Yikes

This article was written in 2004.
Why aren't the doctors putting 2 and 2 together since then????
Why did it take me so long to wake up and realize the damage I was doing to my healthy body and mind.  Sadly my neuropathy is probably irreversible.   Last night I had bad spasms during the night.  Thankfully a holistic over the counter product helped,

http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-diseases/dangers-of-statin-drugs-what-you-havent-been-told-about-popular-cholesterol-lowering-medicines/

The article doesn't even address some adverse side effects now associated with statin use like my endless hot flashes because sex hormone production is also blocked.   There is also a higher risk of diabetes and metabolic disease in general, cataracts, and the list is growing.

quote from article:
 Heel pain from plantar fascitis is another common complaint among those taking statin drugs. 
(read somewhere else that my chronic bilateral golfer's elbow was probably related to statin use as well)

Last but not Least

I finished the last of the B12 supplements yesterday and still have Peripheral Neuropathy and Tinnitus so started Apple Cider Vinegar with B6 tabs today.  This is pretty much my last shot at restoring nerve damage with a supplement since I stopped statins almost 6 months ago except for a single 5 mg Crestor dose 3 months ago which made my thighs numb again.  At least many of my annoying adverse side effects from statin use are improved if not gone (morning headache, brain fog, vertigo, fatigue, hot flashes, eye dryness) and I stopped before developing a chronic Metabolic disease like Diabetes type 2.  Only other condition which cannot be resolved are cataracts which may need surgery in 7 years or so.  Hopefully, I stopped statins and started CoQ10 before  my mitral valve prolapse worsened.  It has been reported that nerve damage is the hardest adverse effect to heal.

This morning I did another edited Shrink Session which was great on the bungee then a BodyVive that was great on the ball.

The workout stars were in alignment and both Amazon packages delivered today!

MVP

I found out why I NEVER should have been given a statin besides being a postmenopausal woman who gets no benefit from a statin.  I had been diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse on two different echocardiograms about 10 years apart. One around the time I stated on a statin and the other about 10 years into being on a statin.  The best thing for MVP is CoQ10 and statins block CoQ10 production!

Reviewing 2014 and Previous Years

Since it is December, I think it would be a good time to review this year, previous years, and hopefully, propose some expectations for the next.

My workouts have been great as well as my leisure activity of replacing soundtracks on just about all of the workouts I do (while removing all unwanted moves like burpees, etc. LOL).  I love the option of using Wellvideo.ru to store most of my videos I want to revisit to have them at my fingertips without having to do a treasure hunt for the dvdr backup.
http://wellvideo.ru/?l=450

Each day I bounce on the bungee then ball for at least 40 minutes.  The combination of bouncing and MUsic just keep me moving and happy. Stress is the source of most serious ailments so I really need to get more diligent about sparks throughout the day next year.

Here's where a blog comes in handy.

2014 has been much kinder to me than the previous years.  Even though I became more aware of other adverse effects of statin use, I was able to reverse the severity of most of them.  It is such a relief not to suffer that terrible fatigue and brain fog I got each morning.

2013 was the battle with Plantar Fasciitis which led me to my wonderful Jumpsport PRO bungees so there was a sliver lining

2012 was when a bad knee and hip had me ready to move to a home without stairs.  Never expected to be using stairs without pain again but our bodies have an amazing ability to heal if we keep moving and listening to what feels good and more importantly, what doesn't feel good.

2010 and 2011 marked the battle of the golfer's elbows.  The silver lining here was that I stopped trying to do planks and other moves which aggravated my elbows.  I do miss shoveling snow which I really enjoyed but our son loves it.

Never would have made it this far without Arnica gel and the internet.
My workout obsession kept me finding ways to move enjoyably.
Plantar Fasciitis, Golfer's Elbow, and joint problems were probably all triggered by Lipitor induced deficiencies.  Imagine what my current condition would have been if I had not kept moving.  I believe I would have been suffering full-blown Metabolic Disease.  Metabolic Disease is becoming the current epidemic because of our unsuccessful attempt to limit Coronary Heart Disease.

