Loading...Tune in to our radio show on your local public radio station, or sign up for the podcast and listen at your leisure. Here’s what it’s about:
Statin-type cholesterol-lowering drugs are extremely popular, with approximately 180 million prescriptions issued each year in the U.S. They lower cholesterol and thereby are supposed to lower the risk of heart attacks.
Recent warnings from the FDA on side effects such as memory loss or diabetes underscore the fact that these drugs do have some risks, however. There has been controversy among cardiologists regarding how widely these drugs should be used and who benefits most from taking them. Listen as the leading experts explain the pros and cons of statins.
Our Guests:
Steven Nissen, MD, is the Chairman of the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. He was previously Medical Director of the Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Coordinating Center, an academic research organization. Dr. Nissen consults for many pharmaceutical companies on the development of new therapies for cardiovascular disease, but maintains his longstanding personal policy of requiring companies to donate all related honoraria directly to charity. His book is Heart 411: The Only Guide to Heart Health You’ll Ever Need. The photo is of Dr. Nissen.
Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. She leads the UCSD Statin Effects Study.
Lisa Gill is prescription drug editor for Consumer Reports.
Listen to the Podcast:
The podcast of this program will be available the Monday after the broadcast date. The show can be streamed online from this site and podcasts can be downloaded for free.
Ken L.
Yes, I was surprised by that comment as well. In my presentations, I tell the audience: If I refer to any of my health outcomes, it’s not scientific information. It’s anecdotal information.
DWD
I would be interested in Gamma Oryzanol as well. What I found online was not the most helpful. Rice bran oil is what I understand it is, how does it compare to fish oil and flaxseed oils? Is it an alternative to those two oils?
Patricia
I, too, found Dr. Nissen’s comment that he obviously had no mental impairment gratuitous and insulting. Dr. Golomb was hugely informative. My husband has had several doctors attempt to put him on statins, but he has always refused. He has followed several holistic doctors’ writings for many years and was forewarned about the problems.
A dear friend of mine, however, a female who falls under Dr. Golomb’s definition of “not a candidate,” was on Lipitor for many years. She stopped them several times, a month-ago for the last time. She has had serious sleep problems, extreme fatigue, memory/concentration difficulties, and only the sleep problems have resolved.
I sent your interview to her and it has greatly relieved her mind that she has done the correct thing by stopping the statins. Many other commenters ask about a substitute. do the Graedon’s have any anecdotal (or otherwise) information on beta sitosterol? I purchased a product called Benecol from Amazon and the reviews were positive about cholesterol-reduction, but it also is supposed to be helpful for BPH. My husband will have a cholesterol test after using the product for 2 months. it works by stopping the body’s re-uptake of cholesterol from the gut.
a.s.
I used RYR, slo-niacin and CoQ10 with no problems except for very infrequent and minor niacin flushing. worked great.
Now would it be impolitic to mention Gamma Oryzanol? could a program about it and other alternative cholesterol-controlling regimes be useful?
Gail D.
My husband has been taking statins for years and didn’t do well with any of them until he took Crestor, however after about 6 years on Crestor he developed diabetes which I believe may have been caused by Crestor. At the same time, he was experiencing muscle weakness and soreness but the doctor didn’t believe that Crestor could have been the cause.
Because I am aware of the data that you at the People’s Pharmacy have been reporting for years, I insisted that my husband be taken off of Crestor and be put on something else that is not so harmful. The only thing his doctor could come up with was Livalo, which I am told does not work like a statin, but is it a statin? My husband has also been taking fenofibrate all these years, and I thought I heard Dr. Golomb say that fenofibrate should not be taken with a statin, as it increases the risks for bad side effects.
The kicker is that even though my husband does have high cholesterol, he does not have heart disease. He went into surgery a few years ago thinking they were going to find blocked arteries, and they found that his arteries are completely clear, but the cardiologist released him from his care, but told him he should still take statins.
I want my husband to at least get off of fenofibrate and take the lowest possible dose of Livalo. He has not had muscle soreness with the Livalo (which btw costs with insurance $125 every 3 months). Please advise if i am right that Dr. Golomb said not to take fenofibrate with statins, if Livalo is a statin. My husband has had some depression and very mild cognitive impairment I believe and I wonder if it would improve if he adjusted the Livalo dose and quit taking fenofibrate? thanks so much for being so helpful when no one else will.
