Side effects of cholesterol drugs can be dealt with

MikeFlyMike

I thought that article title was an April Fools Joke!

Check out this great article on "how to get back on statins" - "Those side effects are really just in your head". and SURPRISE, "Author received a grant from Merck". Maybe I'm a conspiracy theorist, but I see the denials around statins paramount to the cigarette industries denials until recently.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/01/statins-heart-disease-aging/2035309/

I'm almost 50 and proud to be 100% drug free. Just me and my bacon.

caribougal

The problem is that most Americans WON'T make the diet and lifestyle changes needed to lower their cardiovascular risk (or diabetes risk, or forget about risk... actual symptoms!) So, in absence of that, statins have been proven to significantly reduce risk of cardiovascular events. And the side effects, which of course ARE real, are usually mild and/or transitory. Severe side effects are rare, so most doctors would agree that the benefits significantly outweigh the risks.

My mom is a perfect example. Obese. She absolutely knows she could be completely off her daily statin, her ARB, and her metformin if she would just lose weight. Her doctor has told her that multiple times. She repeats it often to me. She knows exactly what she needs to do. And yet... she doesn't. So, she spends hundreds of dollars a month on drugs, complains about the high cost of her pharmacy bill, plus all the lab tests that go along with it. And as she's eating dessert, she's saying "I really shouldn't.".

So imagine the frustration of every family doctor in the US. Every 10 minutes they see a new patient, just like my mom, one after the other after the other. None of them listen to the advice to lose weight and exercise. So what can they do? The only thing is to prescribe what's been proven to reduce risk, maybe buy these patients a few extra years before their heart attack or complications from diabetes or both, and hope that what they're doing helps.

And since people won't diet and exercise, the pharma companies have plenty of work to do to make more drugs to reduce risks or severity of all of our obesity-related diseases.

It's a sad state of affairs.

MikeFlyMike

The problem is that most Americans WON'T make the diet and lifestyle changes needed to lower their cardiovascular risk (or diabetes risk, or forget about risk... actual symptoms!)

It's a sad state of affairs.

INDEED!

I do worry that statins also reduce good cholesterol and decrease the bodies CoQ10, two mechanisms for a healthy cardiac system.
To me, eating crap just ain't worth it. I have family history of Diabetes, heart attacks, multiple cancers - up and down both sides of my family tree. I am the only one without serious health problems. I take my health super seriously because of my genetic predisposition - I suppose I could just have been adopted

caribougal

Most statins actually raise HDL, but not very dramatically. They boost it more at the higher doses, but still not very much. When I would talk to docs about statins raising HDL, they would roll their eyes.

HDL... exercise for the win again!

I've never heard of statins lowering CoQ10, but I have heard of people taking it as a supplement to reduce statin side effects, but I'm not sure if there's real strong data there. It's been a few years since I've been in the statin biz, so I'm probably behind the times in my knowledge there.

Howbouto

The problem is that most Americans WON'T make the diet and lifestyle changes needed to lower their cardiovascular risk (or diabetes risk, or forget about risk... actual symptoms!) So, in absence of that, statins have been proven to significantly reduce risk of cardiovascular events. And the side effects, which of course ARE real, are usually mild and/or transitory. Severe side effects are rare, so most doctors would agree that the benefits significantly outweigh the risks.

My mom is a perfect example. Obese. She absolutely knows she could be completely off her daily statin, her ARB, and her metformin if she would just lose weight. Her doctor has told her that multiple times. She repeats it often to me. She knows exactly what she needs to do. And yet... she doesn't. So, she spends hundreds of dollars a month on drugs, complains about the high cost of her pharmacy bill, plus all the lab tests that go along with it. And as she's eating dessert, she's saying "I really shouldn't.".

So imagine the frustration of every family doctor in the US. Every 10 minutes they see a new patient, just like my mom, one after the other after the other. None of them listen to the advice to lose weight and exercise. So what can they do? The only thing is to prescribe what's been proven to reduce risk, maybe buy these patients a few extra years before their heart attack or complications from diabetes or both, and hope that what they're doing helps.

And since people won't diet and exercise, the pharma companies have plenty of work to do to make more drugs to reduce risks or severity of all of our obesity-related diseases.

It's a sad state of affairs.

