More reasons to avoid taking statins.....

Today's post:  Wednesday, 6-14-2017

*Research found that people who do the most effective and time efficient AND heart and health protective strength training and burst cardio are also likely to harm themselves if they take statins.  The New York Times published the study that showed this for sure.  Most doctors have never heard of this study but believe statins are safe and protective.

Higher doses of some brands of statins are most likely to do this.

*Two thirds of people have genetics such that statins hardly prevent any nonfatal heart attacks.  To be fair, about one third have genetics where they get very modest prevention from nonfatal heart attacks.  There is a $150 test to see which group a person is in.  Most doctors who prescribe statins do not know this information.  So, most people taking statins never had this test before beginning to take them.  So, at best two thirds of most people taking statins are spending money on something with little benefit.

*Even in the group where statins do prevent a small percentage of heart attacks, statins cause more type 2 diabetes per hundred people than they protect!  Different studies show statin-caused diabetes occurs at different rates ranging from 9% to nearly 50%.  The costs of treating type 2 diabetes are such that even the 9% rate means that people taking statins are costing all of us money for no benefit.

*Statins tend to harm mitochondria by depriving them of the ubiquinol form of CoQ10.  A study of the mechanisms by which diabetes causes its most severe harms from blindness to foot amputation and more determined that much if not most of such damage is caused by harm to the mitochondria.

*Those two facts show that giving people with diabetes statins is contraindicated totally.

*Meanwhile because people with diabetes are much more likely to have a heart attack, the guidelines most doctors and even cardiologists are given say to give these people statins.

*This is the reverse of what these studies show should happen! 

*Diabetics DO need to take actions to reduce their blood sugar and insulin resistance and prevent heart disease that work better than statins. 

*Other research shows conclusively that eating daily servings of organic vegetables and completely stopping any intake of hybrid wheat does both things.  And, several other things can be added that make this work better such as taking the omega 3, DHA, and taking deodorized garlic – and doing the kind of exercises every week that statins make unsafe to do.

*So does stopping ALL intake of hydrogenated oils and soft drinks and the high fructose corn sryup and artificial sweeteners in them. 

*Taking those actions turns off the causes of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

A few weeks ago several studies showed up in Medical News Today saying that noticing muscle pain and depression and low energy when taking statins was a “nocebo” effect and that people perceived these things only after publicity saying statins caused them.

Given the suggestibility factor this may well be partly true.  But it leaves out all the foregoing information!  And, it also runs a risk of doctors saying to people who ARE getting these effects that it’s all in your head.

This looked like an effort by the drug companies that sell statins to prevent people from stopping them to me at the time.

But I prefer to focus on why not to take statins and what far more effective and much safer things to do instead which I just summarized.

Dr Al Sears got some data on who paid to do and publicize these studies.  And, he saw more harm in these studies than I had.

A bit over a week ago he sent it in an email that I got.

I think his article on this should be publicized after I read it.  So I am ending this post with it:

It may be that many people take statins without perceiving side effects or they have the ones they notice at a low enough level they don't have a problem and only develop such a perception as a "nocebo" effect once they hear others DO have these problems.

BUT even people who don't perceive problems with statins are harmed by them if only by wasting their money on an ineffective prevention method and fail to use the ones that actually work.

And there is good evidence statins speed aging and cause diabetes and make it more likely to harm you if you do get it.

I certainly suspected the drug companies that make statins paid for these nocebo studies to evade people discontinuing them.

The fact that some people who have these symptom in cases they are real may disregard them and suffer permanent harm isn't likely to bother these companies.

Now Dr Sears shows the drug companies who make statins DID pay for this research and were even a position to do several and only publish the ones that showed the result they wanted as I suspected was the case.

Here’s what Dr Sears had to say:

“Big Pharma won’t be satisfied until every American adult — and even some kids — are taking one of their dangerous statin drugs.

And they’ve resorted to desperate measures to achieve that goal.

