Statins do prevent you from benefiting from exercise!....

Today's Post: Thursday, 4-5-2012

My Dad survived a couple of heart attacks. At the time, the doctors saw his cholesterol was high and prescribed statin drugs.

At the time, that was what they knew to do. Unfortunately, the information in this post explains why taking the statins was a very likely a major reason he developed heart failure.

He had other health problems. But gradually the heart failure limited his life so much and it cost so much in money and time in the hospital to drain the excess fluid, he entered hospice care and died because he stopped getting that treatment. He thought that if they didn’t know how to make him better, it was harming his wife by draining the family funds and living half his life in a hospital bed with poor quality of life the rest of the time with eventual failure anyway was not worth it to continue.

So I feel quite strongly that now it’s known that statins not only produce this effect but caused the exercise that could have helped his heart heal likely harmed it instead and limited how much he could do, that statins only be used rarely and for the shortest possible time if used.

Vigorous exercise is such a powerful force for good health that it not only prevents or dramatically postpones so many illnesses AND slows aging, that a drug that causes that same exercise to harm you instead, is a drug most people should never take

We’ve already posted that statins are not as good as niacin as a heart protector and heart attack preventive for most people. (There is a genetic test you can get for about $150 to see if you are in the majority group for which this is true.)

We’ve also posted that niacin and sterols and NOT eating the things like hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup and excessive sugar and foods made from refined grains and oils and foods high in omega 6—or drinking soft drinks AND doing regular vigorous exercise AND eating real foods -- all in combination -- give you dramatically better protection than taking statin drugs. (Completely avoiding tobacco smoke is also a HUGE help.)

That’s true for everyone!

Unfortunately, most doctors only know that they’ve heard statin drugs give some protection and don’t know how or what to do to get their patients to do the lifestyle upgrades.

Worse, though some of the more informed cardiologist know about the genetic tests, most of the other doctors prescribing statins have not heard of this or don’t know how to use niacin well.

So, a huge number of Americans now take statin drugs. The article I found that’s the basis of this post said it’s over 20 million. I think that estimate is on the low end

So, if statin drugs are really too harmful to use except in very rare cases for people the genetic tests show are actually benefitted, it would be extremely important news that millions of Americans and their doctors should know right away.

I just got that news earlier this week. That is precisely the case.

I’d known that the side effects of statins did not justify having anyone take them who has not tested to be in the group who get decent benefits. And, I’d known that even for those people there are cheaper, safer, and more effective alternatives.

I’d known that some to most people felt energy depleted and old and tired much more after starting statins. That’s because the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 your body uses to keep the power centers in all your cells, the mitochondria, healthy and working, is depleted by taking statins.

I’d thought that simply by taking 200 mg a day of ubiquinol, this problem might be mostly alleviated. I suspect it may be lessened somewhat. Certainly no one taking statins should do so without taking the ubiquinol!

But one of the least pleasant and most dangerous side effects of statins is increased muscle pain and damage -- including fatal damage in some cases.

What if the ubiquinol didn’t prevent this because statins also made genetic changes that made any vigorous exercise harm your muscles by preventing them from repairing themselves?

Then no one in their right mind would take them & no ethical doctor would prescribe them to anyone not bed ridden in the hospital from a recent heart attack – even in people who test in the group who get good heart attack prevention from statins.

The horrible news is that this is exactly what statins do!

That means anyone taking statins who is getting regular vigorous exercise for health protection or to decrease type 2 diabetes or for fat loss or for any other reason is now being harmed.

Worse, the better job they do on exercise and the more of it they do, the greater the harm statins cause.

The research even suggests statins cause sharply increased oxidative damage and aging even in sedentary people.

Mercifully the study showing these things made the New York Times:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/do-statins-make-it-tough-to-exercise/

Meanwhile, until this information and its implications reach all doctors, you may still have far too many of them think prescribing statins is a good idea.

This information shows it’s not at least 99 % of the time.

Have you had the genetic test that shows you actually are in the group that statins protect well and had it say yes?

If not, get the test! And, if you aren’t in that group, speak to your doctor about alternatives!

If you are in that group, ask to do your very best with niacin and sterols and avoiding tobacco smoke and the lifestyle upgrades for 6 months first.

They are effective enough you may no longer test as needing to lower your LDL cholesterol at all. Your HDL will also be higher and your triglycerides will be much lower.

This new information shows enough overall health harm from statins, it’s worth making a lot of extra effort to avoid taking them or continuing on them!