Most experts who promote cholesterol lowering drugs have made money from p

[UpInArms]

Most experts who promote cholesterol lowering drugs have made money from producers

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=10881

Most of the experts who tell us to take cholesterol lowering drugs have made money from pharmaceutical companies that produce them, say consumer groups.

Cholesterol lowering drugs sell well – a whopping $26 billion around the world in 2003. This year the figure is expected to be much higher. They are the best selling drugs on the market today.

Nine of the USA’s top cholesterol experts wrote the new guidelines which were issued by the American Heart Association and the US government.

The guidelines focus in reducing the number of heart attacks in the USA.

Of those nine experts, six have received money from producers of cholesterol lowering drugs. They received money for consultations, making speeches and carrying out research.

...more...

Big Pharma conflict of interest? Tell me it isn't so! (yeah right)

[Mari333]

1. Pharmaceutical companies run your doctor too

everytime you walk into a docs office, and tell them you are depressed, and they offer you a "sample" of Celebrex or some other SSRI, the physician gets a 385 dollar kickback for it.
My counselor told me "NEVER EVER LET A PHYSICIAN GIVE YOU SAMPLES OF AN SSRI..THEY ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO DIAGNOSE DEPRESSION".
Its a racket. A big money racket. and many doctors are nothing but legal pill pushers.

[depakid]

8. That's absolutely correct

I would also add that, with few exceptions, a primary care physician has no business prescribing anti-depressants in the first place because they're simply not qualified to practice psychiatry. Not only are they ill equipped to monitor dosage titration and potential side effects, but they typically don't take a proper history to determine whether the patient might be bipolar. Prescribing anti-depressants to a bipolar patient who doesn't first have a therapeutic blood level of a mood stabilizer in their system can be a prescription for disaster.

[iamtechus]

2. Check it out yourself

Fortunately, we have access to the internet with its search engines and we don't have to take the word of any one interest group. If you google statins along with some other key words, you will find that a great deal of research has been done on them. They have been in use since the 80's allowing the compilation of mountains of data on their benefits: article.

[mzmolly]

4. There are safer ways to lower cholesterol.

My mother in law about cut hers in half via diet and a fiber supplement.

[kutastha]

6. What if

You're like me and have familial hypercholesterolemia Type IIa and eat a high fiber, low-fat diet, exercise and still have an LDL of 172, which has been lowered to 92 after 6 weeks of atorvastatin?

[mzmolly]

9. Then take it. But if your like my Mother in law who experienced severe

side effects, you should consider available alternatives.

[kutastha]

10. Indeed

There are other options such as cholestyramine and gemfibrozil. However, these also come with their own side effects.

[mzmolly]

12. And there are alternatives that don't make the drug companies a bundle

like metamucil.

http://www2.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/diet.fitness/03/07/cholesterol.diet.ap/

My MIL's last cholesterol reading was about 140, down from 270. All done with metamucil and slight modifications in diet.

[happynewyear]

17. great link! thanks!

Very useful interesting info. there! Thanks so much! :D

:dem: :kick:

[KoKo]

3. As someone who is involved with research and has a family member on

"statins" it's important to know where each researcher got their money and how much was involved in actual research or just "speaking engagements."

I say this because of my background and my hubby's. It's common for pharmarceutical companies to invite leading researchers to funded meetings by folks hoping to market new drugs, to solicit opinions by leaders in a "research field," and to know whether the new drug really will work, or has problems. It's the only way these companies can assess new discoveries after they've tested them in the lab (and yes, on animals in most cases). These folks are called "Key Opinion Leaders" and are targeted by companies large and small seeking ways to find out whether a new product which has been developed would be accepted and if not, what could be done to improve the product.

Given that my family member would be dead or like Cheney without one of the "statin drugs (enzymes)" it's hard to really trash these folks.

I think what we here on DU try to do is to investigate and differentiate the "abusers" from the "serious."

Given that most Medical Universities have to rely more on "independent" drug Co. funding because the public doesn't want to give in a Repug Climate it makes sense that folks who truly have good research will be invited and paid to go to drug company conventions along with scurrilous opportunists who are pushing drugs maybe based on faulty, but hyped research.

The accepting of funding depends on how much and for what purpose, so that we don't tar all folks who get money for research with the same brush smear..but as always...ask questions and BEWARE! Especially when Repug Admins come in but always whether it's Repug or Dem.

But not all funding is evil...

I'm trying to be fair based on years of experience with this....:shrug:

[UTUSN]

5. Statins Eat Up an Enzyme Needed for Muscle

There was a news report last week, but it probably was not new-news. Also general muscular weakness and lack of zip (using medical terms here).

