Do you (or any of your loved ones) take statins? If so, then you are not alone. You are one of 13 MILLION North Americans that are taking cholesterol lowering drugs (statins) such as
- Lipitor (also known as atorvastatin)
- Lescol (also known as fluvastatin)
- Mevacor (also know as lovastatin)
- Pravachol (also known as pravastatin)
- Zocor (also known as simvastatin)
- Crestor (also known as rosuvastatin)
However in this case, there is no safety in numbers. In fact you are one of the 13 million people who are actually causing themselves more harm than good by lowering your cholesterol the wrong way.
WHAT HARM?
1. Another Medical Irony: Statins Actually Weaken Your Heart
All statin drugs block your body’s production of coenzyme Q10. This nutrient is so critical to your cellular “energy engines” your heart can’t beat without it.
As my mentor used to say “Coenzyme Q10 is the only nutrient that can have a positive effect on the mechanical function of your heart”.
This is because your heart is one of your body’s most energetic organs, beating approximately 100,000 times a day and 36 million times a year, and it depends on CoQ10 for “bioenergetics.”
There are double blind studies now that prove Coenzyme Q10 is effective in reducing angina (chest pain), lowering high blood pressure, treating congestive heart failure and improving mitral valve prolapse conditions.
Repeated use of statins over time depletes this natural enzyme and leads to a weakened heart that becomes vulnerable to heart attack.
2. Liver Damage
Statin drugs work primarily by inhibiting a liver enzyme called HMG Co-A reductase, thus reducing the liver’s ability to make cholesterol.
When you interfere with the function of your liver, there is bound to be some damage. That is why your doctor will request that you have periodic liver enzyme tests to check your liver function.
Two Different View Points
How holistic practitioners view liver function and how medical doctors view liver function are completely different.
For a medical doctor, if your liver enzyme tests come back within the norm there is no cause for concern. From their perspective, your liver is functioning just fine.
Holistic practitioners see the liver as a truly intricate, complex and remarkable organ; the most important organ of metabolism.
Everything you swallow that is absorbed into the bloodstream passes through the liver. Every toxic substance, drug and many micro-organisms must be removed and neutralized by the liver. Virtually all the blood returning from the intestinal tract to the heart passes through the liver.
Rather than wait until your liver is in a diseased state, we monitor other signs (ie Chinese medicine measures pulse) and symptoms to interpret whether the liver is functioning efficiently. Obviously if you are alive, your liver is functioning. But the degree of functionality is critical because to a very large extent the health and vitality of an individual is determined by the health and vitality of the liver.
If liver function is less than optimal, holistic practitioners refer to this state as ‘congested liver’, ‘sluggish liver’, or ‘dysfunctional liver’.
Can You Get Off The Merry-Go-Round?
Now here is the real kicker. A ‘dysfunctional liver’ is one of the reasons your cholesterol may have been elevated in the first place. So now how will you ever have normal cholesterol levels without taking the statin drug if being on a statin impairs your liver function further?
The answer is that you won’t. Not unless you make new lifestyle choices and take very specific steps to cleanse and rejuvenate your liver with natural products.
It is a nice little racket the pharmaceutical industry has don’t you think? They sell you a very expensive drug to supposedly “save you from heart disease” but the drug damages your liver so that you need to be on the drug for life.
3. Forgetfulness, Disorientation, Violent Behavior and Suicide
Your Brain NEEDS Cholesterol
Cholesterol is present in the myelin sheaths that act as insulators for the neurons that help speed up nerve conduction. Cholesterol is so important for the brain that it is manufactured by the glial cells in the supportive tissues in the brain.
Statins reduce this cholesterol level which then leads to forgetfulness, disorientation, violent behavior and even suicide. The symptoms are often misdiagnosed as the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
Some people experience just a little memory loss, or find that they can’t concentrate as well as they did before the statin drug.
Is A Little Memory Loss Really A Big Deal?
