CRESTOR AND STATINS DO NOT PREVENT HEART DISEASE
You may have seen or heard the ads on radio and TV... If your diet and exercise program is not working and your doctor wants to drastically lower your cholesterol level, try Crestor. The drug company proudly advertises that its cholesterol (statin) drug has been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol levels by 62% vs 7% (by placebo). On the "Do Not Take This Drug" List |
Sounds really great. But here is what the ads do not state: the statin ding Crestor is very dangerous. While all statins are dangerous, Crestor is a very high-dose statin. Worst Pills Best Pills from Sidney Wolfe, MD, and Public Citizen's Health Research Group have placed it on their "do not take this drug" list. They even recommend a special Drug Warning Insert for this statin and would feel best if it were taken off the market.
Statins impair your liver's ability to produce cholesterol-a critical element for good health. And the side effects are many and varied-some very serious.
But if you want to prevent a heart attack or heart disease... If you have already had a heart attack and want to do everything you can to prevent another... If heart disease and heart attacks are in your family. . . Or if your doctor has you just plain scared out of your mind. .. Then you would probably figure that it is worth it to run the risk of serious side effects to get your cholesterol down in order to prevent heart disease or a heart attack. Except for one thing.
Statins impair your liver's ability to produce cholesterol-a critical element for good health. And the side effects are many and varied-some very serious.
But if you want to prevent a heart attack or heart disease... If you have already had a heart attack and want to do everything you can to prevent another... If heart disease and heart attacks are in your family. . . Or if your doctor has you just plain scared out of your mind. .. Then you would probably figure that it is worth it to run the risk of serious side effects to get your cholesterol down in order to prevent heart disease or a heart attack. Except for one thing.
Even the Labels Reveal the Truth The ads and labels on Crestor, Lipitor, and the rest clearly state: "not proven to prevent heart disease or heart attacks." Forget proven---it even states that it is "not shown to prevent heart disease or heart attacks." Considering that the companies making these drugs are doing everything in their power to prove that statins do prevent heart disease, this is a telling disclaimer. |
So is rolling the dice and possibly feeling miserable with increased aches and pains, risking heart failure, encouraging hormone problems` and more worth it? You will satisfy your doctor. You will add to drug company profits. And you will join in one of the world's most successful marketing ploys-tens of millions of heart disease minded people and their doctors, spending billions of dollars each year, for a drug that according to its own manufacturer fails to prevent heart disease or heart attacks. Now that's marketing!
When presented with this information, your doctor will think you are crazy. You will be told that these drugs have been scientifically proven. If this were true, would the disclaimer "not proven to prevent heart disease or heart attacks" be clearly displayed?!
Health Alert Dr Bruce West volume 23 Issue 2
(Never mind these disclaimers are buried in pages of really, really, really small print.)
When presented with this information, your doctor will think you are crazy. You will be told that these drugs have been scientifically proven. If this were true, would the disclaimer "not proven to prevent heart disease or heart attacks" be clearly displayed?!
Health Alert Dr Bruce West volume 23 Issue 2
(Never mind these disclaimers are buried in pages of really, really, really small print.)
NEWS FLASH: DO CHOLESTEROL DRUGS SAVE LIVES?
Well, if a doctor uses a defibrillator on a man having a heart attack and helps him regain a normal heartbeat, he or she has saved his life, right? For that moment, yes. But what if the man dies next week of another heart attack? Although always taken for granted, heart care and heart drugs rarely save lives. They extend some lives, but at a large cost because of the serious side effects from the drugs. In contrast, some lives are shortened by the care itself.
Oncologists admit in a medically uncommon moment of humility that their drugs rarely cure cancer. They zap tumors, but the cancer comes back. And so it is with heart care as the bypasses reclog, the drugs add some months or even years but can lead to eventual heart failure, the cholesterol really wasn't a problem at all, and so on. But to hear all the talk, you would think lives are saved every second. This hype is accomplished by statistical sleight of hand, distortion of clinical results, and bogus "scientific" research. Think this is an exaggeration? Read on … |
Statin Therapy (Cholesterol Lowering Drug)
The entire concept of doctors and drugs "saving lives" in the world of heart care is totally misleading. Heart docs need to take the same road as the oncologists (cancer docs), finally admitting that they are not saving lives, but they may be extending lives~a little. The oncologists only manage to increase the median survival (often for not more than a few months). Bur the heart docs "save lives" How can this be?
The front page, of the, Heart Protection Study (HPS) boldly states that "tens of thousands of lives could be saved each year by changing prescribing guidelines for statins [mostly increasing the number of patients and dose of drugs]." Sounds pretty good especially because it implies that everyone who begins taking the drugs will be saved and live a long, normal life.
The entire concept of doctors and drugs "saving lives" in the world of heart care is totally misleading. Heart docs need to take the same road as the oncologists (cancer docs), finally admitting that they are not saving lives, but they may be extending lives~a little. The oncologists only manage to increase the median survival (often for not more than a few months). Bur the heart docs "save lives" How can this be?
The front page, of the, Heart Protection Study (HPS) boldly states that "tens of thousands of lives could be saved each year by changing prescribing guidelines for statins [mostly increasing the number of patients and dose of drugs]." Sounds pretty good especially because it implies that everyone who begins taking the drugs will be saved and live a long, normal life.
This, of course, is a hoax. The drug, at best, may give the patient a little extra time, but at what cost in side effects. What the front page should say to be honest is that "tens of thousands of people may have their lives extended minimally-maybe six months-by using statins. And that only occurs statistically if you treat more than one million people !." So why doesn't the HPS front page just say this? I know you don't need the answer, but here it is anyway. Compare the exciting and remarkable idea of "saving lives" to the truthful concept of merely delaying the progression of a disease for a short time at a big cost in serious side effects. The truth is amazingly less wonderful. |
You find out from your doctor that your cholesterol is high. He or she could tell you the truth-that cholesterol has little if nothing to do with heart disease, heart attack, or stroke. And he or she could advise you to improve your diet, start exercising, and (dare I say) use some supplements. Or. you are told you could go on a statin (cholesterol-lowering) drug daily for the rest of your life. This drug could make you feel lousy, sap the strength from your- legs, possibly cause neuropathy and memory problems, potentially cause liver-damage, and even kill you. But you will have your life extended by a few days to a few months.
This scenario would be intellectually honest. I think we can all agree that the pharmaceutical industry is not about to stand for this. So the charade continues in the guise of "science." But what the heck, it keeps the economy rolling, and it insures job security for researchers and clinicians like myself, Malcolm Kendrick, MD. (some of. whose material I have used in this article). and thousands of others. Special thanks to Dr. Kendrick. a GP and cholesterol skeptic. Dr. Kendrick practices in a town outside of Manchester, UK. Health Alert volume 21 issue 11 Dr Bruce West MD |