Discussion on Statins

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22167150

I don't  take them period. I have heard complaint after complaint from people who do.

Cramping 
nerve pain
possibly connection to alzheimers.

So those of you who take them what has been your experiences? 

I have read many first hand reports from people who discontinued taking them. Some of these people were to the point of not being able to walk. 1 year later they were walking. 

Next. ..

Back in the States over ten years ago, my husband's doctor insisted he needed to take statins.  Spouse refused to do it and proceeded to change eating habits, take Nopal pills, and lose some weight.  He was already a regular walker and otherwise healthy.  A month later, the score was way down and the doc was surprised.  Meanwhile, we surveyed our friends who were taking statins.

One was a sculptor whose feelings of creativity decreased as a result.  He was puzzled and unhappy about it.
Another was suffering leg pain and another was feeling "vague".  A few others were happy that "now they could eat what they want".  So, okay, that's anecdotal evidence at its finest, but it was good enough for esposo and he refused to take them.  Ten years later, his Mexican doc did the heart exams and declared him in great shape.

I have a strong reluctance to take any drug on a long term basis unless it's for a life-threatening condition.  One year, the medical establishment will tout a drug as a miracle and a few years later, they say it's counter productive.  A good example is Fosamex, the osteoporosis drug they were foisting on older women, which was weakening their long bones while looking good on x-rays.

To finish the rant.........how may guys around here are taking those statins and enjoying a big, juicy cheeseburger loaded with mayo,  with fries, under the illusion that they have "King's X" from taking statins?

I take statins and do not like hamburgers  ..I do not like fat or beef and my cholesterol is through the roof.
Everyone in my family has naturally very high choleserol. My sister, mother and cousin all are very thin they weigh less than a 100 pounds each,do not overeat and are very active  all take statins to get a cholesterol around 200 250.
Without drugs they have 450. For us forget nopal or diet they have zero effect.
My mother hates taking drugs so she just stop taking statins at age 93...Everyone is different and they are thin people who execice and have a healthy diet .


I have the same problem but I am overweight so I may not fall in the same category although  I do not eat beef or fat because I do not like them so no juicy hamburger for me.. Losing weight or taking nopal has a very limited effect on the readings for me .
Everyone is different and we as far as I am concerned nopal does not work for us.
Between all of us we have a lot of experience with statins and we all have had differnt reactions. We are ok with Lipitor or its generic but not with Zocor and some others. The symptoms were muscle pains wit Zocor and some others..


As an aside my husband who is seriously overweight, does not exercise and loves mayonnaise and hamburgers has a cholesterol of 120..tell me your body has nothing to do with it...

I agree with the fact that your body processes everything in different ways from person to person. Many studies made lately indicate that "high" cholesterol doesn't necessarily cause health problems, which would explain your 93 year old mother reaching that age.
Different regimes work for different people. In the case of your husband, I understand that he did have to part with his gall bladder a few years ago.......likely had something to do with the diet. My own son had to part with his, but he lived on burgers and fries......which I suspect just might have had something to do with it. lol.

My problem with the medical profession is that so many of the drugs prescribed do more harm than good, but the docs push them anyway.

https://www.umassmed.edu/uploadedfiles/trigs.pdf


What prompted me to write about this was Steve Cottons 2 week diet of no carbs and his results!

The verdict?  In two weeks, something worked.  Either the medication or the restricted carbohydrates or both.  My triglycerides are at 157.  Perfect for these parts.

And my doctor's recommendation?  Stay off of as many carbohydrates as possible -- and keep taking the medication.


Outstanding results!!!
http://steveinmexico.blogspot.com/

Why, in the descriptions of villains, hamburgers have to accompanied by the word "juicy"? Sort of like all "farts" have to be old.   

slainte39 wrote:Why, in the descriptions of villains, hamburgers have to accompanied by the word "juicy"? Sort of like all "farts" have to be old.   

Because "juicy" hamburgers mean fatty burgers. Lean ones tend to be somewhat dry. Duh.
Now "old farts" is another whole matter which I'm not touching.
  

For pasta lovers who want to have "healthy" pasta treats, go to Senor Google and get the word on the difference between Italian pasta made with Semolina flour and the usual commercial stuff.  Interesting in terms of "healthy" food.  Worth every extra peso you have to pay for it.

I think the Mediterranean diet is vastly overestimated...As I was growing up in France the skinny people outside of the young people were found in the north , the southern women were heavier,.
Italian , Spanish, Southern French or North African women were heavy. So much for the healthy diet.
In Italy the diet bewtween the north and the south is very different as well so the Northern Italian women are unhealthy??

I do not think that all these great studies are telling us a whole lot as there is a tendency to simplify and overlook a whole lot of factors.

If healthy longevity is the goal we have to look at old Japan and I do not see a whole lot of people switching to a fish and veggie diet without any of the goodies we are used to and love.

Fish is too high in mercury and radiation now a days.......

CanuckBob wrote:Fish is too high in mercury and radiation now a days.......

