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Doctors refuse to accept statins' side effects
The British government recently recommended that everyone over the age of 50 should be given statin drugs. Statins are drugs used to lower cholesterol and are "remarkably safe" and with few side effects. But are they?
Could it be that the reason they are considered to be so safe and side-effect free is because doctors simply refuse to believe their patients when those patients report side effects. Most patients on statins are middle-aged or older. For this reason, the odd muscular twinge or weakness or forgetfulness or . . . there are a lot of symptoms of statin poisoning . . . are put down to their ages. "You are getting on a bit, what do you expect?" seems to be the doctor's response.
The study below shows just how hard it is for a patient to report a side effect of the most used set of drugs in common usage today.
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Golomb BA, McGraw, JJ, Evans MA, Dimsdale JE. Physician Response to Patient Reports of Adverse Drug Effects: Implications For Patient-Targeted Adverse Effect Surveillance. Drug Safety 2007; 30: 669-675. Abstract: Objective: Using a patient targeted survey, we sought to assess patient representations of how physicians responded when patients presented with possible adverse drug reactions (ADRs). As a demonstration case, we took one widely prescribed drug class, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors ('statins'). This information was used to assess whether a patient-targeted ADR surveillance approach may complement provider reporting, potentially fostering identification of additional patients with possible or probable ADRs. Methods: A total of 650 adult patients taking statins with self-reported ADRs completed a survey. Depending on the problems reported, some patients completed additional surveys specific to the most commonly cited statin ADRs: muscle, cognitive or neuropathy related. Patients were asked to report drug, dose, ADR character, time course of onset with drug, recovery with discontinuation, recurrence with rechallenge, quality-of-life impact, and interactions with their physician in relation to the perceived ADR. This paper focuses on patients' representation of the doctor-patient interaction and physicians' attribution, when patients report perceived ADRs. Results: Eighty-seven percent of patients reportedly spoke to their physician about the possible connection between statin use and their symptom. Patients reported that they and not the doctor most commonly initiated the discussion regarding the possible connection of drug to symptom (98% vs 2% cognition survey, 96% vs 4% neuropathy survey, 86% vs 14% muscle survey; p < 10-8 for each). Physicians were reportedly more likely to deny than affirm the possibility of a connection. Rejection of a possible connection was reported to occur even for symptoms with strong literature support for a drug connection, and even in patients for whom the symptom met presumptive literature-based criteria for probable or definite drug-adverse effect causality. Assuming that physicians would not likely report ADRs in these instances, these patient-submitted ADR reports suggest that targeting patients may boost the yield of ADR reporting systems. Conclusions: Since low reporting rates are considered to contribute to delays in identification of ADRs, findings from this study suggest that additional putative cases may be identified by targeting patients as reporters, potentially speeding recognition of ADRs. |
Once you learn what statins actually do, it is not difficult to see that a wide range of side effects are unavoidable.
To the right is the pathway by which cholesterol is made — starting with Acetyl-CoA at the top and ending with cholesterol at the bottom. Several different enzymes catalyse the various steps of the process. One of those enzymes is HMG Reductase.
Statins are HMG Reductase inhibitors; they inhibit the production of that one enzyme and that inhibits the whole of the process which follows. This is how statins reduce cholesterol production in the body.
BUT, there are several other essential compounds which are also made in this same process. They too are reduced. And that can have devastating consequenses.
If Mevalonate is inhibited, side effects are:
- Glial cell inhibition
- Amnesia
- Confusion
- Disorientation
- Forgetfulness
- Senility
With Ubiquinone (Co-enzyme Q-10) inhibited, side effects include:
- Reduced energy
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Congestive heart failure
- Shortness of breath
- Fluid retention
- Increased frequency of urination
- Orthopnea & recumbency dyspnea
- Cell integrity effects
- Hepatitis
- Myopathy
- Rhabdomyolysis
- Rhabdomyelitis
- Neuropathy
- Oxidation effects
- Mitochondrial mutations
With Dolichol inhibited, side effects include:
- Neuropeptide dysfunction
- Thought disturbances
- Sensory disturbances
- Emotional disturbance
- glycolysis (cell signalling) is inhibited
With Abnormal prenylated proteins, we have:
- Hyperphosphorylated tau protein effects
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- Frontal lobe dementia
- Multiple system atrophy
- Parkinsonism
Reduced Cholesterol results in:
- Insufficient Adrenal hormones
- Lower Sex hormones
- Immune function is compormised
- Body cell building and repair is compromised
With so many documented adverse side effects and harm to those prescribed statins, one has to ask why doctors are ignoring them while being so insistent on getting everyone's cholesterol level down to an arbitrary level which has shown no benefit in terms of overall life expectancy.
Last updated 30 March 2010
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