I still have some remnants of statin induced deficiencies but overall, feel so much better than I have in a decade (started Lipitor over 15 years ago).  I believe we will see a huge revolt against the pharmaceutical companies and medical profession in the next few years.  Not just in the US but world-wide.  Too many people, especially women, have become ill from what is supposed to be a preventative treatment.  I dread ever developing a serious enough condition demanding real medical treatment because I have lost all faith in the medical profession.
Sadder yet because I used to be a part of that community.

Statin Side Effects

 A few years ago, I had really bad bilateral golfer's elbow (medial epicondylitis) after doing some biceps curls which still mildly affects me.  Summer before last developed Plantar Fasciitis in both feet. totally ruining walking for me for the whole summer (thank goodness for bouncing on a large stability ball).  Just read that statins can trigger both conditions!  For as long as I can remember, I also have had many weird twinges especially in the feet, ankles, knees, shoulders, back, hip, etc.  I didn't go to the doctor for these acute strange twinges and tendon flares.  Thankfully Arnica gel made most go away if not tolerable.  However, it wouldn't have mattered because I complained plenty to the doctor during each quarterly exam, mostly about feeling hypoglycemic (light headed, weak. dizzy) which he just ignored.  This hypoglycemic feeling hit me every morning before lunch and sometimes was debilitating.  It made me afraid to go to stores with bright lights which seemed to make it worse.

Then in the few months before making the statin connection, the bouts of weakness became longer, endurance when exercising dwindled, daily morning headaches and brain fog developed.  Last but not least, a tingling in the feet spread to my calves then thighs.    Then the news hit about how many women got type2 diabetes because of a statin.  My fasting blood sugar had been higher than 100 at least once and my Triglycerides always on the high side but ridiculously high at least once. Also, it didn't seem like eating less and exercising more affected my weight at all, eating a low fat diet.  So I started digging on the internet.  Once I made the connection of all of my adverse conditions to statin use and avoiding saturated fats, I starting taking Lipitor every other day and added CoQ10.  Almost immediately, the brain fog lifted and all other conditions seemed to improve.  My next blood tests were ok except the LDL crept upwards a bit but was still in the acceptable range.  Again my doctor shut me down when explaining what I had been feeling and doing.  Called CoQ10 a placebo.  Soon afterwards I was also diagnosed with cataracts which can also be a statin induced condition.
So after more reading online and not finding any sound evidence that Lipitor prevented heart disease or a first heart event in women, I decided to just stop Lipitor altogether.  I did it slowly though but could have done it cold turkey.  My next blood tests were bad (rebounding effect from stopping Lipitor) so my doctor prescribed 5 mg of Crestor every other day and to keep taking my CoQ10 which was no longer considered a placebo.  I found the study online that my doctor probably read about taking Crestor less often and CoQ10 to limit side effects.   Just one dose of Crestor kicked in the extreme peripheral neuropathy, vertigo, and ear buzzing which had improved after stopping Lipitor. So that was the final nail in the statin coffin for me.