Actually it can become a HUGE deal. It has been discovered that statins can lead to a condition known as TGA (transient global amnesia).
What is TGA?
During an episode of transient global amnesia, your recall of recent events simply vanishes, so you can’t remember where you are or how you got there. You may also draw a blank when asked to remember things that happened a day, a month or even a year ago. With transient global amnesia, you do remember who you are, and recognize the people you know well, but that doesn’t make your memory loss any less disturbing.
4. Muscle Weakness
Muscle weakness is frequently a symptom of **neuropathy and the muscle weakness may develop in a matter of days or may slowly progress over weeks or months. If you and your doctor are not properly informed, you may not recognize the progressive muscle weakness.
(**Neuropathy, short for peripheral neuropathy, simply means a malfunction of the peripheral nervous system that occurs without any inflammation of the nerve).
Most people do not realize that most side effects do not occur immediately upon starting a prescription medication. In fact, most symptoms occur months or even years after starting the drug. So when the person and their physician do not connect the “new” symptoms together with the “old” drug, the muscle weakness is explained away as being a result of being tired, overdoing it or just plain getting older.
Do You Really Need To Be Concerned About A Little Muscle Weakness?
You absolutely better be concerned as muscle weakness “could be a sign of a rare but serious side effect.”
Other symptoms of neuropathy include: numbness, tingling, and pricking sensations; burning pain (especially at night); and/or sensitivity to touch.
If left undiagnosed, neuropathy can lead to deterioration of the muscles and paralysis.
REMEMBER that we all need throat muscles to swallow, chest muscles to breathe, and that the heart is a muscle. Therefore In the extreme, severe neuropathy as a side effect from STATIN DRUGS CAN LEAD TO DEATH.
5. Muscle Pain
Muscle symptoms are a common side effect of statins. Many people experience aching in the shoulders, pain in the jaw, or muscle pain in the legs.
Your muscle pain can be serious. Sometimes the muscle pain is a symptom that your muscle is breaking down. The medical term for the breakdown of muscle fibers that results in the release of muscle fiber contents into the blood stream is called Rhabdomyolysis (often called rhabdo for short).
Besides muscle pain, the other major symptom of rhabdomyolysis is dark, red, or cola colored urine.
As your tissues break down, the body must eliminate the excess waste products. The waste products can then overload the kidneys, causing more serious problems.
How Serious?
Severe rhabdomyolysis can result in DEATH from acute kidney failure due to overload of the kidneys. In fact, the cholesterol lowering drug Baycol was removed from the market after being implicated in over 60 deaths due to rhabdomyolysis.
6. The Rest Of The List
Just in case the above list doesn’t have any impact on you, take a look at this excerpt from the Pocket Guide to Prescription Drugs, based on the Physicians Desk Reference:
“Side Effects of Lipitor (cholesterol-lowering drug) may include:
Abdominal pain, abnormal heart beats, accidental injury, acne, allergic reaction, amnesia, back pain, black stools, bleeding, breast enlargement, changes in eyesight, changes in taste sensation, chest pain, constipation, decreased sex drive, depression, diarrhea, difficulty swallowing, distorted facial muscles, dizziness, dry eyes, fatigue, fever, flu symptoms, fluid retention, gas hair loss, headache, hearing difficulties, heartburn, increases muscle movement, increased sensations, indigestion, inflammation of sinus and nasal passages, insomnia, itching, joint pain, lack of co-ordination, leg cramps, muscle aching or weakness, purple or red spots on the skin, rash, respiratory problems, ringing in the ears, sensitivity to light, skin irritations, sore throat, strange dreams, sweating, tingling of extremities, unstable emotions, urinary problems, vomiting, weakness, weight gain, weight loss.
SO WHY ARE DANGEROUS STATINS SO POPULAR?
I could write a book on this topic, but obviously I won’t. To address the issue briefly, I will summarize by saying.
