Understanding Statins - The People's Pharmacy

[bananas]

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2012/03/24/851-understanding-statins/

851 Understanding Statins
March 24, 2012

Statin-type cholesterol-lowering drugs are extremely popular, with approximately 180 million prescriptions issued each year in the U.S. They lower cholesterol and thereby are supposed to lower the risk of heart attacks.

Recent warnings from the FDA on side effects such as memory loss or diabetes underscore the fact that these drugs do have some risks, however. There has been controversy among cardiologists regarding how widely these drugs should be used and who benefits most from taking them. Listen as the leading experts explain the pros and cons of statins.

Guests: Steven Nissen, MD, is the Chairman of the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. He was previously Medical Director of the Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Coordinating Center, an academic research organization. Dr. Nissen consults for many pharmaceutical companies on the development of new therapies for cardiovascular disease, but maintains his longstanding personal policy of requiring companies to donate all related honoraria directly to charity. His book is Heart 411: The Only Guide to Heart Health You'll Ever Need. The photo is of Dr. Nissen.

Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. She leads the UCSD Statin Effects Study.

Lisa Gill is prescription drug editor for Consumer Reports.

...The show can be streamed online from this site and podcasts can be downloaded for free for six weeks after the date of broadcast...

[NMDemDist2]

1. thanks for this link

I didn't listen to the show, but did read the comments and the article by Dr Nagy

my doc wants me on statins for an LDL of only 120 and i told him NO WAY!

after losing 40 # and working out regularly for three years, this 58 yo woman isn't gonna take a statin, i'll try some CQ10 and D and see what happens with next year's tests

[Hatchling]

2. My doctor just took me off my statin.

I had developed uncontrollable toe twitching, of all things, and he thought it might be the zoccor. It seems to be slowing down after a week off it.

[HereSince1628]

3. I had bad luck with high dose statins,too

The hegemony of statin use to get super low LDL in people like me who have had by-pass surgery really clouded my doc's thinking. Blood tests that were in range for healthy people aren't nearly good enough...she wanted me to manage my LDL at 70. She also saw the maximum "safe" dose of the statin as the way to do that.

Over a period of 8 months on 80mg per day I developed serious joint pain that wouldn't heal. It brought me into the clinic when the weather turned cold and I couldn't raise my arm to pull on a sweater or reach to get my wallet out of the back pocket on my pants.

My primary care doc seemed to ignore the statin as a possible problem, had x-rays and MRI's of my shoulder done and scheduled me for PT which was halted after two months showed increasing losses of mobility rather than improvement.

Two months later, last June the CDC/FDA warning on statin toxicity resulted in the pharmacists of the clinic I attend reviewing every case where a person was taking 80 mg/day. They flagged my joint pain as a likely toxic effect of the statin.

I was switched to megadoses of niacin. Over a period of about 2 months my joint problem went away. Over another 3 months I was able to stretch out my mostly 'frozen' shoulder and get to near normal mobility.