Here’s what’s going on…

As you probably know, one of the most common side effects of taking statins is muscle pain. I see this all the time at my clinic when new patients come to see me. And if you or someone you know takes these drugs, you’ve probably seen it, too…

But a new study claims that people only get statin side effects like muscle pain if they know they’re taking the drugs. Researchers claim that if a patient doesn’t know whether they’re getting a statin or a placebo, they don’t experience side effects.1

In other words, if you’re on a statin and you have side effects, it’s all in your head.

It’s called the “nocebo” effect.

You’ve heard of the “placebo” effect. It says that if people think they’re taking a drug — even if it’s a fake — they’ll get better.

The nocebo effect, on the other hand, says if someone thinks they are taking a real pill, they’ll believe they’re having side effects.

The study authors issued a dramatic statement. They warned that “hundreds of thousands of people are dying” because of a fear imaginary side effects.

Their message was clear: “Take a statin or die.”

And they even took it a step further…

The only way to save you from your imaginary side effects, the authors said, was for the government to stop putting warning labels on statin drugs.

They don’t want you to know what the possible side effects are. They argued that if you don’t know what the side effects are, you won’t get them.

It was hard for me to understand how scientists could make that argument. Until I saw who paid them…

Pfizer sponsored the study. And the authors disclosed that they received payments from Amgen… Merck… AstraZeneca… Lilly… Novartis… and other Big Pharma giants.

Those companies all have a huge stake in getting more people to take statins. It’s a $26 billion industry… but sales of Big Pharma’s brand-name drugs have been slipping since generics hit the market a few years ago.

So they’d rather put the blame on you than admit their drugs are hurting people.

The evidence is clear. People who take statins have higher rates of diabetes, erectile dysfunction, sleep disturbances, memory loss and cognitive problems.

The side effects of statins are NOT all in your head.

Statin drugs lower your body’s CoQ10 levels by as much as 40%.2

A deficiency of CoQ10 can cause extreme physical and mental fatigue. People with low levels also have frequent headaches, migraines, jaw pain, or muscle and joint aches.3 Those are the same as statin side effects.  [Taking statins often causes or worsens insomnia also.]

But the sad truth is that statins don’t work. Sure, they lower cholesterol, but cholesterol does not cause heart disease.

Statins do not prevent heart attacks or save lives. In fact, a shocking 75% of heart attack victims have normal cholesterol. ….”

“I don’t prescribe statins for my patients. Instead of trying to lower their cholesterol, I help them raise their HDL or “good” cholesterol. You see, raising your HDL high enough is linked to having almost no chance at all of developing heart disease. 

3 Easy Ways To Raise Your HDL

Follow my PACE program. Quick, simple exercise that increases in intensity — like my PACE workout — is the most effective way to increase your HDL levels. One study of Navy personnel doing PACE-type training proved it. Doing the workout for just five days increased HDL levels by 31%.  [Dr Sears PACE program is a progressive burst cardio system using calisthenics. It’s not the only way to do this; but it clearly works!]

Increase your omega-3s. Omega-3 fats increase HDL, as well. You can find them in wild-caught salmon, grassfed beef, sardines, walnuts and olive oil. Or you can take a supplement. For most people, I recommend 4,000 mg per day from krill or squid oil.  [Taking DHA, the most important omega 3, and eating wild caught small fish and Alaskan wild caught salmon also works and is likely cheaper.]

Get more niacin. Studies show niacin (vitamin B3) raises HDL levels by 25 to 30%. To raise HDL levels you’ll need 750 to 1,000 mg a day. For that you’ll have to supplement. I recommend starting at a small dose of 250 mg per day. Too much niacin can lead to “flushing.” Increase the amount gradually every month until you get up to your target. You can also split your dose into twice a day to help reduce the flush.” 

[I take 300 mg after breakfast and 300 mg after lunch and studies show the No flush niacin, insositol hexaniacinate I take two daily capsules of 300 mg provide 500 mg of niacin.  I take one at breakfast and one at dinner. In this way I get 1100 mg a day of niacin. 

I get minimal flush by doing this.

By doing this and exercising with strength training and a comparable burst cardio each week and taking the omega 3’s and NOT eating any hybrid wheat at all, my HDL ranges from 99 to 101.]