MJ
Just read some interesting comments on Zetia. If I find that I develop any of the side effects now that I am on Zetia, I will just stop using it and stick w/fish oil and continued healthy eating! After all, 3 months after quitting statins and going just w/the fish oil, less meat, etc., my high numbers headed down. That to me means that natural methods can and do work.
I had no clue Zetia had such a questionable reputation!
Paul43
I use the regular staight Niacin.
As far as the flushing goes I take an Aspirin about 1 hour before I take my Niacin at BEDTIME and don’t have any problems with flushing.
EHS
The second doctor on the show, was most informative. The first doctor did not impress me at all. So many doctors are in the bed with big pharma. Many doctors DO NOT LISTEN to the patient and brush off the patients problems with a medication. The patient does not know anything! It you find a doctor that will listen to you and not only go by blood tests, etc. you have a prize.
crandreww
@ Dr Nagy….thank you for re iterating what I have been trying to tell people for years. I appreciate your taking the time, to study the science and not simply parrot Pharma reps.
I am a Disabled RN, disabled nearly 10 years ago by the unpublished effects of statins on my mitochondria. As a former Critical Care RN, I thought I knew everything there was to know about statins…boy was I wrong…anmyway, thanks again!!
LH
Found the show on statins very interesting. I experienced muscle pains after taking statins for 2 months. I asked my doctor for other choices. He put me on red yeast rice capsules and my cholesteral levels have dropped to normal range over this past year. I’ve been more careful with diet too. Why wasn’t this healthy alternative mentioned on your program instead of drugs only?
PEOPLE’S PHARMACY RESPONSE:
1) Red yeast rice contains lovastatin and other statins. Some people are susceptible to side effects from red yeast rice the same way that they are susceptible to drugs like Mevacor (lovastatin) or atorvastatin (Lipitor).
2) There is virtually no oversight of the manufacture of such dietary supplements. Therefore, it is hard to know if such products are safe and effective. Check out ConsumerLab.com for their report on red yeast rice.
IG
I have been taking statins for more than 10 years, started with Lipotor. HAd severe muscle pain, fatigue and joint pain. Then swithched to Zocor and finall to Crestor. Still feel fatigued though less muscle pain.
Starting to have memory loss- forgetting home phone number and names of people on occasions. Only after hearing this radio talk, I suspect the culprit to be statin drugs use. I am taking medicine for High BP, other than that I am healthy.
I am exercising regulary, eat healthy and take meat rarely.
J.E. P.
Thank you for representing us in striving for real, honest and understandable comments regarding the effects of Statins.
Many of us have experiences regarding these effects. Even our physicians are reluctant to acknowledge that what we are experiencing and reporting are in fact real. It is such a helpless feeling when your real experience when reported are not acknowledge the reality of our reports.
I finally decided to stop taking Lipitor and risk the consequences rather than minimize the quality of life.
Maybe life style adjustments should be more accertively suggested before pushing Statins etc.
For me I took the Lipitor medication for five years and reported real effects that I felt I:e extreme muscle weakness, extreme joint pain etc.intially no real effects noticeable but eventually the negative effects became worse after three or four years,
Thank you again for your persistence on helping us.
HAY
I thoroughly enjoyed your program as always do but here is a question that was never discussed. i tried statins and found out that i was allergic to them as all my joints were aching which I thought was due to old age, that is , until i read an article in the Wall Street Journal on the Beycall recall. I went off the statins and presto, I was
asymptomatic. I then took Niacin for several years and my cholesterol went down dramatically. Last month at my annual physical the results showed a highly elevated level in either my liver or kidneys. My physician told me to no longer take Niacin and when I returned in about 3 weeks for another blood test the enzymes were no longer elevated. Query: What should i now take to reduce my cholesterol. And I have NO history of heart disease.
Thank you
DWD
It was a good show, but I did not care for one glib remark of Dr. Steve Nissan. He noted he did not suffer from any mental fog or memory problems and he sounded dismissive of the problem. Well he is guilty of the hubris of taking a scientific survey with a sample of one (him) and then trying to prove the negative that the condition therefore does not exist. Other wise he sounded pro-statin, but fairly balanced in admitting statins were not for everyone.
