criteria for prescribing statins

[pops]

In previous posts I told of my condition post lovastatin (one month). Now I'd like to state my opinion on how statins should be prescribed, as opposed to how they are prescribed.

I believe statins should only be prescribed in people who have a condition that requires them, IE: they've had a heart attack, or they have demonstrable atherosclerosis. In all other cases I believe statins should be avoided and other means should be implemented. Doctors should be telling their patients that to avoid heart disease and stroke they should follow the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) or other diets that reduce or eliminate the risk of heart disease, such as that proposed by Dr. Dean Ornish, _and_ they should get on a regular moderate exercise program which they commit to doing for life.

Under no circumstance, in my opine, should a healthy person who is exercising and eating right and maintaining his or her weight be prescribed a statin as a so called preventative, because to do so puts the patient at risk, and the Hippocratic Oath states that a doctor should at the least do no harm. And I have found through an impromptu investigation into friends of mine who take or have taken statins, that a full 45-50% of them have had to quit because of serious side effects.

Those side effects included muscle weakness and pain, and also cardiac symptoms, because statins can and do attack the heart muscle.

Personally, one month of lovastatin felt like I had been mauled by a grizzly. It was by far the worst thing I've ever put into my body in my life, and I'm still not healed from it as of this date. I stopped taking lovastatin on April 13 and today is May 22.

Hopefully someone with the authority to change prescribing criteria is paying attention.

Thanks for putting up with my diatribe.
Have a nice day.

pops

[Cat Mom2]

Pops, I agree with you! They are handing them out like candy to everyone and even wanting to put children on them. I know the damage I have seen them do to adults, God help the children they put on them!!!!!

These are such dangerous drugs that they should NOT be handed out like they are to unsuspecting people. CBS had a thing on their program some time ago clearly stating that they should only be given to men between the ages of 45 to 65 WITH known heart disease... did anyone listen? NO!

I know the damage they can do to a persons life since I experienced it myself and have seen it in a lot of other people. THANK goodness, attitudes ARE changing and more and more people who are given them are refusing to take them. The word is getting out. Just tell your story anywhere and everywhere you can, it DOES help! When I first started posting my story around the internet about 4 years ago, I got bashed by just about everyone but more and more the responses changed as more and more told their own story in response to mine and others like mine. I see more and more, people saying their doctor gave them that RX and they are scared to take them and asking what they can do... So we ARE making progress.

[pops]

Cat Mom:

You're right, we are making progress. In one way I'm sorry I got put on statins because now I'm suffering the pain. But in another way, the Universe, God, or whatever power is out there, has designs, and maybe part of the design was to put us on statins so we could react and help others make informed decisions before they start taking this, uh, stuff.

I noted that a statin ad on TV that used to say:

Contact your doctor if you have muscle weakness or pain because this can be a sign of a serious but rare condition

Now says:

Contact your doctor if you have muscle weakness or pain because this can be a sign of a serious condition

Note the absence of the words "Serious but rare" in the later one.

So the statin manufacturers are taking heat. Good. Maybe it will filter down to the level of the doctors and fewer people will be prescribed and therefore harmed by these dangerous drugs in the future.

I'm not saying statins don't help anyone. They do, it seems, at times, and under the right circumstances and in the right doses. But as you said, giving them out like candy is dangerous. And I agree.

Thanks for your reply. Have a wonderful day!

pOps