Since then, I have added Alpha Lipoic Acid which has given me much more energy and have started to lose weight slowly.  I now eat more saturated fat and avoid carbs without fiber.  More recently, I have added Vitamin B12.  I don't care what my cholesterol or LDL values are.  My heartrate is still considered very fit for a woman my age.  The stress of dealing with my doctor and letting bad science control what I eat and what drugs to take are over. I fear diabetes much more than the mythical benefits of a statin.  Since then I have read that statins increase the risk of breast cancer.  Thankfully, bouncing on a rebounder without a bra may have protected me from that path and Arnica gel kept me moving.  Has anyone ever been recommended to try Arnica gel by a medical professional?  For that matter, how many statin users were recommended CoQ10 by their doctors?  Doctors are no longer healers.  They fill their offices with people aging before their time coming in for quarterly blood tests, ready to add drugs for diabetes and hypertension as the metabolic disease progresses. Not only do statins not prevent a first heart event, but more patients with higher cholesterol survive that first event. Eating healthier and moving more is much more beneficial.  Statin users may not be as careful about their diet and the fatigue and aches from statin induced deficiencies may prevent moving more.  Also statin users avoid sunlight so may be Vitamin D deficient. Of course, cholesterol, itself, is an essential element!  Aging slows down the process of making essential elements by our bodies.  Adding a statin to these aging bodies and minds is criminal. Congestive Heart Failure debilitates and kills many patients , most of whom are on a statin without CoQ10. Congestive Heart Failure is not included in the statin studies as a heart disease.  Also anyone who shows an immediate side effect to a statin is excluded from these statin studies.  The stress of paying for prescriptions and doctor visit copays is not healthy either.  If someone does have a heart event, hemorrhaging from a blood thinner can be even more deadly than another heart event. Prescribing drugs becomes a vicious cycle.  Even my doctor takes a statin so he can have an occasional Chinese meal (his words, not mine).

OK here is irony at its finest....
most of the time when I complained to my doctor about vertigo and various aches, his response was I feel that way too.   Maybe one day he will make the statin connection himself.  Who knows, maybe he is now taking CoQ 10!   I wonder if he put his 20-something son on a statin as he tried with mine?  
(I never contacted my doctor about not taking Crestor after one dose and canceled my next quarterly. I did schedule my next annual in the Spring with the young new partner on my doctor's day off LOL)

STOP the INSANITY

Women after menopause will be given a statin prescription after losing their estrogen protection against coronary artery disease.  Statins are a placebo for women, not offering anything but a fake sense of protection from heart disease while promoting heart failure, dementia, and metabolic disease by preventing exercise, enabling insulin resistance, and enabling weight gain.  Good luck in finding a doctor who doesn't insist on all of their patients taking this toxic substance which creates all sort of deficiencies in an otherwise healthy body.   At least, I think I got my doctor on the CoQ10 train after initially implying it was a placebo then he wrote me a script for Crestor!
STOP the INSANITY

Most of my side effects from deficiencies have been reversed but many other victims have not been as fortunate.  Doctors ignore the complaints so most adverse side effects go unreported.  It took me 15 years on Lipitor to connect the dots that most of my discomforts were statin induced.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17696579

Stop the Insanity

This article describes how minimally a statin gives protection against a heart attack for those at risk:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-h-newman-md/statins_b_4277001.html

Besides providing little benefit and putting financial stress on people to afford them, the side effect incidences go mostly unreported and people eat poorly and do not exercise as much, thinking the statin will protect them. For me, Lipitor greatly interfered with my ability to exercise, leaving me in pain and easily fatigued and miserable.

It will take several more years for the medical community to see the damage they have done to their patients. Insurance companies will eventually wake up as well and realize these drugs are causing them more of an expense than saving them in hospital stays and extra doctor visits to monitor blood. Hopefully, most pharmaceutical companies will face so many law suits that they will stop trying to poison the world.

Statins are the Enemy, not Cholesterol!

They want to put just about everyone on a lifetime drug which really hasn't been tested for long term use.  Heck the doctor tried to put our 26 year old son on a statin too when his cholesterol numbers weren't really bad and since are quite good after changing his eating habits.

Having too much faith in the medical community, I was on 20mg of Lipitor for over 15 years for almost as long as Lipitor has been available with no other risk factor except high cholesterol and it wasn't even that high before starting Lipitor!. The deficiencies causing side effects crept up on me so I wasn't even aware of the symptoms as being statin side effects.  As we age, our bodies naturally make less essential substances.  Add to that the many artificial deficiencies that statins create, especially CoQ10 and Vit D.  Even cholesterol is an essential substance!  The focus on a low fat diet and avoiding saturated fats can cause a Vit B12 deficiency and so on.   (margarine may be the worse artificial nutrient man has ever made)

Exercise is critical yet statins causing a CoQ10 deficiency create a body resistant to exercise because of muscle aches and fatigue.  All of this lifetime of increasing deficiencies and statins really do not substantially reduce the risk of initial heart events or deaths from a heart event.  Besides ruining the daily quality of life by interfering with our natural processes, a statin can cause crippling muscle diseases, including heart failure and/or diabetes. STOP the insanity!!!!

