{"id":1870,"date":"2012-01-31T16:34:40","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T22:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realfoodhouston.com\/?p=1870"},"modified":"2014-08-08T12:02:29","modified_gmt":"2014-08-08T17:02:29","slug":"warning-women-in-danger-of-being-overprescribed-statins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/2012\/01\/31\/warning-women-in-danger-of-being-overprescribed-statins\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning! Women in danger of being overprescribed statins!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pills<\/a>Don’t just read the headlines!\u00a0 Don’t just listen to the sound bites!\u00a0 There are many stories going around right now\u00a0that seem to say that women have been neglected because they haven’t been given statins as often as men.\u00a0 Who has been\u00a0getting the raw deal here–women or men?\u00a0 There’s a new analysis of 18 clinical trials that suggests that more women should take cholesterol-lowering statin drugs\u00a0to protect\u00a0them from heart attack, stroke, and death.\u00a0 Since statins are not being prescribed as often for women as for men, there’s profit to be had for Big Pharma\u00a0in\u00a0a greatly\u00a0expanded market for statin drugs.<\/p>\n

The new analysis claims that statins reduce the risk of heart attack for\u00a0women if<\/em> they have already\u00a0had a heart attack or clogged arteries, but even this analysis did not<\/em> find\u00a0benefit\u00a0for women in preventing first-time<\/em> heart attacks,\u00a0strokes, or sudden death.\u00a0 The reduced\u00a0risk for women is\u00a0small–for example, the JUPITER study found a decrease from 2.1 percent risk to 1.1 percent risk.<\/p>\n

Don’t let this new claim make you run to the doctor for a statin drug!\u00a0 There are reasons–good reasons–to question taking statins.\u00a0 Remember that the primary purpose<\/em> of taking statins is to lower cholesterol, <\/em>so the first thing we need to ask ourselves is, “Do I need to\u00a0lower my\u00a0cholesterol? ”\u00a0\u00a0Before you\u00a0say “Yes,” take a look at this list of\u00a0side effects, and\u00a0weigh them against\u00a0such a small decrease in risk of heart attack.<\/p>\n

What can happen when we take statins? Here’s a list of possible side effects:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

–Statins can increase women’s risk of diabetes<\/strong> by 48%
\n–Statins won’t prevent<\/strong> first heart attacks
\n–Statins can cause temporary memory loss<\/strong> and disorientation [Some people taking statins have had loss of memory lasting several hours. Even the FDA has required the makers of statins to add “memory impairment”\u00a0or “memory loss” to the list of drug reactions.\u00a0]
\n–Statins are linked to liver problems, kidney failure, cataracts, and moderate to serious muscle weakness<\/strong>
\n–Statins can cause deep musculoskeletal pain<\/strong>
\n–Statins lower cholesterol, and low cholesterol in women is linked to an overall higher death rate<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 A study has questioned the validity of linking\u00a0cholesterol levels and heart disease even for men, and no association was found for women.\u00a0[One study found that women whose cholesterol was over 270 had\u00a028% less overall risk of dying compared to women whose cholesterol was under 193.\u00a0 So,\u00a0even if<\/em> taking statins lowers your risk of heart attack, you increase<\/em> your\u00a0risk of dying by 28% if the statins lower your cholesterol too much!\u00a0 Would you want to do that?\u00a0 Not me!]
\n–Statin (pravastatin)\u00a0use\u00a0is associated with\u00a0a 25% increase in cancer rate<\/strong> among\u00a0people over 70 (the risk reduction<\/em> of non-fatal and fatal heart attacks together<\/em> was only 19%). [I guess if you’d rather die of cancer than a heart attack, we’ve found at least one\u00a0good reason to take statins.]<\/p>\n