DSS
Huge thanks to Dr. Golomb for putting the science behind the anecdotal evidence against statin drugs. And a shout out to Dr. Graveline, who experienced it and used the internet to connect up people with terrible statin side effects when the medical community denied any such possibility. My brilliant father took statin drugs from the time that cholesterol was quantified (creating “good” and “bad” numbers). His terrible end and the resultant impact on my mom are a lesson to us all. My Dad was a word person par excellence. At about 75, after being on every new statin as it came down the pike, he began to lose his speech, ie a few words in every sentence would be garbled. By the time he died he could not speak an intelligible sentence. In addition, he experienced the muscle weakness, which doesn’t sound all that important until it means you can’t walk or climb. I went to the top of our local university hospital—head of memory clinic, which turns out to be a drug study clinic, head of gerontology, head of cardiology—all of them told me I was crazy to think that 20 years of taking statins had caused my brilliant father’s mental impairment. I am vindicated by the new FDA warnings, but that won’t change a terrible end to a great man’s life. I think we are losing a generation of our elders to profligate prescription of statin drugs, especially in the elderly. My 80-year-old neighbor was just put on statins. How to inform the GP that this is not a given, especially for the elderly. This huge increase in Alzheimers in the last few years to me is a umbrella name for cognitive impairment caused by ubiquitous dispensing of statin drugs. Perhaps the real culprit is America’s dependence on drugs to solve our problems, not the doctors who mindlessly follow what the drug companies tell them. My father could have served humanity for another 10 years had he not become reduced to speaking gibberish. This drug is a travesty on a par with Thalidomide, probably worse because it is so prevalent. Thanks again Dr. Golomb for legitimizing what many have known for a long time. I wish someone would publicize the values of cholesterol in the body. What does it say that we have demonized a naturally occurring body chemical? The cardiologist has no clothes! Thanks for reading, DSS
Georgirene V.
I listened to the program on statin myopathy with great interest today as I have a research interest in the genetic (inherited) risk associated with statin myopathy. I also have read the first entries in this blog about people with significant side effects that are quite distressing.
We have more than 700 individuals in our statin study of the genetic risk factors that contribute to the development of severe muscle symptoms. A few of these participants have suffered transient global amnesia as described by Peter E.S. above and some have other memory or cognitive problems as well. All have muscle symptoms usually of pain and weakness.
We have found as much as a 20-fold increase in certain heritable muscle disorders among people with severe statin myopathy, that is, those who suffer life-threatening rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown). More recently using new technology we are finding additional underlying muscle diseases in severe cases.
If these disorders had been detected before taking statins, suffering may have been prevented or lessened by careful monitoring and perhaps lower doses of statins. However, many people are asymptomatic before taking statins. The statins appear to act as a trigger for the development of symptoms. Many people with severe statin myopathy take months or years to recover post-therapy and a few never get better suffering from progressive symptoms.
It should be kept in mind that these people are in the minority of statin takers representing only 0.5%. However, considering that nearly 40 million people take statins in the U.S., this calculates to about 200,000 people in the highest risk group. To learn more about our research look under “Research” on our website at http://www.rgbmgl.org. There is also a link there on where to find papers we have published in scientific journals on this topic.
Steve C.
Rather than discontinuing statins because of side effects without notifying one’s doctor, a better plan (at least if one is in the high cardio risk category) is to work with them to change the statin and adjust dose to deal with the side effects. If one’s doctor will not work with them on this, CHANGE YOUR DOCTOR. Many will.
For those in the high cardio risk category and who can not get cholesterol under control with lifestyle changes, stopping statins can be dangerous and should only be done under doctor’s supervision and as as a last resort.
All the other lifestyle changes should be done regardless of meds, although they are always much harder than simply “taking a pill”. I’m talking about weight, diet, supplements, exercise, etc.
jeff k.
I listened to most of the show and heard nothing of trying alternative statins to avoid muscle pain. My pain was unbearable with Zocor, Lipitor, and Vytorin.But for 4 years 40 mg. of Crestor has been fine.
Rebecca
I am a 58 year old female and have been skeptical about the side effects of Statins for Cholesterol for years though never needed to personally deal with them until the last 3 years. Self regulating behaviors which had long been health beneficial for me like fitness walking for 15 years, eating a healthy diet and generally being a healthy person though a person with a family history of both male grandparents suffering stroke deaths as well as a maternal family history of diabetes.
