giving the advice and also doing my own research. Unfortunately I have met a good many doctors who I would not trust because they do not know their subject.

I have learned that I needed to this to prevent so called experts from inadvertently killing me.

[Hidden in reply to BryanDobson]

Your GP is not an expert on everything....do your own research if you truly value your health. With the internet that is now possible, listen to the real experts on nutrition, a lot of them these days are doctors who have seen the harm that is being done, and not those who have a vested interest in keeping you sick...viz big pharma...If you look closely at drug research you will find that in most cases it is financed by big pharma. In my case my GP told me I had reached the age when everyone should be taking statins, the NHS guideline.....and GP's got paid extra for every patient they put on them.....and for me that has had awful repercussions......so yes I did my own research and will forever berate statins, and be very careful about taking any pharmaceutical product without first researching it myself.

[jointpain]

I thought rhino tusk and tiger ears were banned! I just eat very little and exercise, and do not need statins, they are just a poison after all.

[DakCB-UK]

The main advantage of statins for most of us is that they reduce blood cholesterol levels.

Whether that is a sufficiently worthwhile advantage depends on how true the the lipid hypothesis is, what disadvantages any individual experiences and probably many more factors.

[lillywhites]

statins DO NOT TOUCH THE LPa and that is the most important thing statins have to many long term side effects every one should get an LPa blood test dont worry about the total number go do your research this country (uk) is far behind the u.s.a.

[sandybrown in reply to lillywhites]

Would it be possible for you to give more information on LPa?

Have seen a write up, it says it is best to do a fasting blood test for LPa 2 months after heart attack!

Can one ask a GP for LPa blood test on NHS?

[Leilanilea in reply to sandybrown]

Bala, Please see my recent post farther down. Leilani

[lillywhites]

google DR sinatra he will explain about Lpa blood tests my lipid consultant gave me mine on the nhs but amazingly he doesnt know much about LPa you can get it private but it will cost you £100 ive taken Niacin B3 and its sorted my Lpa it works for me and my family but take the right type of niacin tho the recent research done on niacin the drug company used the wrong type in there study if your really interested in niacin google Dr abram hoffer read his book very interesting reading and will open your eyes ive had the by pass operation which failed tried all the statins and over the past 4 yrs with not a lot of help from the nhs found natural supplements like niacin for one and got my health back go and look at what they say in america on heart health if your on statins in america or canada they give you coq10 as well why dont they do that here in the uk ? because its cost !!!!!!!!! good luck god bless

[sandybrown in reply to lillywhites]

Thank you.

[Leilanilea in reply to lillywhites]

Hi Lillywhites,

Some U.S. doctors may recommend coenzyme q10 to those taking statins but to my knowledge it's not part of any guideline or protocol. Last December I had mild heart attack and specific protocols were followed related to lab and diagnostic tests and to treatment. Of course statins were recommended (I stopped them) but not coq10 either in- or out-patient.

I researched coq10 myself and decided not to spend money on it or add another med to my body (I'm retired RN with lots of clinical research experience.) The following is interesting study abstract.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/254...

Mayo Clin Proc. 2015 Jan;90(1):24-34. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2014.08.021. Epub 2014 Nov 14.

Effects of coenzyme Q10 on statin-induced myopathy: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Banach M, Serban C, Sahebkar A, Ursoniu S, Rysz J, Muntner P, Toth PP, Jones SR, Rizzo M, Glasser SP, Lip GY, Dragan S, Mikhailidis DP; Lipid and Blood Pressure Meta-analysis Collaboration Group.

CONCLUSION: [Myopathy = Muscle Disease]

The results of this meta-analysis of available randomized controlled trials do not suggest any significant benefit of CoQ10 supplementation in improving statin-induced myopathy. Larger, well-designed trials are necessary to confirm the findings from this meta-analysis.

Leilani

[lillywhites in reply to Leilanilea]

sorry i have family in your country and canada and they have told me differently i also have done my research my grandad was a heart surgeon/doctor and i had nurses in my family i take coq10 not just for my heart it has also sorted out my bleeding gums my cardiac consultant told me to sort that problem out because they now know its heart related one question why in your country do top cardiac consultants recommend coq10 ? take care now

[Leilanilea in reply to lillywhites]

No reason to be sorry...we just have differing opinions.

[lillywhites in reply to Leilanilea]

sorry but its not my opinion its the facts i have researched over the years and you havent answered my question to you ? never mind good luck god bless

[lillywhites]

your very welcome

[Floozie]

I don't believe I would still be alive were it not for the statins I have taken for the past 20 yrs. or so, without side effects, I might add. Routine blood tests every 6 months monitor whether they are causing any damage or not. My parents both died at the age of 63 yrs. from conditions resulting from atherosclerosis. There are also other family members on my mother's side who died prematurely so, without genetic testing, I must presume I am at risk. I am thankful for statins & know they have reduced my cholesterol level. I will be 70 later this year.

[joyful762]

I just hate taking statins,but having been told I am now 4.1 cholesterol, I know I need to have them, I stopped taking them for 3 months, went up yo 7.4' Back on them again, and down to 4.

Both myself & a friend have terrible pains in our hands, she has leg pains with Statins.

I wear warm gloves, this seems to help, even wearing them in the house. My fingers go into spasms, very painful, and it takes some time to straighten the fingers again. Not good if you are a driver. I Need the gloves.

[CDreamer in reply to joyful762]

I sympathise. That is the main reason I will not take statins. I already have a muscle weakness from Myasthenia gravis and I suffer from spasms in the evening so will not take any medication that may exacerbate the condition, statins are known to be contra indicated.

