Six out of seven had side effects

I stopped Statins because if muscle pain and Warfarin (back to aspirin) due to joint pain. Amiodarone gave me a tremble, floaters in my eyes and hastened my cataract surgery.  It also caused problems with my balance. Last month I developed an eye problem that is probably  Non-Arteritic” Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy (NAAION) that can be caused by Amiodarone (although it is about a year since last taking it) sudden drops in BP when asleep caused by BP meds.

Quote:

It is believed that a drop in blood pressure at night while we sleep is an important precipitating factor for the development of a NAAION. Seventy five percent of patients with NAAION report the vision loss upon waking in the morning leading researchers to believe that some ischemia must be occurring during sleep. This is not believed to be the only cause, but when accompanied by one or more of the systemic risk factors listed above, it plays an important role in the development and/or the progression of the vision loss. It is theorized that new highly potent anti-hypertensive drugs may reduce blood pressure too low at night and thus increase the risk of AION"

The cards are stacked aginst us.

I have taken statins for years without any side effects.  As another says the individual patient has to balance the benefit against any side effects

I was wrong - it's 30%

And it's 30%!  If over 70.

I'm certainly convinced.  The Daily Mail is - however - not revered by my GP

The Nurse at the practice I go to buys the Mail on Tuesdays as patients come in quoting it's health articles. My GP is prone to say 'That sounds like a D.M. story' He of course takes statins and still runs marathins.

The Article:

Millions of pensioners should routinely take statins to enable them to live longer, healthier lives, researchers claim.

A study has found that the cholesterol-lowering drugs reduce the risk of strokes by a third among the over-70s.

Experts say the drugs should be offered to this age group even if they are fit and well and have not previously suffered strokes or heart problems.

Currently, statins are not widely prescribed to patients over 70 as there is very little evidence as to whether they are effective, or even safe.

But the French researchers whose findings are published in the BMJ say routinely offering them to this age group could have an ‘important effect’ on public health.

Their study adds to evidence that statins should routinely be given to relatively healthy adults to prevent long-term illness and disability, and save lives.

At present, at least five million Britons take the drugs, which cost around 3p a day and work by preventing the build-up of cholesterol in the arteries, leading to heart attacks and strokes"

We need of course to ask who were the researchers and who did they work for?

Last summer, however, the NHS watchdog Nice said they should be prescribed to a total of 17 million adults – 40 per cent of the population – as they could save up to 2,000 lives a year.

But a number of leading doctors and academics worry this will lead to the population becoming ‘medicalised’, and there are also concerns over their long-term side effects which include type 2 diabetes and muscular pain.

**The exact benefits and risks of statins in the elderly are not clear as they do not normally take part in drug trials.** 

Researchers looked at 7,484 men and women, whose average age was 74, living in three cities in France - Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier.

They followed them for nine years, during which time 2,048 used a statin or a similar cholesterol-lowering drug called fibrates.

Over this period, 732 of the patients had a heart attack or stroke. From this group, 205 people died.

"The U.S. government is poised to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol " -- The Washington Post : 11th February 2015...

I now never wonder why my BP varies from month to month.

I did once complain to the MHRA and they asked for samples but replied that each brand was within its specification. Very often as you say it is the binding and other additives that causes the reaction rather than the drug. 

When I was taking Securon SR the modified release version of Verapamil I was all right with it but not with any other version.

The person who told me the Six out of Seven story is so sensitive that he came out in an all over reaction from the pre surgery wash he had to use prior to his heart surgery and his operation had to be cancelled.