| Two, by lowering cholesterol with the help of statins, you can actually make your body gravely ill. The industry is now faced with an ever-growing number of reports listing the side effects that manifest many months after the commencement of treatment.
A 1999 study at St. Thomas' Hospital in London found that 36 percent of patients on LIPITOR's highest dose reported side effects and 10 percent of the patients at the lowest dose also reported side effects. The steady increase of obvious and hidden side effects (such as liver damage) isn't at all surprising. |
| Hence you are being sentenced to a lifetime of statins and a boring low-fat diet. But even if you have not experienced any heart trouble yet, you are already being considered for possible treatment. Since so many children now show signs of elevated cholesterol, we have a whole new generation of candidates for medical treatment. So yes, current edicts stipulate cholesterol testing and treatment for young adults and even children! The statin drugs that doctors use to push cholesterol levels down are LIPITOR (atorvastatin), Zocor (simvastatin), Mevacor (lovastatin), and Pravachol (pravastatin). |
Bottom Line Health
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| While there's extensive evidence that statins are valuable for people who have had heart attacks, there often are much cheaper, safer and equally effective treatments for the rest of us, including an improved diet, more exercise and not smoking.
Even more insidious is that drug companies don't just market blockbuster pills through advertising—they market conditions for their medications to cure. |
Andreas Moritz
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 However, don't attempt the flush if you are using prescribed medications, such as antibiotics, steroids, painkillers, statins or others suppressive drugs. The liver cannot both break down/release these drugs and suppress this activity (which drugs do) at the same time. It is best to wait with liver flushing until drug intake has been discontinued for at least 10 days.
Important! Please read carefully:
The liver flush is one of the most invaluable and effective methods to regain your health. There are no risks involved if you follow all the directions to the letter. |
Bottom Line Health
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| Ask your doctor about statins. This class of cholesterol-lowering drugs appears to reduce stroke risk by approximately 25%, even in people who have normal cholesterol. Side effects can include muscle pain, nausea and diarrhea or constipation.
•If you smoke, quit. Smokers are several times more likely than nonsmokers to have a stroke. Within 10 years of quitting smoking, the risk of having a stroke is almost the same as for someone who has never smoked. |
Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
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 As with statins, we pose three questions: (1) Do they lower blood pressure? (2) Are they effective in primary prevention; that is, do ACE inhibitors prevent first-time heart attacks (fatal or nonfatal) in patients with high blood pressure? (3) Are they effective secondary prevention, that is, in the treatment of heart conditions?
First, it is evident that ACE inhibitors lower blood pressure. According to the Physicians Desk Reference, within two weeks, they lower systolic and diastolic pressure, respectively, by 2-10 mm and 4—6mm mercury. |
| However, statins are effective in secondary prevention—that is, in preventing a recurrence of heart disease. In a book full of negative findings and criticism, it gives us great pleasure to review a carefully tested and efficacious treatment that undoubtedly saves lives.
ACE INHIBITORS
Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors21 are a category of drug that relax blood vessels and thereby lower blood pressure; this same action allows the heart to work less hard and therefore ACE inhibitors are a common treatment for congestive heart failure. |
| Despite all their hype, statins have little effect on the prevention of second heart attacks; ACE inhibitors are no more effective than common diuretics. Finally, many commonly prescribed drugs are not only ineffective, but dangerous. The role of our pharmaceutical industry in overall health care is nothing short of a national scandal.
We are not saying that contemporary medicine does no good. Nor are we advising readers to disengage from the system. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 There are a couple of flaws in the model of statins. Number one is that HMG coA reductase is a major enzyme in the liver. It does a lot more than just influence cholesterol.
Mike: So, when you block it, you negatively impact a whole lot of other things.
Dr. Weiss: We know about the CoQ10 downfall. But what do we not know about? What makes me very suspicious about statins is, actually, that heart attacks and heart disease are getting to be less of a concern. What's a greater concern is congestive heart failure. There's a big announcement: "Less people are dying from heart attack. |
The Editors of FC&A
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| And if you do take statins for high cholesterol, they urge you to report any numbness, tingling, or pain in your hands and feet to your doctor. These are symptoms of nerve damage, which can be a side effect of statins.
Healthy habits
You can lower your Alzheimer's risk with an active, challenging lifestyle.
• Look for new interests that challenge and stretch your gray matter.
• Get together frequently with old friends and new.
• Talk with your doctor about taking aspirin every day.
