Warning on statins: FDA more open about risks

Warning on statins: FDA more open about risks

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….the Food and Drug Administration issued a new health alert requiring the drugs carry labels warning about confusion and memory loss, elevated blood sugar leading to Type 2 diabetes, and muscle weakness.

(visit the link for the full news article)



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Unbelievable, statin drugs targeted on kids
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Lipitor and other statins are BAD FOR YOU.

ATS members have been warning about these cholesterol lowering drugs for years. But Britain started selling them over-the-counter anyway.

Not long ago, statins were jokingly promoted by some doctors with a “put them in the drinking water” argument. Physicians and drug company experts suggested that the ubiquitous cholesterol-lowering drugs -- including Lipitor, Mevacor, Crestor and Zocor -- should be sold over the counter like cold medications, or offered to everyone above a certain age. The medications appeared so beneficial to health and seemed so free of side effects.

….There is no question that statins -- the most profitable and among the most prescribed drugs ever -- have saved or prolonged millions of lives and will continue to do so. Most people at elevated risk for heart disease should be taking statins. The big issue now will center on determining whose risk is low to moderate and may not need medication.

The not-so-well-kept secret is that a daily dose of statin allows millions to eat whatever fatty food they like without worrying how it affects their cholesterol levels. That’s a tempting proposition. At the same time, drug companies find nothing more appealing than a pill that healthy people take daily for the rest of their lives. These two motivations combine to get million on statins who may not need them -- not much of a problem if there are no risks. But now we have evidence there is.

'Bout time the FDA stepped up to the plate. Hopefully we'll be seeing even more efforts to protect public health.

...On a personal note: My family doctor put me on Lipitor around 2007 - within weeks I was crippled and pretty much braindead (severe muscle pain, memory loss, confusion and drug-induced retardation). When I suggested I was reacting to the statin, she responded contemptuously and insisted it was my imagination. I went off the statins on my own after about 4 months and I found another doctor. I got a copy of my file when I left - her notes said I requested the statins and that I insisted the statin could not be causing me muscle pain!!! No idea why she would lie about it in an official document, except that she obviously knew it was a statin problem and apparently had some interest in covering up her own culpability, at least with this patient.

It took me about 3 years to recover from the statin-induced fibromyalgia and regain my brain function.




vitals.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Oh yeah - besides taking me about 3 years to recover from the statin-induced fibromyalgia and regain my brain function, I developed diabetes type 2 last year (about 4 years after my 4 month exposure to statins). I have no doubt it was a delayed response, related to a predictably slow-acting misfolded protein.

...So far I'm able to control the diabetes with diet but I seem to need turmeric tea to keep it in check. My numbers do NOT reflect my diet, and the slightest bit of stress tips into hyperglycemia, unrelated to diet.

I also have no doubt the current Diabetes 2 pandemic is largely related to statins and other medications - NOT diet. ...I have eaten whole foods all my life, never consumed soda, and pretty much done all the right things in terms of diet and lifestyle. I should not have diabetes.

I've been on Simvastatin for 3 years now, with no adverse effects. I'm required to take 40mg once at night.

This did not give me free ticket to eat what I want, as before I was put on them, I was diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic, so along with the Simvastatin came a dietary class I had to take.

Each person reacts differently when it comes to medications. My Metformin I take for my diabetes gives me no side effects. My sister-in-law had to stop taking them because, well, she called them her "Poop Pills", and that is suppose to be one of the side affects.

The only drug I'm on that seems to affect me is the Niaspan. I never understood the term "hot flashes", until I mistakenly drank a hot cup of coffee with my Niaspan one night: big mistake, thought I was on fire for a little while there!

reply to post by eriktheawful


The warning says statins can cause diabetes - do you think your diabetes might be related to your statin use?

...When did you start taking statins; when were you diagnosed with diabetes?



PS. Thanks for your post.
And oh duh, just reread your post - you already said you had diabetes before you started the statins. ...Just out of curiosity, were you taking other meds before the diabetes dx? Do you think the diabetes was clearly diet and lifestyle related?

I was taking statins for about a year probably 6 or 7
years ago and was recently diagnosed with diabetes.
With this many years ago I doubt the statin was
related to the disabetes but I will say my sugar
increased over several years. I think I would rather
deal with the cholesterol in another way than to
deal with any of the side effects from the statins.

I am one that firmly believes that all these "studies" actually DO determine all the future side effects and implications.

I also believe that the FDA and the drug companies allow certain problems to develop anyway.

Some of the smartest intellectuals are involved.

They also have financial impact studies done.

Those studies are the problem.

They know how much all the lawsuits and future care costs will be ahead of time.

They have insurance policies that are "custom" made for each product.

They do comparisons of final profit/legal loss estimates (based on patent timelines) and then proceed anyway.


They have a financial agenda, not a "humane" agenda

reply to post by crazydaisy


Your statin use probably DID cause your diabetes. Diabetes type 2 is a protein misfolding disease (PMD) - proteins misfold in response to 'environmental changes' like exposure to drugs in the body, or even drug manufacturing processes (which means they're in the meds); then these misfolded proteins can become infectious and spread in the body - but it takes a long time, even decades for clinical symptoms or disease to appear.

Among the PMDs are Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), serpin-deficiency disorders, hemolytic anemia, cystic fibrosis, diabetes type II, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, secondary amyloidosis, dialysis-related amyloidosis and more than ten other rare diseases [2–5].

NOTE: This article quoted above was written in 2006 - many many more protein misfolding or "conformational" diseases and disorders have been identified since then - and many of them are caused by drugs and chemicals we are exposed to routinely in meds, food, water and the larger contaminated environment.

Thanks for your post.

reply to post by soficrow


Thank you - I feel much more
informed now.

There was a reason pharmaceuticals (like statins) started to be advertised to the public...so the public would rush in and demand the latest "cure" from their doctor. No wonder a doctor felt safe "lying" that a patient requested a drug!

Half the people I meet now under a doctor's care are suffering from side affects of either a drug or surgery. Anything from kidney transplants to liver problems to torn ligaments to cancer. Nowadays a doctor walks into the examining room with a prescription pad in one hand and a pen in the other, ready to sell the latest "cure/""help".

When one of my sons had a slight case of teenage acne, his dad thought it good for him to take a drug, which he stopped when it didn't do anything but cause emotional ups and downs. He then got the idea to start juicing carrots for a glass of carrot juice a day, and his complexion cleared up quickly.

reply to post by desert


Whole foods, especially raw foods have healing properties - if they're not GMO, and are not contaminated with pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers. And oh yeah, any of the other common pollutants that now contaminate our air, rain and water.

NOTE:

I have been quite prolific here on ATS off and on - quickly scanned the dates on my threads and discovered that my "production level" dropped dramatically after I started the Lipitor - down to 1 thread after March 2007, and only two threads in 2008. ...The number of threads I started went up in 2009, but the quality was down. A direct correlation.

reply to post by soficrow


Not for many years before, and I had never taken any statin strain before either.

So it was health and life style (not enough exercise, and consuming 1 gallon of sweet ice tea a day, heh).

However, 12 years ago I was diagnosed with tuberculiosis (stage 1), and I had to take INH or Isoniazid for 6 months, along with vitamin B.

reply to post by eriktheawful


Thanks for the reply erik. ...Looks like you probably got synthetic Isoniazid - and the synthetics usually have misfolded molecules, which is what tends to have long term health effects. If I was in the same position, I'd want to take the rest cure before drugs - but who can afford that option?