I am not convinced that cholesterol on its own is the most important factor, although it maybe one of them, in heart attack or atherosclerosis, I am more inclined to lean toward inflammation as the cause and the raised cholesterol the body's attempt at the solution. Also atherosclerosis is also thought to be caused by calcium leaching from the skeleton - hence the connection with osteoporosis.

The only evidence I can see for sure is that high cholesterol counts are associated statistically with people who suffer heart attacks, that doesn't mean they cause them, that is assumed not proven.

According to my EP even though my cholesterol counts are high, the ratios are ok, I am slightly overweight, I have low BP, I have no other co-morbidity factor such as diebetes and I exercise so statistically my risk of heart attack is that of the average member of the population.

I also know too many people who followed advice to lower cholesterol which didn't work.

Also the advice is constantly changing - did anyone else see The truth about our food episode on dairy? Evidently hard cheese HELPS lower cholesterol now!

Everything in moderation is my dictum and eat real foods, nothing processed, eat butter or coconut oil not that dreadful concotion which 'helps lower your cholesterol' and exercise as and when I can!

[sandybrown in reply to CDreamer]

Would it be possible to offer an explanation to this "According to my EP even though my cholesterol counts are high". How is this test done?

Thanks.

[CDreamer in reply to sandybrown]

I really couldn't tell you as all I have is 6 monthly blood tests for cholesterol and monthly FBC tests through my GP. The cholesterols ones show Hdl, triglycerides, Ldl etc. separately. The last total I had, April, breached the level (7) where alarm bells ring so they contacted me to have a chat with my GP.

As I wouldn't be suitable for statins I am trying to lower it with change of diet = low carbs, high fats, the complete opposite of what 'conventional advice' is.

I don't eat dairy, but then I never did and have cut out anything with wheat in it, especially bread which was my one weakness, along with cakes!

So far so good as I have lost just over a stone in 10 months and still losing weight.

To be honest I have to worry about so many other things on a day to day basis, cholesterol is pretty low on my list. Neither my GP nor EP is overly concerned because I have no other co-morbidity factors for heart disease and in any case they know I wouldn't take statins so what is the point of worrying about it? That doesn't mean I am complacent and do want to monitor my health.

I have an atria septal defect - which I understand about 20% of the population have, unknowingly. This didn't show up on either echocardiograms nor transesophagial echocardiogram and was only discovered during ablation. I have dived all my life, evidently I shouldn't have as it is high risk for embolism to dive with hole in septum.

But I have done a lot of things I shouldn't and survived so continue in focussing on living and enjoying life the best way I can.

I don't think there is a right or wrong way to do this stuff, it is very personal but I do object to mass medication of population for unknown outcomes and it seems to me that is what the U.S. has done and we are following. Every medication we take has consequences and I already have to take 2 serious drugs, one to enable my muscles to work - every 90 mins or so and immune suppressants, so I won't be adding anything else anytime soon.

[Leilanilea in reply to sandybrown]

Might EP be a typo for GP? Just a thought.

[CDreamer in reply to Leilanilea]

EP= electrophysiologist

[Leilanilea in reply to CDreamer]

Thanks for clarification!

[Leilanilea in reply to CDreamer]

Re: Incidence of muscle aches, spasms, etc., as side effects to statin treatment:

The excerpt below was taken from Diabetes Care August 2013 vol. 36 no. Supplement 2 S325-S330 [Information in Brackets is mine/lm] Of interest, the authors are supportive of statin use.

care.diabetesjournals.org/c...

Intolerance to Statins: Mechanisms and Management

Rafael Bitzur, MD⇑, Hofit Cohen, MD, Yehuda Kamari, MD and Dror Harats, MD

"In randomized controlled trials, the incidence of statin myopathy [muscle disease, including weakness, pain] is ~1.5–5.0%. However, this low incidence may be misleading for several reasons. First, in most studies patients with a history of statin intolerance were excluded. Other studies had a single-blinded statin run-in phase, and patients experiencing muscle-related symptoms or CK [creatine kinase, which reflects muscle inflammation...also referred to as CPK] elevations during this phase were excluded. Patients who tend to be at risk for developing muscle-related symptoms, such as women, elderly patients, and patients with significant comorbidity, who comprise a large proportion of statin-treated patients in real-life settings, are underrepresented in randomized controlled trials. Some studies have defined muscle-related effects by elevated CK levels only, disregarding myalgia [muscle pain]. Last but not least, patients enrolled in studies might be motivated and so minimize reporting of mild myalgias, thus leading to underestimation of the magnitude of the problem."

Leilani

[CDreamer in reply to Leilanilea]

Very interesting, thank you for the post.

[Leilanilea in reply to CDreamer]

You're very welcome

[Queeniescakes in reply to CDreamer]

That's not true 50-75% of people who have heart attacks have cholesterol levels within normal levels.

[sandybrown]

Thanks for all the comments.

[Leilanilea]

Hi Bala,

Some folks who posted referred to lab test Lp(a), or Lipoprotein a. I think this has good information, and the site states it was updated 2014. It's important to read all the information in order to fully understand it's significance, but this site is written for consumers/lay people, and I recommend it.

labtestsonline.org/understa...

It's set up with tabs, and there is also good info under "Test" tab.

Leilani

[sandybrown in reply to Leilanilea]

Thank you for providing valuable information.

New to me.

Intolerance to Statins: Mechanisms and Management.

I will look deeper in to Intolerance to Statins.