• Exercise regularly. |
Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
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| We now pose the obvious question: in preventing cardiovascular disease and cancer, which would be the most effective: would it be statins? Or would it be governmental regulation of cigarette smoking or the food industry? To the great detriment of each and all of us, our society focuses on the former. To understand why, we need to pose one final question:
CUI BONO
In the classic murder mystery, the detective solves the crime by asking the question: cui bono, who benefits?
In the final section of this book, we ask three questions: who makes money from our illnesses? |
Marshall Editions
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 It is even more helpful to take CoQ10 if you are on statins (cholesterol-lowering medications), since they decrease the levels of CoQ10 that may be contributors to liver and muscle abnormalities. Chromium, at 200-400 meg a day, increases HDL and lowers total cholesterol. Taking 400 IU of vitamin E a day helps with inhibiting cholesterol oxidation.
Herbs: Take 1,200 mg of red rice yeast a day with 60 mg of CoQ10. Red rich yeast has been shown to be effective in decreasing cholesterol. |
| Muscle pain may also be due to electrolyte imbalances, such as too little potassium or calcium, or be caused by certain drugs, including statins for lowering cholesterol and ACE inhibitors for lowering blood pressure.
SYMPTOMS
TREATMENT GOAL
• An area of acute tenderness
• Localized pain
• Inactivity due to not being able to move or use a particular part of the body
• Disturbed sleep
• Fatigue
It is important to isolate the cause of the muscle pain and treat the condition accordingly. |
The Editors of FC&A
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| According to a study at the Boston University School of Medicine, commonly prescribed drugs called statins could lower your risk of developing Alzheimer's.
"This study confirms and extends previous reports and is the largest study on this topic in the U.S.," says lead researcher Dr. Robert C. Green. Following 2,581 people for six years, researchers found that people taking statins had an amazing 79 percent reduction in risk of AD.
The study was the first, Green notes, to include a large number of blacks - a group especially at risk for AD. |
Andreas Moritz
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| So when mainstream doctors heard about Clinton's heart condition, they immediately pointed the finger at the lack of statins as being the culprit. "See what happens when you don't take your pills?" Their words carried a warning for the rest of us who perhaps are just as careless when it comes to keeping our cholesterol levels in check. Some cardiologists believe that Clinton will now have to be on a much higher dose of a cholesterol-lowering drug for the rest of his life. This is certainly not unusual after undergoing a heart bypass operation, but it rarely if ever makes sense. |
Shannon Brownlee
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 Critics also note that eight of the nine authors who crafted the revised guidelines were being paid by the companies that make statins.
Previous chapters have looked at the various ways that unseen economic factors push doctors and hospitals to provide unneeded medical care, and how these financial forces may put patients at risk for the complications that are inevitable in medicine as well as preventable errors. |
Joan Liebmann-Smith, Ph. D., and Jacqueline Nardi Egan
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 Joint stiffness can also be a reaction to a number of drugs, including antibiotics such as minocycline, statins (used to lower cholesterol), and aromatase inhibitors (used to treat breast cancer).
WARNING SIGN
People with rheumatoid arthritis are at increased risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.
CREAKY KNEES
Do your knees make you sound like the Tin Man from The Wizard o/Oz? If there's no pain involved, your creaky knees may be a sign of some benign temporary mechanical maladjustment. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 The extract contains a number of cholesterol-lowering compounds known as statins. One of these is lovastatin, a substance also sold as a prescription drug under the brand name Mevacor. Lovastatin acts to lower cholesterol by inhibiting the action of an enzyme designated HMG-CoA reductase, which in turn limits the rate at which the body produces cholesterol. Studies have shown statins to lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart attack. Unlike prescription products, red yeast rice extract has shown no serious adverse side effects in clinical trials. |
Byron J. Richards, CCN
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 We know that there are no studies on statins and UCP3 function. We have known since 1996 that statins change healthy muscle function adversely in almost 100% of individuals taking them, as reflected by a clear increase in lactic acid and pyruvate measured in the blood of those taking them.170 This means that normal energy production in muscles is shifted into a condition where excess exhaust fumes are produced instead of healthy muscle cell energy production.
We also know that coenzyme Q10 is depleted by statin administration, as Q10 synthesis is based on cholesterol metabolism pathways. |
Mike Adams
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 People who take statins have suffered ravaging health consequences, including permanent damage to their liver, muscles, and nervous system. statins frequently cause people to lose their memory or feel confused. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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 A recent study suggests that exercise and modest diet changes can decrease cholesterol and resultant atherosclerosis comparable to certain statins. Most important, by staying active with moderate levels of physical activity, we can prevent cardiovascular disease independent of other risk factors and improve our life expectancy.