I don't disagree with you. However, I also think there is way too much misinformation about weight loss. I know when I eat the low fat, high carb diet (high whole grain) diet that is so "heart healthy" I am starving!! My craving for sweets are stronger than any desire to change could be. And then I feel like a failure and throw in the towel to a binge and repeat the nasty cycle. However, once I cut sugar and grains, that all disappeared. However, when you suggest this to most doctors and most people they claim it is a "fad" diet and not healthy.

caribougal

The problem is that most Americans WON'T make the diet and lifestyle changes needed to lower their cardiovascular risk (or diabetes risk, or forget about risk... actual symptoms!) So, in absence of that, statins have been proven to significantly reduce risk of cardiovascular events. And the side effects, which of course ARE real, are usually mild and/or transitory. Severe side effects are rare, so most doctors would agree that the benefits significantly outweigh the risks.

My mom is a perfect example. Obese. She absolutely knows she could be completely off her daily statin, her ARB, and her metformin if she would just lose weight. Her doctor has told her that multiple times. She repeats it often to me. She knows exactly what she needs to do. And yet... she doesn't. So, she spends hundreds of dollars a month on drugs, complains about the high cost of her pharmacy bill, plus all the lab tests that go along with it. And as she's eating dessert, she's saying "I really shouldn't.".

So imagine the frustration of every family doctor in the US. Every 10 minutes they see a new patient, just like my mom, one after the other after the other. None of them listen to the advice to lose weight and exercise. So what can they do? The only thing is to prescribe what's been proven to reduce risk, maybe buy these patients a few extra years before their heart attack or complications from diabetes or both, and hope that what they're doing helps.

And since people won't diet and exercise, the pharma companies have plenty of work to do to make more drugs to reduce risks or severity of all of our obesity-related diseases.

It's a sad state of affairs.

I don't disagree with you. However, I also think there is way too much misinformation about weight loss. I know when I eat the low fat, high carb diet (high whole grain) diet that is so "heart healthy" I am starving!! My craving for sweets are stronger than any desire to change could be. And then I feel like a failure and throw in the towel to a binge and repeat the nasty cycle. However, once I cut sugar and grains, that all disappeared. However, when you suggest this to most doctors and most people they claim it is a "fad" diet and not healthy.

So, so true!

strychnine7

It's good to see this thread hasn't turned into an "automatically-blame-the-pharmaceutical-companies" thread.

Do those people lie for profit? Yes. So do most organizations. One must expect that. In light of this obvious fact, only a moron would trust what ANY individual or organization would say without performing their own due diligence.

It sucks that there is so much misinformation about proper health, but with the advent of the internet and the extreme wealth (material and informational) the average person now enjoys, there is no real sympathy to be had from me when they get taken for a ride. It's just too damn easy to cut through the bull**** these days.

And on that note... I still don't understand how people trust ANYONE or ANYTHING associated with government (such as those fascistic pharmaceutical-, agricultural-, energy-corporations, etc.). If I lied to anyone as much as governments (and their cronies) lie to everyone, I'd get told to pound sand every time I opened my mouth. But those *kitten* get a pass every time. Unbelievable.
*END RANT*

MikeFlyMike

DISCLOSURE: I have Merck and Pfizer in my stock portfolio

Lets all just make ourselves WELL with awesome food. BACON BACON BACON

Howbouto

heh. I'm mostly about personal responsiblility but I do believe weight loss/healthy eating information should be clarified. I'm more likely to "blame" the doctors and government than the pharmaceutical companies. They are corporations and they do what corporations do, make money. Doctors should be required to take extensive nutrition classes and the government needs to stop subsidizing wheat, corn and soy (hmm I wonder why they are in everything?) and start subsidizing fruits and vegatables.

caribougal

Good points, everyone.

As someone who has worked in a big pharma company, I can promise you they are full of thousands and thousands of awesome people, all trying to do their best work. The scientists are truly passionate about their fields of research, the investigators take their jobs ultra-seriously, etc etc. At the top, decisions are made that may not reflect the values of the people below, and that has to do with protecting the almighty stock price.

I don't blame the doctors. They studied what they were told to study in med school, and nutrition is barely a blip in the curriculum. Unless they have a personal interest in it, they generally don't know any more than the average Joe.

It bugs the hell out of me that both big agriculture and big pharma have so much lobbying power. That's the true evil, because IMO, that's the source of all the influence that puts profits (and re-election campaigns) before our health. When I worked in pharma, we were encouraged to join the "employee PAC". Ummm.... no! Don't think so. Thankfully, there was never any pressure to join, other than the initial email.