Statins are like using a small bandaid on a big cut

[wake up call]

Over the past year, I've been forced to re-educated myself. I went into it not knowing much about statins, cancer and other related diseases; along the way I lost my innocence...or maybe I should say I was reminded of my responsibilities.

The basic problem with statin drugs is just that; they are drugs. A foreign, toxic substance we ingest to try to fix a problem that, for the vast majority of us, isn't really a problem. Cholesterol, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. The body needs cholesterol for basic cell function. When we alter levels for looks (just making the numbers looks good) we are doing more harm than good. Statistics in fact show that there is no significant difference in the heart attack/stoke rates between the number of people taking statins and those that don't. Statistics and studies also show a seemingly higher than publicly perceived risk of adverse reactions when statins are used, everything from chronic aches and pains to heart failure and even cancer.

The catalyst for our research has been my husband. I'd like to say the beginning of our story was when he started taking vitorin last year, but in all honesty vitorin was just another insult to an already insulted body. Like most people taking statins, my husband already had some health issues including his weight, high blood pressure and almost 5 decades of a modern western diet high in sugar, partially hydrogenated fats, dyes, chemicals and preservatives.

I was against his taking vytorin from the start encouraging diet changes and weight loss (something I had been encouraging for years because of his high blood pressure) but he couldn't commit to those kind of changes and opted to take vytorin instead. After about 4 months on the vytorin he began to get sick (we stopped the vytorin at that point ourselves). It took several more months for doctors to figure out what was going on. They finally found a tumor in the head of his pancreas- usually an ominous diagnosis- but it was operable and was totally removed (in a 7 1/2 hour life-altering surgery).

This was the "brick wall" my husband needed to realize that the vytorin and high blood pressure meds were just bandaids and he had to change his diet and lifestyle to reach and maintain optimum health. He dropped 40 lbs, changed to a mostly organic, healthy diet and added some natural supplements. [b][i]His blood pressure is now normal and so is his cholesterol[/i][/b].

We knew taking supplements without changing diet as well would still be like putting on a bandaid fix. So nutrition became our medicine. What do we eat? Whole grains (no wheats), lots of vegetables, fruits, chicken & turkey, fish (cold water preferable) & legumes and nuts. We also take on a daily basis additional supplements including a high potency multi vitamin, 400 mg CoQ10, fish & borage oils, garlic, green tea extract, 1200 mg Alpha Lipoic acid, 4000IU of vit D3, about 8000mg vit C and a few other supplements to specifically help deter any cancer from returning.

After all the research we have done, I am firmly convinced that most of our health issues [b]including high cholseterol[/b] are directly related to our modern western diets. Us baby boomers are the guinea pigs. We are the first generaltion to totally grow up on processed and fast foods. We've eaten chemicals (including drugs) and preservatives and who knows what else, that we've been told by our governing bodies was safe and now we are seeing the consequences of that naiveté. We all are responsible for our own health, not doctors, not pharmacuetical companies, not the FDA, and not the NIH. We hire doctors for their expertise but ultimately it is our responsibility.

[poohhel]

You are right about the fact "we hire doctors for their expertise" ... that's where my problem began....

I did take responsibility for my own health... although never over weight I watched my diet and I exercised daily ... I don't drink, but I did smoke. So I quit smoking. Nevertheless, My doctor knew I had no history of health issues, my family had no history of heart problems, I was eating right and exercising-- therefore, the only threat to a heart attack or stroke was my cholestrol numbers... So taking my doctors "expertise" (I figured she knew what she was talking about) and started Vytorin...

Now after only 16 months on Vytorin...I can only walk with great pain and difficulty. Every muscle in my legs, arms, feet, and hands ache and cramp every day all day, besides being extremely weak to the point I can't hold a hair brush for more than 5 minutes at a time. I also suffer from perpherial neuropathy which makes up the stabbing, pins and needles, numbing, and burning feeling I have every waking moment from my shoulder blades down to the tip of my fingers and toes. I can't exercise without pain and then a full day of recovery of doing nothing.

So needless to say, it is difficult for me to place blame on myself when I had been doing everything I knew to do to keep myself healthy and because I turned to my doctor for her expertise...now I am worse off.

