LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

statins

Statins Have Shocking Benefits in Diabetics

by

Back to my favorite topic.  The statin class of drugs to lower cholesterol and prevent heart attacks.  Regular readers of the Rantings will know how I feel about this class of drugs.

To sum it up, they suck at preventing a first heart attack.  Without going into detail here, you can read an overview by clicking on a previous blog article here.

For those of you who have been living in a cave, the statin class of drugs (think Lipitor, Crestor) was designed and promoted to lower cholesterol.  By lowering cholesterol, we made a big jump in assuming that your risk of heart disease would also go down.  After years of the drugs being given out like candy, we realized that the statins just weren’t that good at preventing heart attacks.

Then the studies came out that found that total cholesterol really wasn’t all that great of a risk factor for heart disease anyway.  This left the statins in a huge vacuum.

Luckily, some creative researchers were able to create the idea that statins had “pleiotropic” effects–meaning that their benefit on heart disease was due to other factors besides cholesterol lowering.  The race was on to determine what these additional benefits might be.  Make sense, right?  We have a drug making billions of dollars, so we should find out what they’re good for, right?

First came inflammation as measured by CRP.  Trials (the biggest being the Jupiter trial) were done that looked at whether statins could lower inflammation as measured by CRP.  And it seems like statins were able to lower CRP levels.  Great, so now we have an expensive medication with a long list of side effects that lowers CRP.  The problem?  So does:

  1. Avoiding refined carbohydrates
  2. Losing weight lowers CRP
  3. Exercise lowers CRP
  4. Healthy fats lower CRP levels
  5. Increasing dietary fiber intake lowers CRP levels
  6. Increasing fruit and vegetable intake will lower CRP levels

Overall, when you compare lifestyle changes to statins in preventing heart disease and lowering CRP levels, there is no comparison.

So, scratch the possibility that we should look at statins and CRP levels and hang our prescription hat on this.

Which brings us to this particular study.  Researchers looked at 26 patients with type 2 diabetes taking either simvastatin 40 mg (Zocor) or atorvastatin 10 mg (Lipitor).  Here are the jaw dropping conclusions:

  1. Both lowered cholesterol levels about the same.
  2. Vitamin D levels were increased more in the atorvastatin group.
  3. While inflammation (CRP) and markers of oxidative stress (MDA) were lower, it was because of the higher vitamin D levels.

Sooooo..

Atorvastatin increases vitamin D levels.

A long list of side effects, $200 / month and really sucks at preventing heart attacks.  Why not just take vitamin D?

Withdrawal of Statins Increases Event Rates – (03-28-02)

by

Withdrawal of Statins Increases Event Rates

This study finds that when patients go off of their cholesterol lowering meds, the serum cholesterol bounces right back to pre treatment levels. In other words, in no way, shape, or form did the statin drugs change whatever was biochemically wrong with the patient. On the other hand, lifestyle changes, exercise and avoidance of refined carbs can actually alter the physiological landscape in the patient’s favor. It seems very apparent that lifestyle changes should be first line of defense long before medications.

Circulation — Abstracts: Heeschen et al. 105 (12): 1446

Read entire article here

If You Take Statins, You’re Out of Your Mind

by

As I’m sure you’re well aware, drugs to lower cholesterol are among the most successful in history. But the list of side effects is quite long, and it just got longer.

I have covered many of the common cholesterol lowering drug side effects in a previous article that can be read by clicking here.  Many of these side effects can be predicted based on the fact that statins, while lowering your cholesterol number (and let’s face it–that’s pretty much all they do is lower the number of a single marker in your bloodstream) they also block the production of a compound called Coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10.

Another name for CoQ10 is ubiquinone is because it is present everywhere in our cells.  And it’s there because it’s important for every single cell to generate energy for that cell to function the way it was supposed to function.  Kind of makes you wonder why Mother Nature put the path to create cholesterol on the same path as something as critically important as CoQ10, huh?

So basically, when a cholesterol lowering drug lowers CoQ10 in the cell, all kinds of bad things can happen to pretty much every cell in the body, the worst side effect being death from fatal rhabdomyolosis, a condition where your muscle essentially melt away from the massive damage.  The debris that gets kicked into your circulation essentially shuts down the kidneys.

Most notably, any cell with a high metabolic activity that requires lots of energy (in the form of ATP) can suffer from the statin class of drugs.  That is why the heart can be damaged by statins (kind of ironic, don’t you think) and why muscle aches and pains are the greatest problems with statin use.

However, the largest utilizer of glucose in the human body at rest is the central nervous system.  Yes–your brain.

So, could this class of drugs to lower cholesterol lead to brain damage?  It certainly makes sense and is supported by the results in this particular study.

Granted, the group of patients studied were patients who had pre-existing cardiovascular disease (and would almost all be put on statins) and had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) put in as a result.  So maybe not your average population and probably doesn’t apply to you directly.  However, it is highly likely that the brain cells of these patients with the ICD function pretty darn close to the way your brain cells function, so don’t dismiss the results too quickly.

For those of you in the mental health field, researchers used both the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36-item Health Survey.  Overall, of 409 patients in this study, 60% were on statins.