Some would\u00a0loudly claim [I can hear them now!] that “saving even one life is worth it.”\u00a0 But is it really?\u00a0 How many people must take statins and risk severe side effects\u00a0to save even one person?\u00a0 One study calculated the numbers of people who would need to take statins to prevent even one case.\u00a0 For example, 37 women at high risk of cardiovascular disease<\/em> would need to take statins to prevent even one heart attack or stroke, and they are not all fatal.\u00a0 It would take 33 men taking statins to prevent just one case.\u00a0 On the other side, there’s a\u00a0significant\u00a0rate of harm caused<\/em> by taking statins: for every 33 women taking statins, one would\u00a0get cataracts.\u00a0 Out of 136 women taking statins, one would have moderate or severe liver dysfunction.\u00a0 For 434 women taking statins, one would suffer acute kidney failure.\u00a0 It’s seems obvious to me that taking statins is not<\/em> worth the risks.\u00a0 We women especially should\u00a0think hard\u00a0before taking statins!<\/p>\n

Yes, there are<\/em> reasons\u00a0 to\u00a0think twice about\u00a0taking statins.\u00a0 We need to ask ourselves, “Will lowering my cholesterol make me healthier?”\u00a0 If we can’t say “Yes,”\u00a0why should we risk\u00a0severe at least temporary, and\u00a0maybe even permanent,\u00a0side effects?<\/p>\n

What do I do?<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 You bet, I don’t<\/em> take statins–and never will<\/em>–I’ve learned too much about the dangers, especially for women.\u00a0 When I was still having my cholesterol checked (haven’t for years–no need),\u00a0my total was about 200, thankfully over the 180-190 minimum\u00a0healthy range for women.\u00a0 Of course, I also don’t take blood pressure medicine, pain relievers, or any other prescription\u00a0or over-the-counter\u00a0medicines.\u00a0 My goal is to take good care of my health and hopefully not\u00a0need any of them.\u00a0 I believe I’ll be healthier, happier, and far safer if I\u00a0don’t take them.<\/p>\n

Update November 15, 2012:<\/strong><\/em> Cholesterol Lowing Statins Found To Damage Peripheral Nerves,<\/a> “a new study in published in the Journal of Diabetes <\/em>reveals a clear association between statin use and peripheral neuropathy in a US population 40 years of age and older.”<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

–PROSPER: The Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk<\/a>, Luis Gruberg, MD
\n–JUPITER\u00a0– Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin)<\/a>, Erin D. Michos, MD, and Roger S. Blumenthal, MD
\n–Unintended effects of statins in men and women in England and Wales<\/a>, Julia Hippsley-Cox, and Carol Coupland
\n–Statin Use and Risk of Diabetes Mellitus in Postmenopausal Women in the Women’s Health Initiative<\/a>, A. L. Culver, et. al.
\n–Is the use of cholesterol in mortality risk algorithms in clinical guidelines valid? Ten years prospective data from the Norwegian HUNT 2 study<\/a>, Halfdan Petursson MD, et. al.
\n–Why Women Should Stop Their Cholesterol-Lowering Medication<\/a>, Mark Hyman MD
\n–JUPITER Clinical Directions<\/a>, Patricia Kritek, MD and Edward W. Campion MD http:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMe086509<\/a>
\n–Noncardiac Benefits of Statins Found Lacking<\/a>
\n–It’s Not Dementia, It’s Your Heart Medication: Cholesterol Drugs and Memory<\/a>
\n–Reports associating cholesterol-lowering statins with memory loss lead to FDA review<\/a>
\n–Study: Statins work as well for women as men<\/a><\/p>\n

Other Real Food Houston posts you might want to read:<\/p>\n

Study Shows Low Cholesterol in Women Is Associated With Higher Death Rate<\/a>
\nAnalysis Shows No Association of Saturated Fat With Cardiovascular Disease<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t just read the headlines!\u00a0 Don’t just listen to the sound bites!\u00a0 There are many stories going around right now\u00a0that seem to say that women have been neglected because they haven’t been given statins as often as men.\u00a0 Who has …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[105,80],"tags":[70,104,68,102,84,65,103,69],"class_list":["post-1870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cholesterol-2","category-health","tag-cancer","tag-cataracts","tag-cholesterol","tag-diabetes","tag-health-2","tag-heart-disease","tag-memory-loss","tag-statins"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p70SEj-ua","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1870"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6027,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870\/revisions\/6027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}