.......Fatigue, muscle pain, muscle wastage or rhabdomyolysis (which can be potentially fatal), cognitive impairment, liver damage, kidney failure, nausea, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, or constipation, dizziness, flu-like symptoms, migraines, forgetfulness, and disorientation.. these are side effects that you should usually see on a standard medication information leaflet for statins. For the avoidance of doubt, these drugs are used to reduce cholesterol levels for patients who have reported elevated cholesterol levels on testing. Now this is an increasingly controversial approach in prevention of heart disease. Why? Well, the answer to that partly lies in the quotation by the famed physician Sir William Osler - "From any attempted cure or treatment of disease which turns out to be worse than the disease itself, the good Lord deliver us". The side effects listed above would stop most people in their tracks. Now doctors need to carry out risk - benefit analysis for any drug, treatment, procedure, investigation - indeed any intervention that is part of their clinical management. Does the risk benefit analysis for statins stack up? Well, each patient and situation is different. But increasingly for me, I would be hard put to justify their use in a majority of cases. The risks I believe outweigh the benefits.
Why do I say this? Firstly, there are possible serious side effects not listed above - like type two diabetes. In a comprehensive meta analysis (essentially an aggregation of similar studies done under similar conditions and criteria) involving thirteen statin trials, each with at least one thousand patients - or more - in each trial, concluded that there was indeed an increase, even though very small, in the development of Type 2 diabetes in patients treated with statins. A more recent study, published in the Journal of American Medicine JAMA, analysed the data from previously published studies and the results indicate that intensive-dose statin therapy is associated with an increased risk of new-onset diabetes compared with moderate-dose therapy.
Another reason is motor neuron disease (MND) or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is associated with the wastage caused by statin use. ALS is a chronic, progressive and often fatal neurological disease, with no cure. A study, carried out in 2008, revealed a high proportion of patients with ALS who received statin therapy before their ALS diagnosis, reported muscle weakness and pain associated with statin treatment. Yet, the health establishment is still slow to recognise ALS as an identified side effect of statins. The claim is that statins have been widely prescribed since the mid-1990s, which may mean that some patients may develop ALS for quite unrelated reasons. But furthermore, there have been reported links between the use of statins and the development of Alzheimers, Parkinsons and cancer.
The statin debate goes on...... part of which continues in my next blog entry.
To your abundant excellent health,
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert
Sources:
‘Statins, neuromuscular degenerative disease and an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-like syndrome: an analysis of individual case safety reports from vigibase.’, Drug Saf. 2007;30(6):515-25.
‘Muscle Pain and Weakness With Statin Treatment May Herald ALS’ published online 26.09.08, medscape.com/viewarticle/581113
‘Statins and risk of incident diabetes: a collaborative meta-analysis of randomised statin trials’ The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9716, Pages 735 - 742, 27 February 2010
‘Balancing the benefits of statins versus a new risk— diabetes’ The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9716, Pages 700 - 701, 27 February 2010
Health Sciences Institute: Low cholesterol... but at what cost to your health? Accessed 22/07/2011
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