If the food doesn't kill us, the air and water will.  Then there's the additives............
OMIGOD!  I guess none of us are going to get out of this alive, are we?  So
     
 

I guess we are all doomed....  

Yup.   

This thread made me get my lazy butt to the lab for a long overdue cholesterol panel. I'm like you, Brigette, need to be vegan, run, and on statins just to keep levels at reasonable numbers. Not low numbers, just reasonable ones!

The thing about statins is they don't just help with the production of cholesterol but with inflammation ax well. Wish I could get off 'em too.

gringal wrote:

slainte39 wrote:Why, in the descriptions of villains, hamburgers have to accompanied by the word "juicy"? Sort of like all "farts" have to be old.   

Because "juicy" hamburgers mean fatty burgers.  Lean ones tend to be somewhat dry.  Duh.
Now "old farts" is another whole matter which I'm not touching.
  

Well Duh....then why don't you say fatty burgers instead of embellishing them with a word like "juicy"?
Juicy to me could mean rare, medium rare, not overcooked "bién cocido", dried out hamburgers with no moisture, but with the same fat content, which is usually around 20% in restaurants and supermarket ground beef. Two steaks cut from the same whole piece, side by side can be juicy or dried out white depending on how long it was cooked.

Lipitor and a mostly plant based diet works, the results are very good. Total 161 all numbers very good. Without the Lipitor my total cholesterol would be 300+. waddayagonnado

slainte39 wrote:

gringal wrote:

slainte39 wrote:Why, in the descriptions of villains, hamburgers have to accompanied by the word "juicy"? Sort of like all "farts" have to be old.   

Because "juicy" hamburgers mean fatty burgers.  Lean ones tend to be somewhat dry.  Duh.
Now "old farts" is another whole matter which I'm not touching.
  

Well Duh....then why don't you say fatty burgers instead of embellishing them with a word like "juicy"?
Juicy to me could mean rare, medium rare, not overcooked "bién cocido", dried out hamburgers with no moisture, but with the same fat content, which is usually around 20% in restaurants and supermarket ground beef. Two steaks cut from the same whole piece, side by side can be juicy or dried out white depending on how long it was cooked.

Is this really worth nitpicking about:?   

I guarantee that each and every one of us will die someday.
I prefer to medicate with drugs that provide some beneficial side effects .
All the numbers from various tests did not save the lives of my friends.
Laa laa lalla lalla live for today.    

Agreed, however the goal isn't to live forever as it ain't gonna happen. The goal is to stay out of ICU, CCU or even the ER for as long as possible and to avoid a stroke! I'd rather be dead than paralyzed, some numbers are worth watching.

SALUD!

I second that.

http://www.spacedoc.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=1214&start=20

does any of this sound familiar?

Wow.. could all those  people be lying?  I honestly can say I will never take a statin.

Just too many negative stories.

ACC: Statins Tied to Boost in Men's Sexual Function
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ACC/45005


By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
save|AA
WASHINGTON -- Statins appeared to improved erectile function to a clinically meaningful degree, according to a meta-analysis.

Across 11 randomized trials, the average gain in subjective score on the International Inventory of Erectile Function (IIEF) was 3.4 points versus placebo or other controls (P=0.0001).

The effect "was clinically relevant," John Kostis, MD, of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J., told reporters at a press telebriefing in advance of presentation at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting here.

"It was about one-third of what to you achieve with PDE5 [phosphodiesterase] inhibitors and slightly bigger than what you see with of nonpharmacological lifestyle therapy," he said, noting that the study was also scheduled for release online today in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

He chalked the improved performance up to a net benefit of lipid lowering and pleiotropic effects of statins, such as endothelial function improvement, against the reduction in testosterone reported with the drugs because that hormone is made from cholesterol.

"This may effect an improvement in adherence to statin therapy," Kostis suggested, noting that at least half of patients stopped or took much less than prescribed in prior large primary prevention studies.

But he recommended against using statins for sexual health effects in men without high cholesterol.

Rather, needing erectile dysfunction treatment may be a sign to look for cardiovascular risk factors like high cholesterol, Kostis noted.

"Over the years it's become apparent that erectile dysfunction is an indication of decreased vascular health in men, and it's considered by many to be a significant cardiovascular risk factor," agreed Jeffrey Kuvin, MD, of Tufts Medical Center in Boston and vice-chair of the program committee for the ACC conference.

Kostis cautioned that the meta-analysis was small, with just 647 patients across 11 randomized trials (an average of 53 per study), and combined a variety of statins and durations of treatment (averaging 3 months).

Erectile function was the primary endpoint in all the trials, but not all had the more objective measures available for meta-analysis.

But the effect of statins remained statistically significant through sensitivity analyses for publication bias and with each study omitted sequentially.

"A big study that is well-powered, placebo-controlled, and probably factorial design to look at statins as well as PDE5 inhibitors and testosterone may clarify this question once and for all," Kostis noted.

Kostis disclosed no relevant financial relationships with industry, though he has been an investigator on statin trials.