| Sponsor and perform clinical research on how to cure and reverse the neuropathy caused by statins. 4. Perform clinical research and recommend the best drug treatments to mitigate the pain and make other symptoms of statin-induced neuropathy more tolerable. 5. Proactively offer reparation to statin users who have suffered neuropathy. The petition will be presented to the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufactuers Association and to the Medical Affairs Departments of the companies listed, as well as any additional companies that may be identified as relevant over time http://www.petitiononline. |
Steven V. Joyal
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 As a general precaution, anyone who takes more than 2 g of niacin daily or more than 500 mg at the same time as statins should undergo periodic liver function tests.) Nicotinic acid may also worsen glycemic control.
Nicotinamide may be effective in supporting blood sugar levels and may prevent the development of diabetes in certain high-risk groups, although trial results so far have been mixed. Inositol hexaniacinate is less likely to cause flushing, but it does not have the potent lipid-regulating qualities of nicotinic acid. |
| The best argument for the use of statins to reduce the risk of heart disease in diabetes can be seen in the results of the double-blind, placebo-controlled Collaborative Atorvastatin Diabetes Study (CARDS), in which more than 2,800 men and women participated. Daily treatment with a statin reduced major cardiovascular events by 37 percent compared with a placebo. Of great importance, the benefit to patients was observed independent of their LDL-cholesterol or triglyceride levels at the start of the study. |
Hyla Cass
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 Irritability, Mood Swings, and Depression
Researchers at University of California at San Diego have collected a series of case studies of people who became very irritable while on statins. They became their normal selves again after discontinuing the drug, then became irritable again when the drug was reintroduced. These medicines can also change hormone balance in men in ways that cause them to grow female-like breasts. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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 If you are a woman of any age or a man over seventy without heart disease, don't get your cholesterol checked and don't take statins. If you're a man with multiple risk factors (obesity, smoking, hypertension, family history), change the risk factors! If you can't, a statin will decrease heart attacks a little, maybe, but won't save your life. Ditto for women with heart disease. If you don't have heart disease, don't take aspirin or clopidogrel. If you are a man with heart disease, you should take a statin and aspirin. I don't think one statin is better than another. |
Dr. Sharon Moalem
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 Although they are considered generally "safe" drugs, over time, statins can cause serious side effects, including liver damage. If you knew that you might be able to reduce your excess cholesterol by getting enough sunlight to convert it to vitamin D, wouldn't you rather hit the tanning salon before starting a lifetime of Lipitor? That's food for thought.
CHAPTER IV
HEY, BUD, CAN YOU DO ME A FAVA? |
Hyla Cass
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| Research from the University of Pittsburgh finds that people taking statins perform worse on tests of learning, cognition (thinking ability), and memory. One brilliant professor whose mental abilities went downhill after starting the drugs was sent to me for evaluation of his possible Alzheimer's disease. Instead, I took a careful drug history, saw the connection, and stopped his medication. I also added in some nutrients such as CoQ|0, fish oil, and other mind enhancers, as well as cholesterol-lowering nutrients. Luckily for him, he soon recovered his brain power, unlike others less fortunate. |
Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey
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 Soluble fiber (psyllium—given as Metamucil supplement) appears to have an additive cholesterol-lowering effect when combined with statins. In a randomized clinical trial of hyperlipidemic subjects, 10 mg simvastatin plus 15 g psyllium decreased TC by 66 mg/dl (26%) and decreased LDL-C by 63 mg/dl (36%) [269].
The NCEP ATP III recommends that dietary supplementation with viscous soluble fiber is an effective therapeutic option to lower LDL-C. On average, an increase in viscous fiber of 5-10 g/day is accompanied by an approximate 5% reduction in LDL-C [270, 271]. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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| All this having been said, you may, in the short or long term, benefit from statins if:
1. You are diabetic.
2. You have had a heart attack.
3. You've been diagnosed with heart disease but have not had a heart
If your blood pressure is high or borderline, keeping it down with drugs may be necessary as well. High blood pressure is dangerous and does damage to artery walls.
Both types of drugs deplete nutrients, which must be replenished, as you'll see next. |
| As I explained to Mark, any person on statins who experiences significant new muscle pain, weakness, or tenderness should let his or her doctor know, as it may be a sign of muscle damage. Continuing to take the drug in spite of muscle damage can lead to rhabdomyolysis, a potentially fatal condition. If you have myopathy, taking CoQ10 is essential whether or not you continue on the drug. Myopathy is an obvious sign of CoQ10 depletion.