*******QUOTE*******

http://www.mdausa.org/experts/question.cfm?id=3683

REPLY from MDA: Mark Tarnopolsky, MD, Ph.D., FRCP(C), McMaster University Medical Center, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Lipitor can cause muscle weakness and neuropathy. SMA affects the motor nerve cell body, so any loss of muscle or nerve function can make SMA worse. The neuropathy from Lipitor is likely time-dependent and characteristically starts with numbness in the feet. The myopathy from Lipitor is characterized by aching in the thighs and upper arms and sometimes an increase in CK activity (a muscle enzyme — be careful, for this enzyme may be up a bit from the SMA, per se). The birth control medication will not cause any of these symptoms. If there is pain in the neck, this can make weakness worse by pain inhibition — hence, if pain, treat it. It is likely that some of the side effects of statins (i.e., Lipitor) may be prevented with co-administration of coenzyme Q10 (coQ10) - 60 mg twice a day.

http://www.rxlist.com/rxboard/lipitor.pl?read=1120

... statin drugs deplete the muscle enzymes and taking coq10 with vit. E will help replace it. coq10 is not a pain pill but it will shorten the time you have pain, it worked for me and some other people.

http://www.canadianpharmacytrust.com/drugs/lipitor.html

Side effects cannot be anticipated. If any develop or change in intensity, inform your doctor as soon as possible. Only your doctor can determine if it is safe for you to continue taking Lipitor. The side effects of Generic Lipitor--if any develop--are usually mild. Most common side effects of Lipitor include abdominal pain, abnormal heartbeat, 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, increased muscle movement, increased sensations, indigestion, inflammation of sinus and nasal passages, insomnia, itching, joint pain, lack of coordination, 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

********UNQUOTE*******

[kutastha]

7. Patients I've seen...

...have been warned of myopathy and rhabdomyolysis prior to being put on statins, and are told to call back if they get any sort of muscle pain.

[happynewyear]

11. pharmaceutical companies out to make big $

and that is the reality of it.

What did they do before there were these cholesterol drugs? Nothing!

I had a godmother that weighed close to 300 lbs. and she ate lots of fatty foods and lived to be 101 years old.

I have insisted that the exhume her body :evilgrin: and tell me what her cholesterol was before I consider taking these drugs.

They cost a fortune too if you did not know this and now they are planning to sell them over-the-counter soon enough.

I've been on the no red meat, low-fat diet, a lot more fiber route (and avoiding foods that have a lot of cholesterol) for the past year. It will be interesting to find out what the readings are next time around.

I just found out that they have now lowered the requirements for having high blood pressure. Now it is anything above 130 on the upper number (used to be borderline was 140). I've had blood pressure at ~140/90 for over 30 years (sometimes lower; sometimes higher).

When the doctor advised me of this (trying to get me on high blood pressure drugs once again) I didn't say anything but I thought to myself, "how convenient for the pharmaceutical industry".

What will be the next "magic" pill to push?

:dem: :kick:

[KoKo]

14. Actually there are very thin folks who don't eat alot of fat having heart

attacks. Even folks with no family history of it. It really is an "enzyme" problem. Many folks should be on statins because they aren't what folks typically think of the Mickey D's 300 pounder loading up on grease who doesn't exercise.

If your cholesterol and LDL/HDL/triglyceride numbers come in flagging red, then you are taking a chance ignoring this.

There are many folks who can eat anything and weigh whatever they want who never have high colesterol HDL/LDL and Triglyceride counts and wont die of a heart attack.

But, those who do have high numbers and even those who vigorously excercise will die of a heart attack young (depending on the count) or will need angioplasty or bypass later on.

It's not dependent on what you eat or how much you exercise, they've found. And, not all is hereditary in that you may have the gene from an ancestor way back while the rest of your family has no problem.

There's huge amounts of real research on this. So, this is one I won't blame the drug companies for. Except there are different kinds of statins and the older ones like Pravacol have been tested longer than the newbies. Always better to go with the "old one" than the newbies if they are treating the same condition and see how the older ones do for you before going on to the newbies.

[question everything]

13. I was going to post something about it earlier this week

I did not suspect a direct link to pharmaceutical companies but the whole idea of putting, what, 80% of us? on pills for the rest of our lives?

I have a lot of respect for modern medicine, I am a trained scientist, but, as the wonderful Lewis Thomas said: this is the youngest science. We tend to forget that before modern medicine, millions of people lived, often long healthy life.

[lucky777]

15. Every man in my family has cholesterol near 300, lives to 95

It's a puzzle as to whether to go on Lipitur. I'm waiting for test results taken last week -- I usually have 'good' cholestrol over 100 b/c I am a runner (thin, no smoking, no drinking, no drugs, eat only healthy food, etc), but the total is at 300. Everyone has numbers near 300, but the men in my family live forever -- they die in their 90s of old age, otherwise healthy. Half of us guys take Lipitur, the others don't. I don't want to take something the rest of my life, but the doctors keep pushing it . . .

[happynewyear]

16. yeah I agree with you they do push these drugs

until ... you get sick on them.

Then the quickly tell you that is doesn't really matter and that they "might" help but they don't really know and the beat goes on anyway.

I never plan to take them myself. I've had high cholesterol for over 20 years now. I am not particularly worried about it.

If they have their way, I'd been on literally 1/2 dozen drugs a month at a cost of ~$4,000.00.

I'm not impressed at all.

[TexasBushwhacker]

18. Me too, although I'm not thin

Yeah, my doctor just gave me a prescription for Crestor because my total cholesterol is 257. My HDL is 59 though, which makes my ratio 4.35/1. Optimum is 3.5/1, but anything under 5/1 is considered healthy. Since I need to lose weight and exercise anyway, I'm blowing off the Crestor for the time being. Now that I've read that it's even higher risk than the other statins for cardiomyopathy and rhabdomyolysis, I think I'll take my chances with long walks and oatmeal. Geez!