Just say *No*
Eat balanced and move more.
Get out into the sun whenever possible.

ETA: just do your own research and Google for women and statins
 a few suggested articles:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/04/17/statin-side-effects.aspx
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20090203/heart-rate-predicts-womens-heart-risk
http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/01/19/why-women-should-stop-their-cholesterol-lowering-medication/#close
last but not least. the man who may save many lives
http://www.drsinatra.com/statin-drugs-what-they-are-and-who-should-take-them

I just wanted to add that most side effects go unreported.  My own doctor ignored my symptoms for years and never bothered to take any of my complaints seriously including light-headed fatigue which felt like hypoglycemia, brain fog, morning headache, vertigo, increased tingling in my lower limbs starting with my toes, hot flashes while postmenopausal for 2 decades, muscle spasms and joint pain,  Instead of healing or improving my daily quality of life, my doctor was solely focusing on my Cholesterol levels. Most of the medical profession share the same attitude so I had to try to heal myself.  Most of my symptoms have been resolved except for the buzzing in my ears 24/7 with an occasional bout of vertigo and lower limb tingling,  Oh yeah, I now have cataracts too :(

Statins

Statins may contribute more to developing heart disease than being preventative. There is little doubt that a statin can ruin the feeling of well being and daily quality of life in an otherwise healthy body.

Mentally, a statin user may eat less healthy and move less because they think the statin will protect their arteries.
(my own doctor and husband definitely fall into this category)

Physically, the statin creates many deficiencies in the body, especially when combined with an unbalanced diet. These deficiencies rob the user of energy and create mental and/or physical discomfort.

I think I had just about every possible side effect plus others like hot flashes well past menopause and blamed most side effects on aging and menopause.  Women after menopause will be given a prescription after losing their estrogen protection against coronary artery disease. Statins are a placebo for women, not offering anything but a fake sense of protection from heart disease while promoting heart failure, dementia, and metabolic disease by preventing exercise, enabling insulin resistance, and enabling weight gain. Good luck in finding a doctor who doesn't insist on all of their patients taking this toxic substance which creates all sort of deficiencies in an otherwise healthy body.
STOP the INSANITY


My husband had been on statins awhile for high total cholesterol (almost 400) and having parents who developed *heart disease*.  I joined him when I was postmenopausal because my cholesterol rose a bit but was still much lower than his had been.  I really had no other risk factors.

My son at 26 was prescribed a statin even though his numbers were well under current high risk levels and he, too, had no other risk factors.   He took the statin for one week then stopped because his OCD kicked in and he became very stressed.  His OCD became focused on his food choices (limiting refined carbs and trans fat) and exercise.  His total cholesterol and LDL levels dropped to levels where no doctor would ever recommend a statin.  My son had started researching statins online so I started to do so as well. Our family doctor was prescribing a dangerous drug for our son to be taken for the rest of his life!  Of course, this doctor refused to discuss our son's success without statins.

Over the years, I slowly developed many statin side effects to a point where I could no longer ignore them.  Every time I tried to discuss these *symptoms* with my doctor, they were ignored so I assumed it was just a part of aging.  I didn't even realize these symptoms were considered side effects of statins till I started doing my own research online thanks to our son's stubbornness to not stay on statins.  Our doctor seems to prefer sheep as patients and really doesn't trust those who try to become informed.  Getting exact lab test results from him is like pulling teeth so I lack alot of information about what possible side effects are actually being exhibited in these labs results like fasting blood sugar and thyroid levels (I have a cystic nodular goiter so changes could be very important to that condition). 