The good news is that CoQ10 is easy to supplement. |
Arthur Agatston, M.D.
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 Of course, statins did nothing for the waistline. Still, the prevailing wisdom was to forget about diet and take the drugs. statins were (and still are) expensive. However, studies showed that the incidence of heart attacks could be diminished by approximately 30 percent with this class of medications.
I won't burden you with the scientific explanation behind statins. These compounds work by blocking the production of cholesterol in the liver. There has been some controversy associated with them, mainly over the possibility that they cause liver problems. |
Michael T. Murray
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 Red yeast rice has shown benefit in clinical studies, but in an effort to protect the drug companies the FDA has restricted these products from having any active compounds.
The statins are very popular prescriptions for diabetics, but as shown earlier, niacin can be more effective. However, some people will be able to achieve target cholesterol levels only with the aid of a statin.
Statins are also gaining popularity as a prescription method to lower C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation and a risk factor for heart disease. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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| It was also pointed out that the efficacy of SSRIs is greater than that of medications used for other purposes, like statins. Others have argued that SSRIs may not be much better than placebo but that the relapse rate is much higher on placebo. However, studies following patients who were treated with antidepressants did not show that they did better over the long haul. In fact, they may have done worse, even accounting for baseline differences in symptom severity.3 There are no studies showing that in the long run people treated with antidepressants are better off. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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| D-ribose can boost heart function in those with coronary artery disease, hypertension, and those on statins. It also is useful for treating fibromyalgia, where there are pains all over due to lack of oxygen in the muscles and surrounding tissue. Athletes, especially marathon runners, love it. Combine your D-ribose with L-carnitine (see page 131) and CoQ10 for a great boost in energy.
Caution: Since D-ribose can lower blood sugar, diabetics need to monitor their insulin levels when taking it. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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| This increased risk has led the American Heart Association and the National Cholesterol Education Panel of the National Institutes of Health to call them "heart-disease equivalents," a label that has been used to justify a push for more treatment of diabetics with statins for the prevention of heart attacks as well as their recurrence in diabetics with a history of heart disease. But just because they have a greater risk of heart attacks doesn't mean they will get extra benefit from taking cholesterol-lowering drugs. |
| I don't think one statin is better than another. The statins like Crestor that have greater potency are offset by more side effects. I recommend taking a statin that you can buy in generic form, like atorvastatin (generic Lipitor), since it costs much less. |
| The second number (0.2%) doesn't look so great, and that doesn't take into account the risks from statins themselves, which I will get to shortly.
What about the evidence for heart-attack prevention if you don't have a prior history of heart disease? |
Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey
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| Antioxidant properties of statins [Russian]. Kardiologia 45, 65-72.
112. Guzik, T. J., and Harrion, D. G. (2006). Vascular NADPH oxidases as drug targets for novel antioxidant strategies. 125. Drug Discovery Today 11, 524-533.
113. Richardson,M.A.,Sanders,T.,Palmer,J.L.,Greisinger,A.,and Singletary, S. E. (2000). Complementary/alternative medicine use in a comprehensive cancer center and the implications for oncology J. Clin. Oncol. 18,2505-2514. Burstein, H. J., Gelber, S., Guadagnoli, E., and Weeks, J. C. (1999). Use of alternative medicine by women with early-stage breast cancer. N. Engl. |
Mehmet C. Oz., M.D. and Michael F. Roizen, M.D.
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 Diagnosis, though, comes after an echocardiogram.) statins delay the process, and surgery can repair or replace valves. Even better, researchers are developing ways to make those repairs without opening your chest, which cuts back on suture costs, not to mention the ICU stay. cium and the amount of double-dip chocolate cones you've snorted down in your life. Calcification in arteries is the body's attempt to heal those inflammatory plaques in your body. The calcium stabilizes the plaque like cement reinforcement of a plaster wall. |
Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey
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| It is recommended that niacin (1-3 g/day) be used to increase HDL-C levels, typically in patients with low HDL-C levels; they are also often prescribed with statins to treat patients with hypercholesterolemia or dyslipidemia. Although the use of niacin in clinical practice has been limited because of adverse side effects such as cutaneous flushing and hepatic toxicity [256], recently, dyslipidemia has been treated through the development of new niacin formulations that elicit less flushing and hepatic toxicity [257, 258].