[wake up call]

First, I am sorry to hear about your health problems.

yes, we hire them for their expertise and trust their judgement (sometimes too much). They are supposed to be the experts, afterall they went to school and had years of training, unfortunately we don't always find the particular "expert" we need when we need them. Additionally, they are only as informed as the journals they read. Very few doctors have time to research new advances or information indepth and rely as well on what they are told, too many times by the drug companies themselves.

All I can tell you is what we've learned (and it's usually been through past mistakes). So many times I wish we could go back and change how we did things, the people we trusted as the experts. But I also know that because of our experiences,good and bad (and believe me, there is a lot of bad) we've learned. We now research everything thoroughly on our own. We listen to our doctors, but we also get other opinions and other sources of information, then make an informed decision based on all those facts, not just what one doctor may or may not know. Maybe seems like a bit of 'over kill' but even something that might seem insignificant at first may have long term effects and that's what we want to know about and avoid if at all possible.

[adec]

The human body is a COMPLEX organism with great potential for mutation and differentiation. Supplementing without rigorous testing and not under a doctor's care might not always be completely wise, just based on complex factors such as pharmacogenetics.

Pharmacogenetics is the genetic variation of each patient, and their individual response to different drugs. This is the most paramount factor to overall drug, vitamin, enzyme, and nutrient etc. safety and efficacy. In this respect alone, clinical statin therapy especially doesn't work just based on the current mega-dosing one-size-fits-all approach.

My advice would be to always find a doctor who's receptive, well-read, open-minded, and willing to be on the same page as his/her patients, if not, find a new one. But I certainly don't blame patients for not fully educating themselves to fully understand the complex web of alternative treatments and how they intersect and interact with one another. I simply *do* blame medical science community for failing us, by sadly placing their own interests ahead of that of their patients.

[wake up call]

Whether you, yourself take charge or find another to take charge, you still need to be responsible. I agree, it is difficult to understand the complexity of the human body and how it might react to drugs or supplements; by no means am I saying to "do it on your own". What I am saying is be wise, trust your instincts, and be informed. Unfortunately too many of us place our trust in someone just because of the title after their name.

No one person can know everything. Education is an ongoing process with continual updates and evaluations. Your advice to "find a doctor who's receptive, well-read, open-minded, and willing to be on the same page as his/her patients, if not, find a new one" is good but unless the patient educates themselves (to the best of their own abilities) how will they be able to evaluate this doctor?

I certainly don't "blame" myself for mistakes that have been made, but the responsibility for those choices is still mine. I have gotten angry at the way the "medical science community [has] fail[ed] us, by sadly placing their own interests ahead of that of their patients." And that anger has empowered me to educated myself. Blame doesn't do anything but harbor negative destructive emotions. After months of searching, we have found three different doctors (with different specialties) who fit the criteria you've described. They are working with us (and each other). This is the way medicine and healthcare should be.

The under-testing and over-prescribing of statin drugs is just one more example of our health care system run amok. I believe the majority of people who have found their way to this board are looking for answers and support and are empowering themselves with knowledge. I wish more people would educate themselves then maybe our healthcare system wouldn't be quite the mess it is and patients would stop being run through like cattle with numbers tagged to their ears in the "one-size-fits-all approach".

[flacorps]

I don't blame the western diet so much as I blame the things that are now [i]in[/i] the western diet.

Once upon a time, Coca-Cola was made with sugar. That means sucrose (half glucose, half fructose). Now it's made with high-fructose corn sweetener (hyped as a low-cost alternative by Earl Butz, Nixon's agriculture secretary), unless it's passover and you can find a yellow-capped kosher two-liter that's basically made the old way.

Once upon a time, poultry and cattle were not dosed with antibiotics and steroids.

Once upon a time, foods were not loaded with MSG, artificial sweeteners, etc.

Once upon a time, grains, fruits and vegetables had not been selectively bred (much less genetically modified) to enhance insect resistance, etc. Much of the insect resistance comes from natural toxins. If you breed the plant to have more of them, you've got a toxic plant.

In short, they've blinded us with science.

[wake up call]

That's exactly what I am refering to as "modern" western diet. The even more scary part is all the hidden ingredients that don't have to be disclosed by law on the ingredients label.