Three Years Later

[pops]

Three years later

I was thinking that since it's been about three years since I first took lovastatin, I'd file a report on my condition. In a word, better. But unfortunately, not completely healed.

Then I was thinking of the scientific things I'd like to say, since by now I've read literally hundreds of articles written by experts, laymen, charletons, fools, and some very, very wise people (some of whom are right here). And I was thinking of explaining to the masses how the drug companies manipulate statistics to “proveâ€

[pops]

After reviewing even more facts (sigh) and researching more - mostly through the National Institute of Health website, I have found that statins and ezetimibe both tend to slow or even reverse atherosclerosis in study subjects.

My biggest beef with the medical industry is honesty regarding side effects from these - and possibly other drugs. My doctor had told me side effects were rare. He had not warned me to stop taking statins if I experienced unusual pain.

I have a friend who is now wheelchair bound, and she blames it on the four trials she had on statins. She does not have heart disease.

However, after informing a friend of mine about the side effects I experienced on statins, I discovered that he'd recently had two stents installed in his coronary arteries. I instantly called him and informed him that I regretted my comments and that perhaps he might be better off if he continued to take statins, maybe at a lower level to allay the side effects he experienced. He has decided to stop taking statins anyway, in spite of my protests, but that is his choice, not mine.

This is not a black and white topic. In my humble opinion, Statins are not bad for everyone. Nor are they good for everyone. I believe, however, that doctors should exercise far more caution when prescribing them for people who have no heart disease. Some people are harmed. Doctors should always remember to warn patients about the risks. Unusual pain should always be suspect in patients taking these drugs. Again, all this is in my opinion. I am not a medical expert, and I do not give medical advice.

I hope you are all well or getting well, or at least better.
Have a great day.
Living well is the best revenge.
pOps

[David Staup]

After reviewing even more facts (sigh) and researching more - mostly through the National Institute of Health website, I have found that statins and ezetimibe both tend to slow or even reverse atherosclerosis in study subjects.

Flawed conclusion driven by incomplete research on your part.

"In the study and practice of the sciences; the false judgments we form neither affect our existence nor our welfare; and we are not forced by any physical necessity to correct them. Imagination, on the contrary, which is ever wandering beyond the bounds of truth, joined to self-love and that self-confidence we are so apt to indulge, prompt us to draw conclusions which are not immediately derived from facts; so that we become in some measure interested in deceiving ourselves. Hence it is by no means to be wondered, that, in the science of physics in general, men have often made suppositions, instead of forming conclusions. These suppositions, handed down from one age to another, acquire additional weight from the authorities by which they are supported, till at last they are received, even by men of genius, as fundamental truths."


Self love as used here means hubris and/or greed.
There are skeptical interpratations of the studies you saw that contradict the conclusions by the original authors.....find them they are informative.

David

[pops]

David,
I *have* read the alternative interpretations. In fact, I recently read an article on the Veterans Administration web site, dated October 2012, that stated statins have now been shown to *increase* the rate of calcium deposits in the arteries throughout the body.

This seems to fly in the face of the "theory" that statins reduce the risk of heart disease because many doctors believe that calcification of the arteries is a better predictor of heart disease than cholesterol deposits.

Meanwhile the VA is asking the question of whether these calcium deposits might be a *good* thing, since they may tend to stabilize coronary plaque. I don't think we'll know the answer to that for decades. Or, per what I perceive to be your point of view, the "experts" may cover up those answers.

Suffice it to say that in my opine, statins are causing enormous amounts of harm to some of the people who take them, and doctors seem to be ignoring that fact. Since, again in my opinion, so many lies have been told regarding statins - probably, as you said, in the interest of greed - it's hard to know for certain if statins do indeed do *anyone* any good at all.

I do have friends who are on statins who, at the very least, don't seem to have any adverse events from them. Or maybe those adverse events are going to come years down the road, and no doctor will put two and two together and figure out that statins were at fault. I don't know. Again, everything I say here is my opinion. And my opinion is flawed because I am human.

As I've said before, I don't give medical advice because I have no medical expertise. However, I'm going to quote the intelligence community, and you and others may apply that quote as you will:

"Trust, but verify."

And again, in my *opinion,* that rings true in every aspect of life.

Let the consumer beware...
pOps