Posted on 02/29/2012 11:44:07 AM PST by neverdem
Federal health officials on Tuesday added new safety alerts to the prescribing information for statins, the cholesterol-reducing medications that are among the most widely prescribed drugs in the world, citing rare risks of memory loss, diabetes and muscle pain.
It is the first time that the Food and Drug Administration has officially linked statin use with cognitive problems like forgetfulness and confusion, although some patients have reported such problems for years. Among the drugs affected are huge sellers like Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor and Vytorin.
But federal officials and some medical experts said the new alerts should not scare people away from statins. “The value of statins in preventing heart disease has been clearly established,” said Dr. Amy G. Egan, deputy director for safety in the F.D.A.’s division of metabolism and endocrinology products. “Their benefit is indisputable, but they need to be taken with care and knowledge of their side effects.”
Diabetes patients and even those who develop diabetes while taking statins should continue taking the medicines, said Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, who has studied the medicines extensively...
--snip--
Statins seem to increase blood sugar levels in some patients by small amounts, and when millions are treated, that change leads to a diagnosis of diabetes for more people.
The F.D.A. had already placed an alert about diabetes risks on the label of Crestor, a big-selling statin made by AstraZeneca, because a Crestor trial showed an increased risk. The agency decided to extend that alert to all drugs in the class with the exception of Pravachol, an older medicine manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb.
A well-controlled trial of Pravachol previously showed that it reduced the risks of developing diabetes by 30 percent, but other trials have found Pravachol less effective in reducing cardiac risks...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Idiocracy: We don't have to wait til 2525, because like you said, it's playing out right now. That explains Obama getting elected and having any chance at reelection.
when I was in nursing 140/90 was borderline, now its down to 130/80-- 120/60 is the norm....and hbp changes during the day depending on what you are doing....its not stable all the time.
.when my doctor didn't like my b/p 132/80 he said to consider medication...I reminded him I was a nurse and for me borderline will always be 140/90 for an extended period. When I left his office stopped at the drug store and bought a b/p cuff and keep a month long journal, taken several times a day and only 2 times did diastolic go to 90 and an hour later it was back in the 70’s...he had me bring in my cuff to test against his office cuff and it was right on with his....we didn't talk b/p any more.....I had to go off statins due to severe muscle weakness, but do have pretty high cholesterol...told him if I have to choose between the side effects and high cholesterol, high cholesterol wins.
nurses make tough patients but he always checks for generics when I need medication cause he knows I pay for my own prescription...still wouldn't trade him as primary doctor to any others... Its hard breaking in a new doctor.....
PS the statins did bring down my cholesterol quite a bit. Also tried Welcor and non statin cholesterol lowering drug. The major side effect was constitupation, since I have IBS that was not a problem, but 4 months into it, the muscle weakness and range of motion in the L shoulder was pretty bad and had to stop again....when you stoop down to get something off the bottom of the grocery shelf and cannot stand up without pulling yourself up by the shelves and cannot life a bag of dog food out of the cart, its time to stop....
As far as anecdotal evidence goes ALL of the males in my immediate family have had bad side-effects from Statins. My father had it worst with permanent leg muscle damage.
On the other hand I can also report that since he started to take Anatabloc, (an over the counter nutraceutical), his leg pains have nearly gone away. As for myself the Anatabloc is showing good results one of which is the “trigger finger” effect I had in both hands has gone away.
Cholesterol can be lowered by eliminating sugar from one’s diet. But they can’t make money on that.
The cause is a lack of an enzyme to metabolize them.
The solution is to take a smaller dose until you don't have pain.
It takes 4 or 5 days to work the stuff out of your system to get down to zero ~ so be patient.
Now, about cheese ~ made out of milk ~ baby cows, baby goats, baby horses, baby yaks, baby mammals of any kind eat huge quantities of fat laden mother's milk. That milk has chemical equivalents of statins in it. If you eat lots of cheese you might get intramuscular pain. Eat less cheese.
If you take statins and get pain, and eat cheese with it, your time spent figuring out your safe dose will be longer.
My cholesterol levels ~ LDL and HDL ~ are super low. That condition is somewhat associated with the intramuscular pain problem.
BTW, eating grapefruit with statins will give you an overdose ~ so watch it.
Thanx
I’ve taken Red Yeast Rice for years. My cholesterol is normal. I buy the Red Yeast Rice at Sam’s Club.
A decade ago, I took Pravachol. It cost me $150.00 per month, and then several times a day I got a sharp pain in my right temple. I thought I was getting a brain tumor. I suspected the Pravachol and stopped taking it. Immediately, the pains in my temple went away for good.
Zetia was another new-fanged pill I tried for several years. $80.00 per month. It’s supposed to dissolve cholesterol in foods that are still in your intestine. My doctor told me not to take it anymore after new studies were published claiming that it didn’t do squat.
With some of the side effects you can experience, I think sometimes it would be better to not take the pills.
Buddy of mine had exactly this happen.
Cholesterol was a little high....nothing worrisome, just a little high. Doc prescribed something.
Buddy had side effects. Doc set him up with something for those.
2nd prescrip had side effects, Doc set him up with something for that. And so on and so on.... Buddy now swallows a handful of pills a day, for something that likely could have been treated by eating a little better and playing an extra round of golf a week.
Believe or not, the trick is (but it’s no trick) is prayer and the help of two wonderful doctors. I’m telling you, that day of 20 hours of surgery must have been the most successful results those gifted folks have had in a decade! I mean really! Those men and women were prayed for prior, during and afterwards of their efforts that day. I and many others prayed for a blessing on the entire hospital.
I don’t believe in luck but I do believe in work. I wasn’t satisfied in leaving the rest up to standards of medicine. I worked hard and am having the best year in a decade! They wrote articles about me, I chose to get my life back by breaking standards as far as recovery. Pretty boring but it beats dying or being handicapped. Amazing because they really do stress the exercise but no one really pushes it. I have also lost another 10 pounds since this article below.
Here is my story:
http://insighteastorlando.com/index.php/featured/surgery-changed-my-life
He changed her diet and take some fish oil and left it at that...
My dad had to get a checkup for a job several years ago. They scared him about cholesterol and high BP and put him on Lipitor. I don’t think it was necessary. Tt’s not like he had any symptoms.
I actually printed the article from this thread and am going to give it to her to read.
Your story is a good one! Two thumbs up for your perseverance and hard work. And having doctors that actually know up from down makes a HUGE difference as well.
And last. but not least, the power of prayer!
I would like to add that daily prolonged and repetitive exercise in conjunction of watching what you eat will beat most any medication. You may want to note that the accent is on prolonged (1/2 to 1 hr preferably) and repetitive .This may be bicycling, walking, running, swimming, playing basket ball, almost anything what keeps the body in continuous motion for a prolonged period of time. Needless to say, stay within recommended weight limitations......if you follow these recommendations it will allow you to spend more time in a nursing home!
“She had lived with a cholesterol count of 300 for who knows how many years before we placed her on it 5 years ago.”
She lived to be 101?
Not that surprising, actually. The Framingham study found that people with higher cholesterol actually lived longer.
101 and five months.
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