Lipitor

[art]

anybody else on it purely as a precaution?

My numbers were great.
My Doc put me on Lipitor as a diabetic diet, in part, is high fat.

Art

[princesslinda]

I wouldn't want to take a statin for preventative reasons only. There are several side effects from these and I wouldn't want to deal with them unless my lipids began to elevate.

[R2112]

I wouldn't want to take a statin for preventative reasons only. There are several side effects from these and I wouldn't want to deal with them unless my lipids began to elevate.

That's odd if your numbers are great why take it. I heard once your on a statin you can't get off. I'm trying hard to get my numbers down to a normal level and I'm really close at my last test. I'm only taking 10mg of Lipitor, some of the possible side effects are muscle pain and muscle disease (statin induced myopathy), and possible serious liver problems which as Linda said... I don't really want to deal with later. It also made me kind of tired even at a low dose.

[notme]

I won't take statins as I have stated before. I am talking to my doctor now about an alternative for cholesterol lowering drugs. I need to do something.

I had lots of side effects from statins.

[dgrilli]

Both my Doctor GP and my Endo have tried to sell Statins and BP lowering medications to me like Used Car Salesman with strong closing tactics like right out off the Sales Lot.

That being said I don't have a BP Problem but I do have elevated and or Lipid panel results. Mainly my Blood Glucose was out of control and my Triglycerides were out of sight because of loosing weight, if your loosing weight these things will ater the results. I listed a few things I'm trying to do:

Statin drugs are dangerous period. ( Big Pharma Cash Cow)

Use Pharma Grade fish oil with omega 3,6,9. Get the good kind.

Blood Pressure same as above but add:

2) 4 Celery Stalks every day or the Oil (Right Oil)

3) Exercise

4) Add a Glass of Good Dry Red Wine everyday or substitute:

5) Drink a couple of cups of good Green Tea or Black Tea everyday. (No Decaf or Processed Stuff)

Resvinatrol Complete 1oz per day.
Resvinatrol Complete - The Red Wine Alternative (http://www.resvinatrolcomplete.com)

Stay away from anything that is labeled:

Diet

Fat Free

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Processed Bleached Flower, Sugar

Margarines, Fake Butter.

Unfortunately these are all Code Words for Let's make people sick and send them to the Doctor.

[BlueSky]

anybody else on it purely as a precaution?

My numbers were great.
My Doc put me on Lipitor as a diabetic diet, in part, is high fat.

Art
As a precation against what? All statins do is reduce the amount of cholesterol your live produces. If your numbers are great, why would you want to do this? :confused:

[Kim_in_TN]

I did have high cholesterol and was put on Lipitor. I began having those weird muscle cramps in my legs which is a danger sign. I was switched to Crestor and have been fine on it for some time now. I'm hoping though to be able to take a trial run without it before too long since I am doing much better on my eating.

[Tony]

I'm the guy on the other side of the court here.

I have been taking lipitor for the past 3 years with no problems. The dose you are on for precaution is so small you shouldn't see any side affects. I was placed on lipitor for precaution only because I have diabetes and heart disease runs in the family. For me it would be crazy not to take it.

Buildup of cholesterol and other fats along the walls of your arteries decreases blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart, brain, and other parts of your body. By taking lipitor as precaution you are lowering your blood level of cholesterol and other fats that would normally build up over time. This will help decrease your chances of getting heart disease, strokes, and heart attacks. Why wait until your arteries are clogged when a little maintenance is all that's needed.

Every one has their own opinions so you will have to decide what is best for you.


You can read up on the Cards study that was done in the United Kingdom and Ireland here,
Patients With Diabetes Taking Lipitor Experienced Major Reductions in Heart Attacks and Strokes, New Data Show (http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-07-2004/0002188579&EDATE=)

[sparrow1]

Phew Tony - that's a relief. All the bad press about Lipitor had me quite worried.

I've been taking Lipitor for 6 years with no ill effects. My endo just automatically puts diabetics on Lipitor and BP meds due to our greater risk of heart problems. I've never been comfortable with that, but my BP and cholesterol readings are very good.

[art]

That's where my Doc comes from.
It's purely a precaution.

Art

[sandmcd]

I was on Zocor for years..chol. was over 200 an one time wasw over 300. For the last six years I have been on Lipitor and my number went down to 119. NO side effects!!! My doctor is a well known cardiologist. I always had borderline BP since my last child was born and have been taking meds to keep it down. NOW, if we could just figure out the Diabetes situation. My triglis. are great, too.

