Told husband not to take his statis,do you agree with me

Anyway I have done a lot of my own research and found out, again my belief, that the whole cholesterol scare is pretty much BS. Now that there is the internet their is no excuse to be misinformed and necessarily believe your doc. They are not necessarily up to date on the latest research and they have a vested interest in keeping your husband on a medication so that the doc has a customer for life with blood tests, office visits, etc.

 In my research I have found out that for one statin meds help about 1 out of 300 people. The number used is called the "NNT" which is the "Needed Number to Treat". Look that up for stains. That in itself is not very reasuring. Next that about 15 of those 300 will have BAD side affects. Then there is the whole issue on whether cholesterol actually causes heart attacks. There is good and bad choleterol and even within the bad cholesterol there is some good cholesterol. Now they are even finding other new causes of heart disease. Brand new research.

So in the end you have to do lots of reading. The blogs, in the scientific studies, in the New York Times etc etc.

I believe that in 5 or 10 years they won't be using statins.  That is my 2 cents.

Good luck.

Firstly I would state that the choice to discontinue statins for myself was a decision I made after researching fully into statins and their benefits/dangers and I would never dream of telling another person what is right in their own circumstance.  What I would say is that it's very clear, on factual medical research evidence, that taking statins as a 'precaution' rather than after a cardiac episode - ie just because your cholesterol is high or there's a remote possibility you 'might' develop a problem in the future is now absolutely and very clearly demonstrated to be a wrong approach.  It does more harm than good.  It's now been clinically proven that if a patient has not already had a stroke or a heart attack, taking statins can induce irreversible type 2 diabetes and this can then lead to heart problems.  Thus taking statins in that situation has the REVERSE effect - it causes rather than prevents heart problems.  you say your husband's cholesterol was 'a bit high' - my personal view is that high cholesterol alone is absolutely not justification for taking such a toxic drug as statins.  Mine was at 9 and my doctor intentionally used 'scare tactics' to get me to blindly follow their advice to take statins and I regret immensely that I didnt do my homework first.  I just stopped taking them and to be honest my doctors didn't even question me about it nor had they offered me a further blood test or liver enzyme test - pretty hopeless level of care really.  I have stopped worrying about the 'numbers', I try to eat healthily, do regular exercise etc and try to get back from the problems the statins caused.  I have normal blood pressure and blood sugar levels, so the high cholesterol reading is not something I'm going to stress about.  I couldnt live with the damage that statins were causing me and I took the decision that in my personal circumstances, I'd rather take the risk than be disabled and in pain and with my health damaged by these toxins.  I hope that helps.  

Just as a last point - beware of so called cholesterol lowering spreads, drinks, etc., which lower all cholesterol - good and bad.  It's essential to keep a healthy level of 'good' cholesterol, which in itself helps remove the bad cholesterol from the blood.

I have familial hypercholesterimia .. 234 mg... borderline high... am a vegan, work out regularly -1 hr on elliptical trainer, normal bmi. 73 yrs old.   took pravastatin, had awful reaction....pain in right side, maliaise, slight nausia, flu-like symptoms... Took it for about 1 month.  symptoms started within 8 days.  When I stopped, it took almost 3 weeks to feel okay...the clearance half-life is 77 hours....a long time to clear.  I will never take a statin.  ever.  Don't know if they are toxic, however, they are for me.  

advice... remember food is in your mouth for 30 seconds or so... and in the rest of your body for maybe 2 days.... Eat healthy.  exercise.  

also, my cholesterol did drop to normal when I was on the statin.  I'm exercising more in hopes to increase my hdl--which is fairly high already. I've always had low nomal triglycerides.

Good luck... hope this helps in informing you... and I sure agree with your conclusion.  My son is a doctor who says, stay off as many meds as you can... especially ones you see pushed on tv, and particularly for me, statins.  

That is all

When I learned that permanent nerve and muscle damage could result I decided after a lot of thought to stop taking them, on the basis that I'd rather risk a second heart attack than live with the negative effects for the rest of my life.

I didn't need to change my diet because it was already high fibre and low fat/sugar/salt and I already exercised regularly, but the exercise was virtually impossible when I was on statins because of the pain and weakness.

One gp prescribed a non-statin cholesterol lowering drug:  same negative effects  showed up in less than a week so I stopped them too.

For about 18 months I've been taking Psyllium Husk powder most days:  4 tsps mixed into my porridge.  I had a cholesterol test after about a year and my levels of "bad" cholesterol were slightly reduced and I'm having another test this week just to check.   The only potential negative effect of the powder is if you try and take it without liquid, because it expands on contact with fluid, which could cause choking, so be careful of that issue if you decide to try it.

Presumably because of recent negative publicity about statins over the last couple of years, there are now various over the counter powders available:  I tried some free samples but decided to stick with the psyllium powder because these new powders are all full of sugar and salt and other stuff I don't want to put in my body.      

The dietician at cardiac rehab told us that so far she knows of no cholesterol lowering substance that only lowers "bad" cholesterol:  even the special margarine type spreads don't distinguish.   Our bodies do need cholesterol for brain and other functions in our bodies and low cholesterol has been implicated as a possible factor in Altzheimers and other types of dementia.

I'm not sure if you can still access older posts on this site, but there's been a lot of information posted about various issues to do with statins, including that what's regarded as safe cholesterol levels were reduced considerably back in the 70's (I think that's right but others will no doubt correct me on here if not) by a US committee on which drug manufacturers were strongly represented.

To be fair, I know quite a few people who've been on statins for years with no ill effects, but for those of us who do experience negative effects it's a hard decision to make whether or not to discontinue taking them.

I tried various "alternative" remedies but none of them worked:  two acquaintances recommended cayenne pepper and said it worked, but it turned out they just "trusted" it worked and hadn't had their cholesterol tested after using it!  .   Be as careful of hype and misrepresentation in that field as you would be of the multinational pharmaceutical companies:  in fact, it's often the same companies manufacturing both types of products under different names - sneaky, arent they?   

I hope that's not too much information in one post!   Good luck  - it's difficult to go against the "experts" when your future health is at stake and only your  husband can make the final decision.

I am one who didn't take statins after being prescribed - after two years on Artorvastatin and multiple side effects gradually snowballing, I secretly weaned myself off them. Doctor then prescribed Rotuvastatin. The first pill was almost in my mouth when I had visions of side effects continuing and growing. I tossed the lot. Next he prescribed Ezetrol which works in the gut rather than the liver. I tossed that too. He made excuses for all the side effects I had endured. I no longer see him.

Feeling much better now clean of statins. Cholesterol might be raised but so was my fathers. He too abandoned statins which improved his health. He died aged 90.

Pharmacuetical companies (whose business model is to have every human being reliant on at least one drug they produce) are reaping huge benefits from the statin train - 40 million Americans are prescribed them and it is a US$20 billion a year industry in that country alone. Not to mention all the other medications prescribed for the myriad damages they do to the patient.

Jaycee, try anything else before comitting to statins, and best of luck to you and your husband.