1. Fast and Easy
We have become a nation of take a pill to solve our ills. Fast, easy, fast, easy. That is the way of life. We are being programmed to do everything that is fast and easy. Achieving and maintaining great health is NEITHER fast or easy.
It takes TIME to see the results of nutritional therapies. They work by getting to the root of the problem and letting the body heal itself. It takes EFFORT to make new lifestyle choices.
Drugs are fast and easy. They work by FORCING a reaction in your body. They don’t heal but rather cover up the existing problem.
2. Lack of Education
Where are you supposed to learn about lowering cholesterol naturally? Is it taught in schools? Is it in the newspapers? Do you learn about it on TV?
See if you can follow this one, you don’t know what you don’t know until you find out that you didn’t know it. In other words, why would you ask about or seek out an alternative if you don’t know one exists.
3. Asking Your Plumber For Accounting Advice
You wouldn’t do that. So why do you go to your doctor for advice on nutrition?
Health and nutrition is not their area of expertise. Unless your medical doctor has pursued a career in alternative medicine he/she has not trained in nutrition or any kind of preventative health care. What they know exceptionally well is disease management through prescription drugs and/or surgery.
4. MONEY, MONEY AND MORE MONEY
Drugs like Lipitor, Mevacor and others are among the best selling drugs in North America today. As I said some 13 million North Americans take them to reduce their LDL levels. Even if each person only spent a dollar a year on these drugs that would mean 13 MILLION dollars for the pharmaceutical industry.
But given that the retail cost of ONE PRESCRIPTION of Lipitor is $272.37 and that prescription only costs $5.80 cents to make (which is a mark up of 4,696%), and that each person needs multiple prescriptions per year-DO THE MATH-we are talking BILLIONS of dollars of profits, not millions.
No wonder pharmaceuticals can afford to pay for expensive advertising that continues to brainwash the average individual into thinking that it is a smart choice to use statin drugs to lower your cholesterol. Right, smart choice for who?
The money issue is the biggest. That dictates what politicians pass in parliament, what med students study, which drugs doctors prescribe, what articles can appear in the newspaper, and even what guests Oprah was allowed to have on her show.
Pharmaceuticals have a lot to lose and everything to gain to keep you in the dark.
TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR HEALTH
Not everyone wants to take responsibility for their own health. But for those that want a safe, inexpensive and natural way to lower their cholesterol, read the article “Total Health Packs For Lowering Cholesterol” HERE or go to the benefits page on my dedicated website at www.TotalHealthPack.com
Here is what Laura R. From Nanaimo had to say after following my advice:
“My cholesterol has gone right down to just slightly above the normal range. My doctor was absolutely amazed. She said that she has never seen cholesterol go down that much without medication. She doesn’t want to see me for another year! Thanks for all your good advice!”
The information made available in this article is provided for educational or reference purposes only. Nutritional Therapy and/or Coaching is not intended as a diagnosis, treatment, prescription, or cure for any disease, mental or physical, and is not intended as a substitute for regular medical care.
Copyright Brenda Eastwood and Megan Bocsik 2013 – Article Why Statin Drugs Don’t Make Sense
MaximumResults@shaw.ca www.BrendaEastwood.com www.TotalHealthPack.com
Would you like to use this article in your E-zine or website? You may, as long as you include this complete write-up with it: Brenda Eastwood is a holistic health expert who specializes in Women’s Health Issues. Her expertise stems from over 30 years’ experience as a Registered Nutritional Consulting Practitioner. This includes ongoing research, 17 years running a successful private practice, presenting hundreds of seminars and workshops, as well as coaching clients through her unique online Inner Circle program. Today she is able to reach out to even more women through her regular article contributions to HANS (Health Action Magazine) and her book “Get off the PMS and Perimenopausal Roller Coaster, Learn 9 Natural Fast Track Solutions to Balanced Hormones”. For more information on Brenda Eastwood please visit www.BrendaEastwood.com or for information on her Total Health Packs visit www.TotalHealthPack.com
