I guess we'll be seeing new posters here trying to figure out why they have PN...after a few months of their new statin.

There is a new big push for statin use, even when levels may be well within range! CNN is running this story on their news show every hour.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/12/health...html?hpt=hp_t3

May seem odd coming from me, since I personally still take a small dose, because I have CAD, stroke history, and autoimmune disease (which is actually a worse risk factor then diabetes, CAD, and high LDL combined). But my doctor & I decided to use the lowest dose possible (which is much lower then recommended).

But it is sad that they now want to push these on many more then ever before.

DW & I were just discussing that story minutes ago with morning coffee. IOO, it's got Big Pharma written all over it. She stopped statins over a year ago, & controls her cholesterol with slo-niacin.

Doc

It just infuriates me!

We NOW have photographic evidence of the damage to nerve cells statins cause. I'll put that link up here for those coming to this thread:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0510150143.htm

This is not really "new".... I recall a Newsweek article years ago where doctors said statins are so safe, you should put them in our DRINKING WATER.

A year or 2 ago, they were suggesting children be treated routinely. Our Pediatrician told us children are SUPPOSED to be higher in cholesterol because they are GROWING and need it.

Poison our children? Poison our water? This is just a desperate ploy because the patents are gone, and no new statins are being approved by the FDA. This is just a last "push" to make more money before the whole topic is exposed, and dries up eventually! (like TransFats, that poisoned us since the mid-30's!)

This generalizing the treatment to increase sales, is because the cholesterol MYTH has been revealed and debunked pretty well now. So they need NEW guidelines supposedly to keep the flow of $$ coming in. There was once a push for MS patients to use statins...what did they find? That statins inhibit growth factors the nerves make to fix damaged neurons!

Then there was the "anti-inflammation" claims.... Well, it has been learned that curcumin gave the same benefits as Lipitor in a large study to reduce inflammation!

I tend to turn off Dr. Gupta... except when he showcases patients who have overcome obstacles. But he is just a paid mouthpiece for medical propaganda most of the time. Vaccines esp!

But at the same time, if I heard correctly, they are not recommending statins based on cholesterol numbers alone which has been the case for many.

Yes & no. Out of one side of their mouths, they're saying, "Ignore the numbers." Out of the other side, they're saying if you have a bad cholesterol level more than 190, "you should be on a statin. Period."

IMO that's not ignoring numbers; it's just (as the new guidelines recommend) putting twice as many people on statins as are on them now without even examining diet, lifestyle, or trying other measures.

(Paraphrasing...) "No, you won't get me, you Slithery Dee!"

No... strike that. Make that, "Slithery P" (for Big Pharma)!

Doc

Heard it and right away we said Big Pharma written all over it.

I'll add here for other readers, Dr. Jay Cohen MD's link.

He has a book explaining how doses of statins are way too high in his opinion, and many people respond to much smaller ones, with less risk.

http://www.jaycohenmd.com/otherdrugs.html#lipitor
This is the information I shared with en bloc a while back while she was considering statin therapy.

I read his book a while back and gave it to my doctor so I don't have it anymore. But it was interesting and worthwhile.

Also people on statins really have to use CoQ-10 because the statins block the enzyme that makes this vital nutrient for ourselves. Without it the heart and muscles suffer. One study found that after 5 yrs of statin treatment about 1/2 of the CoQ-10 capability was lost.

There are quality forms of CoQ-10 now, that are more soluble and useful in smaller doses. Qunol is one (at WalMart and Costco) and another called Q-gel. One can get by with about 100mg a day of this new type. Whereas the oil type capsules would need at least 300mg a day.

You know this propaganda thing in medicine and politics has totally gotten to me this fall. I've had it with vaccine propaganda, statins propaganda, the Congress, the ACAct, EVERYTHING....I've HAD IT!

I just cannot take it anymore. The shutdown personally impacted us, and even sent my blood pressure up, which I discussed with my doctor!

So.... no more CNN for me. Little if any news, even, for a while.

Anything hugely important will trickle down to me I suppose. Hubby can dispassionately handle it, so he will be my source for a while.

I am starting some new drawings, using the new colored pencils that I just acquired at Blicks and Ebay....most of them were not on the market when I was active in the past with my art. Then the push for college fund came and I was working too much and too tired for the art. Then I was ill long term with that lisinopril debacle, so now, bye bye CNN and others.... hello to new activities!

Here is a quote from that CNN article on this thread:
Maybe some further questions should be:
1) do you wear clothes?

2) do you eat food?

...and I am proof that a smaller dose works. I take 1/4 of the original recommended dose and my levels are staying good and I appear to be doing fine at this dose. I also take the Qunol CoQ10...even though my dose is small.

Quite right. They're recommending statins based on GREED.