Aerobic exercise in particular is known to raise HDL cholesterol levels, and in women, HDL may be the most important cholesterol issue in predicting coronary artery disease. Williams found an average 0. |
| The group of drugs called the statins lower LDL and triglycerides, and some may raise HDL. Currently, these include lovastatin, pravastatin, simvastatin, fluvastatin, atorvastatin, and cerivastatin. They each come in several strengths. Bile acid sequestrants decrease LDL and increase HDL but do not lower triglycerides. These include cholestyramine, colestipol, and colesevelam. Nicotinic acid is used in three different forms: the immediate-release nicotinic acid (1.5-3 grams per day), the extended-release form (Niaspan, 1—2 grams), or the sustained-release form (nicotinic acid, 1-2 grams). |
| The niacin and statins seem to act synergistically to improve lipid parameters at lower doses, in a shorter amount of time, and more effectively than when either is used alone.240-242
The major problem with the therapeutic dosage (1.5 to 3 grams per day) has to do with side effects. Flushing responses are common. Anecdotally, some clinicians decrease the effects of niacin's flushing by having the patient start with a low dose, like 500 mg per day, increasing the dose weekly to achieve the desired dose, and taking the dose before bed or coadministering with 81 mg baby aspirin. |
| Use of statins to treat high cholesterol has been associated with muscle pain and decreased exercise tolerance that has been correlated with a reduction in CoQIO.201-204
MHMBMMMMMMMMMMMMHHM^
CoQIO
50-150 mg per day
Calcium. Calcium is most well known for its effects on bone health, but it can also be used to treat elevated cholesterol and hypertension. Calcium supplementation may produce modest reductions in blood pressure, usually only 1 or 2 points. |
Michael Friedman, ND
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 Because of these side effects and adverse reactions, the FDA recommends prescribing cholesterol medications and statins only when cholesterol levels are markedly elevated or in those who have significant other risks of developing (or already have) coronary heart disease. Even when statins are prescribed, only 40% of people treated with cholesterol drugs actually achieve target goals within the United States national guidelines.
Finally, it must be noted that a number of medications, such as glucocorticoids, diuretics, and thiazides, have been shown to affect lipid levels negatively. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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| In one clinical controlled trial, 59 patients who already had coronary heart disease and hypertriglyceridemia who were taking statins were able to significantly lower their levels of triglycerides and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) when taking the fish oil and the statin.276
Another drug/fish oil study showed that 3.36 grams per day of fish oils were able to further decrease the triglycerides, total cholesterol, and apolipoprotein E than just the statin alone.277 The most compelling reason to give fish oils is if it in fact lowers heart disease. |
Dr. Abram Hoffer, MD, FRCP (C) and Dr. Harold D. Foster, PhD
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 However, it is not easy to compare niacin and aspirin since no one has estimated the likely long-term effects of niacin in the same way that those of aspirin and the statins have been examined. Niacin cannot be patented, and, as a result, no company can profit from such a study.16,17
It is not suggested here that niacin alone is the answer to preventing Alzheimer's disease. Indeed, the most compelling evidence to date is that early memory loss can be reversed by the ascorbate minerals.18-20 Greater Alzheimer's disease risk also has been linked to low dietary intake of vitamin E and of fish. |
Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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 Berberine is a novel cholesterol-lowering drug working through a unique mechanism distinct from statins. Nature Med 10 (12): 1344-1351. 2004.
Kowalewski Z, Mrozikiewicz A, Bobkiewicz T et al. Toxicity of berberine sulfate. Acta Pol Pharm; 32(1):113-120. 1975.
Kumazawa Y, Itagaki A, Fukumoto M et al. Activation of peritoneal macrophages by berberine alkaloids in terms of induction of cytostatic activity. Int J Immunopharmacol; 6(6):587-592. 1984.
Leone MG, Cometa MF, Palmery M et al. HPLC determination of the major alkaloids extracted from Hydrastis canadensis L. |
Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
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| The widespread use of statins leads to other problems that are particularly significant for this book. "Most doctors give up on lifestyle changes because it takes an investment of time from both patient and physician," says one prominent physician. "It's easier to write a prescription for a statin."
"Maybe they shouldn't add statin to the water just quite yet," grumbled Fran.
Alas, we have heard this magic pill rhetoric many times before, recently, for example, with hormone replacement therapy (see below). It was not true then. It's probably not true now. |
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