[dejz]

Stay away from anything that is labeled:

Diet (AKA Higher Sodium, Higher Sugar, Higher Carbs)

Fat Free (see Diet)

High Fructose Corn Syrup (state sanctioned suicide)

Processed Bleached Flower, Sugar (hello, diabetes)

Margarines, Fake Butter. (AKA 1 molecule away from plastic)

Unfortunately these are all Code Words for Let's make people sick and send them to the Doctor.

QFE

I'm the guy on the other side of the court here.

I have been taking lipitor for the past 3 years with no problems. The dose you are on for precaution is so small you shouldn't see any side affects. I was placed on lipitor for precaution only because I have diabetes and heart disease runs in the family. For me it would be crazy not to take it.

Buildup of cholesterol and other fats along the walls of your arteries decreases blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart, brain, and other parts of your body. By taking lipitor as precaution you are lowering your blood level of cholesterol and other fats that would normally build up over time. This will help decrease your chances of getting heart disease, strokes, and heart attacks. Why wait until your arteries are clogged when a little maintenance is all that's needed.

Every one has their own opinions so you will have to decide what is best for you.


You can read up on the Cards study that was done in the United Kingdom and Ireland here,
Patients With Diabetes Taking Lipitor Experienced Major Reductions in Heart Attacks and Strokes, New Data Show (http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-07-2004/0002188579&EDATE=)

As I diabetic who has already suffered heart failure at age 26, I say it is personal preference. Diet and lifestyle changes or drugs both have their virtues. I take lipitor now in addition to the food recommendations of the wise dgrilli.

[matingara]

My GP keeps telling me that Crestor is "protective of the kidneys"...

wonder what that means?

:D

-- Joel.

[REDLAN]

with any medication the question of whether to take it, is whether the benefits outweigh the harms. One of the issues with statins is that they are very heavily marketed by the pharmaceuticals, and it is not always clear where the marketing ends and the science begins.

Statins have been widely promoted for use in primary prevention - i.e. before you get the disease based on your risk profile. In this case it's heart disease they want to prevent and the primary risk factor is raised cholesterol level.

What is true of every Statin study is that if you take them they reduce your risk of heart disease. However Statins when used in primary prevention make no difference whatsoever to overall mortality scores for people without diabetes. Statins stop you dying from heart disease, but cause you to be more at risk of dying from something else - it is likely that something else is violence/accident.

So....

In theory then if you take a group with a very high risk of heart disease, the benefits of the statin should outweigh the risk of excess mortality from other causes.

This is the aim of the CARDS study. This is good large (supposedly) randomised double-blinded controlled trial - the gold standard of medical evidence.

it took a large group of people with type 2 diabetes average age 62 years with at least 1 risk factor for heart disease. They randomly split them up into treatment and placebo, and then followed them to see what would happen.

this is where the science splits from the press releases...

I have included a PDF summary of the results of the CARDS

http://www.rxfiles.ca/acrobat/Lipid-Q&A-CARDS.pdf

The results are seemingly spectacular (and for heart disease they are pretty good).

The time to first event is confusingly stated as a percentage, however Statins will reduce your risk of dying from heart disease, suffering a heart attack, needing surgery due to artery disease, or having a stroke. Ignore the RRR, and instead look at the NNT (Number needed to treat).

The Number Needed to Treat is 32, which is good for a statin (typically it is around 50). This means for YOU, that if you are around 60 with type 2 diabetes and at least 1 risk factor, taking a statin has a 1 in 30 chance (3%) of stopping you suffering an adverse event over 4 years.

If you are anybody else, then, it's anybody's guess.

now gaze down to the overall mortality figures....

don't be lured by the percentages, gaze along to the RRR column, and note the NS placed there. NS in this case stands for not significant. That's right.

the slight reduction in overall mortality for the statin group, could very easily have arisen by chance.

and from the article linked to by Tony.

and the overall mortality rate for Lipitor patients was
27 percent lower than for those on placebo.

they unfortunately can't claim the reduction, it wasn't significant - but would you know that from reading the press release?

so...

yet again a Statin trial fails to show any benefit to overall mortality.

question?

why did they end a double-blinded trial early when, if they let it run longer those overall mortality figures might have reached significance?

I guesss you pays your money and takes your choice :)