List of statins’ serious side effects grows longer and longer

Trouble with a Capital S, that Rhymes with Mess

Here’s the HealthDay News headline: “Statin Use Tied to Eye, Kidney, Liver Troubles”

And here’s the insane sub-head: “But heart-healthy benefits of the cholesterol drugs outweigh these risks, experts say”

And I say those experts are little more than brainless parrots, screeching their memorized line: “Benefits outweigh the risks! Squawk!”

Because here’s the reality: If cholesterol-lowering statin drugs provided every user with a 100 percent guarantee that they would never develop heart disease and never have a stroke or a heart attack, then and ONLY then would it make any sense to risk eye, kidney and liver troubles.

Why? Because these “troubles” are life-changing health issues, and some could easily kill you.

Now here’s how the HealthDay headline SHOULD have read: “Statins May Cause Cataracts.”

In this new study that followed more than 2 million people for six years, researchers found that for every 10,000 women who were at high risk of heart disease and used statins, there were 271 fewer cases of heart disease. (It’s important to note that heart disease is a broad term that describes everything from mild arrhythmias to full-blown heart attacks. So we’re not even talking about a 3 percent reduction in cardiac arrest.)

The study also found that among those same women, statin use was linked to more than 300 cases of cataracts.

So, are you okay with your cataract risk increasing MORE than your heart disease risk falls?

I realize you might answer yes to that question (I did at first). After all, cataracts don’t kill. But then factor in these other risks revealed in the study: liver dysfunction, muscle damage, and acute kidney failure.

Yes sir, that’s an AMAZING drug! IF you’re at high risk of heart disease it lowers your risk less than 3 percent, while your risk increases for all these other problems that can severely cripple your health.

What this new study didn’t catch–but other recent studies have–is that statin use also increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. So again, you have to ask: Is lowering heart disease risk worth the increased risk of type 2 diabetes (a condition that, of course, RAISES heart disease risk)?

And don’t forget the evidence that statins also increase risk of memory loss and cognitive dysfunction in older patients.

Honestly, I want to shake these doctors and researchers and HealthDay headline writers and shout, “Can you even HEAR what you’re SAYING!?”

This study was published last month in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), which also carried an editorial co-authored by Dr. Alawi A. Alsheikh-Ali who described the study findings as “reassuring.”

He also told HealthDay: “The present analysis should not be used to scare off current statin users.”

Well of COURSE NOT! Why in the world would you be scared off by cataracts, liver dysfunction, and acute kidney failure?

It’s preposterous. What clear-thinking statin user could read these “reassuring” results and NOT be scared?

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson

Sources:
“Unintended Effects of Statins in Men and Women in England and Wales: Population Based cohort Study Using the OResearch Database” BMJ online, 5/20/10, bmj.com
“Statin Use Tied to Eye, Kidney, Liver Troubles” Steven Reinberg, HealthDay News, 5/20/10, healthday.com