Statin Dangers Begin

We all have doctors we like and trust. I like my doctor. One of his endearing qualities is he practices what he preaches. He only takes the prescription drugs that he prescribes and is vigilant about side effects. But what if he changes his mind? What if a prescription medication he is taking has additional side effects that forces him to stop taking it. Will he continue to prescribe the same medication?

Statin Side Effects

Recently a general practitioner who is the deputy chairman of a medical association has stopped prescribing statins. Here is a doctor who has written tens of thousands of statin prescriptions, and even started using them himself to protect his heart. Within two weeks, however, he began experiencing pains in his back and legs unlike anything he’d suffered before. Mostly it was a dull ache but the pain was so bad for a couple of days that painkillers were used. Initially, the assumption was the pain would pass. Then there were problems sleeping and the wondering began about possible causes.

The Cause

First he looked for the obvious clues like too much travelling, sports (which he loved), exercise or bad posture when sitting. Various tests were performed just like a patient would undergo such as a liver function test, X-rays and an MRI scan. All came back clear. So the doctor stopped taking the statin as a last resort and on a whim. Within two to three weeks his back and legs began to feel a lot better and sleep improved. The doctor associated Statins to be the source of the pain.  All other medical indications were negative other than the statins he was taking. To bring it all to conclusion, muscle pain is the most frequently reported statin side-effect.  The riddle was solved.

Doctors Avoiding Statins

Statins do help people who are at risk of a second heart attack. Statins are currently recommended for healthy patients when their risk of heart disease is greater than 20 per cent over ten years, but it is being dropped to 10%. Statins are useful drugs if you have had a heart attack but the side effects seem to be too great for healthy individuals. This belief that healthy individuals should not take them is so great that doctors are refusing to prescribe them to their patients unless medically needed. These doctors won’t even take statins themselves. Keep in mind, that this is their thought regardless to what the pharmaceutical companies are saying about the statins they manufacture.

So who would you trust?