Then 4 years ago I suffered a Myelitis (a virus which caused a lesion between T1-T2 of the spinal chord). This is an uncommon neurological disorder causing major limitations/changes to muscular function and physical fitness. This had significant physical and psychological impacts including losing the wonderful endorphin build up from years of exercising causing depression while coping with this life change. In the last year I have had excellent PT and now exercise both aerobically and strengthening without weight bearing an hour a day so my endorphins are back.
This disorder caused minimized mobility in my left leg also causing over use/coping of my right leg. I very suddenly was unable to do many physical fitness activities I had previously done- particularly weight bearing activities like walking, running, vertical/regular bike riding, skiing,etc.
I was even in a wheel chair for 2 months related to a fracture of the good leg from falling during this time when I had minimized my need to adapt to this new imbalance. Weight gain and the ensuing problems like elevated Blood Pressure & Cholesterol imbalance occurred. My primary care physician Rx’d medications for both conditions and I impaired my professional life for nearly 3 years to become a full time patient sorting through the treatment options. Eventually we found a generic (made by the same company who makes the “as prescribed” version of Toperol. She also Rx’d a statin/Crestor at a regular dose of 10mg. I suffered so many muscular side effects and we did try Red Yeast Rice but I continued to suffer muscular problems particularly notable in the one functional leg I need stay balanced so I ceased taking the statin.
I am now taking both Welchol at 3.75G per day AND daily take a (not Rx Niaspan) but a slow release Niacin have had the side effect of flushing but manage that by taking this vitamin with a large glass of water and at bedtime. I would like to know more of the science of these two cholesterol management tools.
Though this was again an excellent show and I know it was specifically about Statins and not cholesterol management, It did leave those of us who are coping with elevated cholesterol and have unsuccessfully experimented with Statin to wonder about the effectiveness of our other options. Please present a future show on all of the cholesterol management options.
Thanks for the education you offer.
Peter E. S.
I was on statins for about ten years, and started to suffer from attacks of Transient Global Amnesia, which began to scare me because the symptoms were similar to those of transient ischemic attacks, a potential precursor of a stroke. My neurologist calmed my fears and confirmed that I did “only” suffer from Transient Global Amnesia, which was bad enough. He never asked me whether I took statins but did want to know whether I took blood pressure medication, which I did.
I stopped taking statins, without consulting my doctor (something I do not recommend) but I also lost 50 lbs of weight, changing my dietary habits, and my cholesterol level improved significantly and attacks of transient global amnesia have also disappeared.
MFK
I wonder whether folks taking statins are also taking coenzyme Q10? It is naturally present in our bodies, although it declines with age, and oxygenates the muscles (and the brain) at a cellular level, which would address muscle pain/weakness and perhaps cognitive function since the brain gets more oxygen. Statins and even the natural form, red yeast rice, inhibit the body’s synthesis of this coenzyme which is needed for normal muscle metabolism. This includes the heart.
LJK
My husband had major back surgery recently. He had been taking a statin for many years. Is it possible that since having the surgery, the statin has now added to the back/leg pain he was experiencing that resulted in the surgery? He is not experiencing the relief that he thought the surgery would give, including “foot drop”.
DWD
Looking forward to hearing something new pro or con. I have tried them all including Livalo and Red Yeast Rice. All give me body aches and/or cognitive (depression) problems. One brother had memory problems with statins and quit, the other brother is tolerating a high dose of statins, which is good since he has 5 or 6 stents.
I hope there is at least a mention of alternatives such as Niaspan.
Steve C.
After a heart attack and bypass surgery, taking max dose (80 mg/day) of Crestor caused cognitive problems so bad that at times I could not remember my 3 digit phone extension at work. A doctor-supervised drug holiday saw these cognitive issues virtually disappear. Resuming 80 mg/day of Lipitor brought them back at the same frequency and intensity. Working with my doctor, I found the problems were absolutely dose related for me. It took a number of months but we eventually found a dose (30 mg) with which these side effects were easily tolerable and which kept my cholesterol numbers where they need to be.
If the doctor of the person in your newspaper Q&A with statin caused memory problems is not willing to work with them to adjust their statin dose, they should quickly get a new doctor who acknowledges these problems and is willing to work with them. This is especially true if they have a high risk profile for cardio problems. Many such patients simply stop taking statins and don’t even tell their doctors. This could be dangerous and should be discouraged.
At less than max dose these symptoms can mimic the kinds of memory problems we expect as we age. In my experience that is why they have flown under the radar.
Thanks,
Steve C.