As a result of my research, I experimented with taking my daily statin (Lipitor 20 mg) every other day with food to keep it in my system longer.  Also I started taking CoQ10 (50 mg twice a day after a meal then 150 then 200 mg daily).  Many of my symptoms eased especially the fatigue, morning headache, brain fog, and muscle spasms in my calves and feet.  My LDL rose a bit but overall my numbers were acceptable to my doctor who still didn't know I had switched to every other day.  I did tell him about CoQ10 which he called a placebo.

However, soon after that blood test, my feet tingling spread to my calves indicating my peripheral neuropathy was getting worse so I eased off statins completely taking them twice a week then once a week then not at all.  The tingling started to fade.  My next blood results made my doctor furious and He insisted I go on Crestor 5 mg every other day, ironically also to continue taking the CoQ10 (guess he no longer considered it a placebo?).

After one 5 mg Crestor, the tingling came back the very next day and this time spread into my thighs.  So I am DONE with Statins.  The tingling did fade a bit but is still present so I will try RALA

(Stabilized R-Alpha Lipoic Acid).  Also still have a buzzing tinnitus. 

Lots of people on statins pay less attention to their diet and exercise.  Maybe that is why half of the people suffering a first heart event have acceptable levels of cholesterol.  Maybe that is why those with higher cholesterol actually had higher survival rates with the first heart event. Maybe using statins to lower cholesterol interferes with too many other metabolic processes and needs.

I have been a regular exerciser for almost as long as I have been on statins but because of fatigue, I was exercising at lower intensities and shorter periods.  I was also trying to avoid saturated fats which has not been proven to raise cholesterol levels and may have added to my statin side effects with deficiencies.  Since switching my focus to avoiding refined carbs, my weight is finally going down.  My feeling of well being is back after battling fatigue and brain fog.  I have energy and a clear head.  I will not sacrifice my daily feeling of well being to sate my doctor's ego.  Problem is most doctors have that same ego.  I rather feel well each day than live with physical, mental, and emotional discomfort.  Stress is the largest risk factor when it comes to heart disease and most other serious conditions.  Statins (and my doctor) contributed to my stress.  Even though we could afford the co-pays, I am sure other families struggle to buy these drugs.

Since our home has less refined carbs and we all take many walks, my husband's total cholesterol and LDL are probably becoming too low so he is now taking his Lipitor every other day at my suggestion.  I really feared he would develop diabetes as his mother did who died of congestive heart failure, a condition probably worsened by statins without CoQ10.   Thankfully, my husband is not aware of any side effects but I believe he is mentally less sharp. 

and here's the kicker:

postmenopausal women have increased risks of lots of serious conditions from statin use including diabetes, heart failure, depression, memory loss, fatigue, cancer, swallowing difficulties,and cataracts (which I have been recently diagnosed as having).  Muscle aches and spasms are no picnic either and can interfere with daytime activities as well as sleep. 

Guess what benefits have been proven for postmenopausal women on a statin?

NONE

I just wanted to add that my focus is on reducing stress and having an enjoyable healthy life style, not lowering cholesterol.  Lowering cholesterol artificially with plant based products or Niacin can also create side effects without any true benefits.  Avoiding saturated fats really has no proven effect either.  My simple path towards an enjoyable life is MUving and avoiding refined carbs.
The heck with everything else LOL


This article was written in 2004:
http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-diseases/dangers-of-statin-drugs-what-you-havent-been-told-about-popular-cholesterol-lowering-medicines/

It took me 10 years afterwards to realize how statins were destroying my quality of life.

How to move can be just as important as what to eat. On my worse days, I exercised while sitting in a chair. I still sit and bounce on a large stability ball for half my workouts. Anything is better than nothing and the one constant I have had is a decent HDL because of moving as well as pain and stress relief.