Here’s what they found on statin use (regardless of the type of statin used or the dosage):

  • Associated with poorer physical role limitations (basically–physical things were more challenging).
  • Poorer social functioning
  • Poorer emotional role limitations
  • There was an association with depression and physical functioning as well, but the relationship was not as strong.
  • Overall, statin therapy was associated with impaired health status on 3 of the 8 on the SF36-item Health Survey (Tweet this).

Overall, it was clear that, at least in this specific population, statin drugs led to a deterioration in health and mental health status as a result of taking drugs to lower cholesterol.  To be fair, the benefits of the statin class of drugs IS better in secondary preventation (preventing a second heart attack) so the risk / benefit ratio may be different than in primary prevention (preventing that first heart attack).

However, remember that lifestyle changes (my recommendations can be found by clicking here) do NOT worsen cognitive function or damage muscles or increase the risk of arthritis or make your eyeballs pop out and dangle by the optic nerve.

CRP, Homocysteine Related to Frequent Fruit and Vegetable Intake – (04-08-04)

by

CRP, Homocysteine Related to Frequent Fruit and Vegetable Intake

All this fuss trying to find a drug to lower CRP levels. It’s almost laughable. And you know when they find that some drug (most likely front runner is the statins) lowers CRP it’ll be all over the news with recommendations to have CRP levels checked and drugs used to manage levels.

Nutrition.org — Abstracts: Gao et al. 134 (4): 913 –

Read entire article here

CHOLESTEROL AND SURVIVAL RELATED IN CHRONIC HEART FAILURE – (01-05-04)

by

Relationship between cholesterol and survival in chronic heart failure

Well, now doesn’t this just throw a wrench in the works? Lower cholesterol actually raised mortality rates in patients with chronic heart failure. Research like this really does make us think about our “blinders on” view of medical care today. Especially in light of the recent push to expand the use of statins to include just about everyone with a pulse. Cardiosource –

Read entire article here

GENETIC RISKS MAY LEAD TO STATIN MYOPATHY – (12-09-04)

by

GENETIC RISK FACTORS FOR STATIN MYOPATHY FOUND; COENZYME Q10, CARNITINE SUPPLEMENTS MIGHT HELP

I will refrain from dancing around saying “I told you so.” I have always noted that I felt the deaths that occurred with Baychol were most likely due to a genetic suseptability to a lower CoQ10 status. The statins are well known to inhibit the production of CoQ10 while it is lowering cholesterol. So, take a person who has a genetically diminished ability to produce CoQ10 and shut that production down. These people literally melted because one of the main protectors against oxidative stress was taken away.

Recent findings have confirmed that this is indeed the pathway that these fatal reactions took. However, what continues to stump me is that researchers would suggest giving CoQ10 and L-carnitine along with the statin drugs. With literally no end to the natural approaches to lowering cholesterol, NONE of which required another natural compound to be used to protect from KILLING the patient, why even think about using statins? This mindset escapes me.

Read entire article here

 

High Cholesterol Drug Side Effect on Energy Very Common

by

The list of side effects of cholesterol drugs like Lipitor or Crestor continues to lengthen. Most problems are due to the lowering of a molecule called CoQ10.

The statin class of cholesterol lowering drugs block an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase.  This is the enzyme that produces cholesterol in our bodies.  However, this enzyme also produces a tiny little compound called Coenzyme Q10.  CoQ10 is critically important for every cell in our body to generate energy to function.  Block this with a drug and there’s going to be a price to pay.  A more complete list of side effects can be found in previous posts.

One part of our body that requires lots and lots of CoQ10 is the muscles.  When statins are used to lower cholesterol, the most notorious side effect is a condition called rhabdomyolosis.  Essentially, in some patients (and we can’t predict who they will be), statins lower CoQ10 to critical levels and the muscles can’t function and literally begin to melt.  The debri from the dead muscles floats in the bloodstream and clogs up the kidneys, frequently leading to death from kidney failure.  Not a pleasant way to go, especially when it is due to a drug for a condition that can very easily be managed with lifestyle changes.

But what about those who don’t suffer the most severe end of the spectrum of muscle damage?

Turns out, very few people who take these cholesterol lowering drugs escape muscle damage.

This particular study looks at energy levels and the desire to be more active in patients taking statins to lower cholesterol.  Basically, researchers found that those taking the drug (vs a placebo) where much more likely to report complaints of general lack of energy and / or fatigue with exertion.

Given that exercise is a powerful way to lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, osteoporosis and diabetes, this is NOT a good thing.

Please feel free to comment on how taking statin drugs to lower your

USE OF STATIN DRUGS IN PATIENTS WITH NORMAL CHOLESTEROL – (12-19-05)

by

Statins and cognitive function in the elderly

Sure–they lower cholesterol. But will you be cognizant enough to appreciate your good cholesterol levels? There has been a very, very strong push to increase the use of statin drugs in patients with normal cholesterol. If this push is successful, I’m positive we will start to see some nastier side effects of this class of drugs.

While too low of cholesterol has been linked to dementia, this study found that the negative effect of statins on cognitive function was not related to cholesterol. Most likely it would be through the reduction in CoQ10 levels, which is required in high levels in the nervous system.

Read entire article here