Why you don't want to have a statin-induced insufficiency of CoQ10:

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chr...0_depletion.htm

This is my 2nd visit, actually, to the first forum where I forgot to post.

I'm 68, lifelong low thyroid, Type 2 not well-controlled lately, since some muscle pain started that may have been due to too much Metformin, or just a pulled muscle, or thyroid not being absorbed well, with a 2-yr old foot ulcer that's just now healing since I changed doctors and was put on Pletal for better circulation, also some Keflex. I get a debridement often and keep it bandaged, offloaded. Noticed some of you say Pletal helps your leg cramps. Only potassium helps mine.

Atkins worked for me for a few months, and also a couple of years of taking odorless garlic pills, 5 or so at a time, for allergy ear infections brought down my b.p. to "too low". Now b.p.'s rising again, also cholesterol, so I'm back on garlic, scared of statins.

I thank all of you for so much good information here. I was afraid to get my Lipitor prescription filled, want to try garlic first and flax seed first. I've made a note of a couple of new alternatives some of you have mentioned, and will anyone tell us something about Zocor? Of course we could always do a search. Thanks again.

This sealed the case against statins, if you ask me:

http://www.theomnivore.com/Statin_page.html

I am 36 and was suffering from high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and high cholesterol sometimes known as Syndrome X.

For over one year I took Lipitor. Before reading about the negative side effects and 5 or 6 months after taking it, I suffered from muscle soreness and muscle loss. I would exit bed in the morning and walk like a much older man for the first few minutes. Memory loss became so bad that I would frequently know the word I wanted to say, but could not produce the word. It was a great relief when I stopped taking Lipitor and these negative effects stopped within weeks.

Since low carbing and losing about 35 pounds I have great blood pressure and much improved cholesterol and triglyceride readings. Finally, my doctor does very little nagging about going on a statin again, although he does bring it up each visit. He is surprised by my progress and asks each visit if I am bored with eating low carb and if I am worried about the increased fat consumption. I think he believes that controlling carbs works, but deeply believes that few people can follow this way of eating for life.

I don't think anyone has suggested the Statin Alert web site in this thread: http://www.statinalert.org I am a Lipitor rebel, too!

Just wanted to remark on these two items which have been claimed for statins.
ALL the statin agents that I've read of to date, have produced cancer in the animal trials. It's something the drug companies never seem to mention. One trial in humans, I believe that one was Pravastatin?, was terminated early by the company/physicians, because the trial group (ie, the ones receiving the real drug) had a much higher rate of developing cancer than did the placebo group (which, as it happened, contained far more smokers).

As to it helping dementia. I find this rationally pretty hard to comprehend as being likely. These drugs all act by interfering very early on in the biosynthetic pathway of cholesterol. As far as I'm aware, they cross the blood brain barrier. Our glial cells MAKE our brain's own supply of cholesterol. Cholesterol has been found to be intimately necessary for the formation of memories. Our brains, are something like 70% made out of cholesterol or elements synthesized from the parent molecule. The notion that statins would help our brains simply does not make any logical sense to me. What would one guess would be the outcome of blocking the production of a molecule so vital to memory formation and production/maintenance of cellular elements in the brain, not to mention undermining the synthesis of ubiquinone (made out of.. you guessed it - cholesterol!), which enables the mitochondria to produce cellular energy?

Their anti-inflammatory action MAY help in reducing inflammation responses which are attempts at healing (as seen generally in body injury) and which will be present in actively progressing dementia diseases.

I had thought that my physician was conscientious enough to resist the drug companies, but I'm beginning to believe I was mistaken.

I was prescribed Zocor (simvistatin) last November. My cholesterol numbers were not too bad - total 179, HDL 46, LDL 111, triglycerides 108. A statin with such numbers seemed like overkill to me. Then she prescribed Actos (pioglitazone), an oral hypoglycemic, and that struck me as even more inappropriate, since my last HgBA1c was 5.1%. My average fasting blood glucose was running about 97 at the time.

Since being on the Zocor for about nine months, I've gained 15 lbs., the cataract in my right eye has gotten much worse, my libido has been obliterated (the first time in my life there's been even a hint of a problem in this area - I'm 54 years old) and my fasting glucose readings have gone up about 10mg/dl on average. All this with no change in diet or exercise regimen.

Last night I forgot to take my medications. I usually take 20 mg Prinivil to control hypertension, 40 mg Zocor and 15 mg Actos. I take them at night because the maximum effectiveness of the Actos is reached at 7-8 hours after you take it. This morning my fasting reading was 78 mg/dl! Before going out at 11:00 this morning I measured it again just to make sure. 82 mg/dl! I went out and ate a Wendy's Double with cheese (you can get them without the bun now) and a small chili (16 grams CHO - you can subtract the fiber in the beans). At 3 o'clock the reading was 85 mg/dl. Clearly something is going on here which is significant. I haven't had a fasting reading below 95 in at least two years. 101-105 is more common. Eliminating the Zocor, even though I also eliminated (by accident) the Actos, brought my sugar down so much that I can only conclude that it must've been raising it at least 30 mg/dl. The Actos probably brought it down another 10.

What I think is going on: the Zocor raises blood sugar. But since insulin resistance wasn't a problem (I'm 6' tall and weighed 172lbs. with excellent glycemic control when this prescription was written) I can only conclude that the pioglitazone was prescribed to counter the glycemic control problems that the doctor knew would appear. Why would a physician prescribe Zocor in my situation? It can only be to score brownie points with Merck. Just look at the price. It has also not escaped my notice that these scripts were written right after I took a new job with terrific insurance (Aetna PPO) which pays 90% of the cost.

Well, I've taken my last Zocor pill. You can take that to the bank. Within a week I'll have a new doctor, too.

Jim

Yes, it sure sounds like she's trying to score brownie points with Merck or something like that. Keep us posted.

P.S. Almost forgot to tell you, I did a search for side effects of Actos, and
found an article stating it's just a toxin, not to take it, etc. There's also at least one lawsuit about Avandia, which I take, but will watch out, and about possibly-permanent tendon damages from Levaquin. I have a lot of arm and shoulder pain, more than a year after taking some. Low-carbing is sometimes blamed for muscle problems, also my low thyroid, so I can't definitely determin the cause, am taking a muscle relaxant, methocarbamol, since April, 2003, more than a year. It helps with the pain.

Augmentin is recommended as a much safer and more effective substitute for quinalones.

i take lipitor and love it- nothing else has worked for me. i tried low fat, low carb, high fat low carb- just about every variation on lc known to (wo)man. on 10 mg of lipitor, plus lots of exercise (well, an hour 6 days a week) i can eat my medium fat/low carb foods and not worry about cholesterol. i generally detest all pharm companies, so no worries that i am a rep how many type 1's on this list have been able to control their cholesterol with diet alone? im thinking the T1/T2 thing may be an issue.

v., type 1 since 1996.