B. |
| Several randomized controlled trials reported a reduced frequency of cardiovascular events and an improved lipid profile when niacin was taken alone or in combination with statins (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors) [251-255]. Of note in the study by Brown et al., however, was the inclusion of the "antioxidant cocktail" (800 IU vitamin E, 1000 mg vitamin C, 25 mg (3-carotene, and 100 pg selenium) with drug therapy. The antioxidants blunted the effect of simvastatin/niacin treatment and did not reduce stenosis progression, unlike the simvastatin/ niacin treatment. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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| CLASSES OF CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING DRUGS
BILE ACID SEQUESTRANTS: cholestyramine (Questran), colesevelan (Welchol), and colestipol (Colestid)
Bile acid sequestrants are sometimes used in combination with statins, and may be used alone in women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Actions: Bile acid sequestrants work by preventing cholesterol from being absorbed, and increasing the amount that's flushed out of the body. |
| FlBRATES: bezafibrate (Bezalip), ciprofibrate (Modalim), clofibrate (Atromid-S), fenofibrate (TriCor), and gemfibrozil (Lopid)
These drugs work well to lower triglycerides and "bad" LDL and raise "good" HDL (high-density lipoproteins); they may be used with statins in diabetics because fibrates help to reduce insulin resistance.
Actions: These drugs work through a mechanism similar to those of some blood sugar-lowering (hypoglycemic) drugs. |
Elaine Magee
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 Emphasizing diet changes in general can boost the success rate of statins, while providing additional health benefits and a possible alternative for those for whom drugs are not a viable option," Dr. Jenkins adds. Most exciting is that these two together show more beneficial LDL cholesterol changes than doubling the dose of the statin medication. Talk with your doctor if you want to follow the plan, as your medication may need to be adjusted. for anyone concerned about reducing their risk of heart disease. Here's what you need to know.
Power up with plant sterols. |
Dr. Steven R. Gundry
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 Nonetheless, he was hypertensive, had an enlarging aorta, very low HDL {"good") cholesterol, and high triglycerides—despite being on statins and antihypertensives. He came to me after his own doctor had diagnosed diabetes. In our first meeting, he still couldn't get over the irony. "I'm doing everything right! How come everything is going wrong?"
I explained to Thomas that the lack of quality fats and greens in his diet, along with his daily jogging, were signaling his genes that he was an unsuccessful animal, working too hard for inferior food. His killer genes were activated. |
Peter h. Fraser and Harry Massey
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 It is interesting to note that some statins and cholesterol-lowering medications have the curious side effect of disrupting short-term and long-term memory.5 These side effects are often dismissed because there is no known mechanism in conventional biology to explain them. However, they make perfect sense in NES theory because the information imprinted into fats in the bloodstream may act as a kind of body-wide memory storage and retrieval system. |
The Editors of FC&A
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| If you have a cholesterol problem, statins might provide a double benefit.
CHAPTER 24 Smart solutions for menopause symptoms
What is menopause? Menopause occurs when the ovaries stop producing eggs each month, hormone levels — especially estrogen - drop, and menstruation ends. It can happen all at once, if ovaries are surgically removed, or more gradually, over several years.
When does it OCCUr? For half of all women, menopause takes place by age 50. It may happen earlier or later depending on your genes.
What are the symptoms? |
Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels
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 First, for most of the healthy people being targeted by this mass marketing, there is no good evidence that the statins can reduce the chances of an early death. Second, and more importantly, the promotional focus on cholesterol takes attention away from other effective and efficient ways to make life longer and healthier.
In 2003, several officials from the World Health Organization became so alarmed by some of Pfizer's "awareness-raising" activities that they wrote a statement denouncing the promotion, published as a letter in The Lancet. |
Frederic Vagnini, M.D. and Barry Fox, Ph.D.
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 To physicians, the statins are known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, so-named because they interfere with the creation of cholesterol at a point that requires the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. The statin drugs inhibit the action of this enzyme, derailing the process and reducing the amount of cholesterol in the body.
Unfortunately, this same enzyme is also needed for the production of coenzyme Q10 (or CoQ10, for short). CoQ10 is a naturally occurring enzyme required for the production of cellular energy. |
| Belonging to the popular group of drugs known as the statins, atorvastatin is used to reduce blood levels of cholesterol and fat.
Possible Side Effects
The drug's more common side effects include headache, chest pain, rash, stomach upset, urinary tract infection, and pain in the joints and muscles. |
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