Try to Remember That Statin September

As Former President Ronald Reagan used to say, "Statin drugs can have 3 side effects, memory loss and I forget the other two."

But statin drugs may also prove to be the miracle drugs of the century making this the last century in which we face coronary heart disease as a global health problem as drug and genetic research provide answers that may give us the means to get rid of the plaque build-up in our arteries, veins, hearts, vital organs, and especially the kidneys and brain, that are the source of our most feared and deadly killers heart attacks and stroke. Imagine what a boon that might be. (I saw this on PBS - I am trying real hard here not to quote the show I saw word for word - If I missed my apologies, I tried to find the show to quote it, but failed.)

But while thinking about how this applied to me, I started to do a little research, and now have a question for you worth asking from my browsing around the net, this is where the commentary side of my blog comes in, have you had serious side effect to a statin drug like the ones listed here?


I note that these comments are not based on a statistical study but are non-random comments taken from those who have had bad experiences and as such, we cannot tell to what degree they represent real patients taking a statin drug vs marketers for statin drug alternatives, or what percentage of the statin drug taking population they represent, if any. Beware!

However, I mention this because I am starting to wonder whether my long term health problems, what was I saying, oh, my long term health problems were somehow related to taking a statin drug that has been extremely effective in lowering my cholesterol, as in, total cholesterol down to 125!!! So on the one hand, I have a clearly great benefit, on the other hand, a medical mess and a debilitating, painful one at that. Is it worth the trade of risking a stroke or heart attack to find out? For me, that is a real risk even at my relatively young age for various medical reasons.

What a Hobson's choice!

Is it worth the potential side effects of the statin drugs that I may have been feeling for more than three years? Memory loss, joint pain? Severe back pain? Severe Neck Pain? Depression? Arthritis like pain? Searing Migraines? Memory loss? All of which developed after taking this very effective drug?

Or are these just coincidences? Could be. Are there any readers out there with similar experiences? If so, please comment.

I am not elderly. Nor, at the time did I have any serious accidents. But I have some risk factors to explain some of the above.

So will statin drugs ferry us to a new era of longer heathier more active lives or to more problems, or are we just on the road to Gloccamorra and a newer better drug is needed just as Lipitor seems more effective than those it surpassed, perhaps the one yet to come will be better still?

Low-fat food for thought.


Peter

===> We love comments about our posts good or bad!

Please make comments by clicking on the word "Comments"!

Click on the Envelope to forward posts to your friends! Thank you! The staff.

---