Comments on: Anatomy of a statin ad

By: John O'C

John O'C — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:23:28 +0000

Great commentary Doctor. These drug ads (O’Reilly Factor being the absolute epicenter for them) are so cheeseball they make me laugh as the previous commenter said as well. The entire drug industry has to make their huge profits in the US because they’re forced to sell their drugs at gov’t regulated prices elsewhere in the world. So, every night as we watch a little tv we’re bombed with these asinine commercials for all sorts of malade imaginaire as the French say. I’ll take Jack Lalanne’s advice and just get some exercise every day and stick to a high protein diet, some fish oils and vitamins.

By: Graeme

Graeme — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:30:35 +0000

He is on CoQ10 now thanks

By: Graeme

Graeme — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:32:36 +0000

Thanks yeah I am confused,I have read everywhere about statins depleting COq10,so was surprised my Fathers neurologist came out with such a statement

I’m not.

By: Graeme

Graeme — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:03:56 +0000

Thanks Mike and Ellen,my father had his appointment today with the neurologist and the the Doc suspects Parkinsons but is not 100% sure,he has asked for further tests to be carried out on his heart (angiogram),to see if his body will be suitable for treatment with a new parkinsons drug Rasagiline.
He suggested that the coenzyme q10 is a waste of money but it would do no harm to try.
I’m not so sure after reading this http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/press_releases/pressrelease_parkinsons_coenzymeq10_101402.htm

Sometimes I think the surgeons are influenced to easliy big brand pharma companies.

Ellen I asked a question over at the Spacedoc site and was advised my Dad should take,
along with the coq10 ,Acetyl L-Carnitine.D-Ribose 5,Magnesium and Zinc,Vitamin D.

The problem being that although I have some faith in the help offered the docs tend to rubbish this type of stuff and I don’t know which way too turn,of all the websites I visit when researching I find them to be either very anti-Statin or Pro statin.

I am even suspecting that he may have drug induced Parkinsonsims from the cocktail of drugs he has been prescribed including beta blockers,angina med,Ulcerative Colitis meds,statins and steroids he also has low blood iron levels.

Very confused??

It’s easy to see why you’re confused. I don’t know anything about your father’s condition and he’s not my patient, so I can’t really comment specifically. But, I can tell you that statin drugs deplete CoQ10 levels, so I would have anyone who is or has been on a statin supplement with CoQ10. I wrote a post about Parkinson’s and statins a while back that you might be interested in reading.

By: Richard Tamesis, M.D.

Richard Tamesis, M.D. — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:30:49 +0000

What is your take on the IDEAL study (Incremental Decrease in Endpoints through aggressive lipid lowering) that compared atorvastin 80 mg vs simvastatin 20 mg? According to their conclusions in their abstract, “In this study of patients with previous MI, intensive lowering of LDL-C did not result in a significant reduction in the primary outcome of major coronary events, but did reduce the risk of other composite secondary end points and nonfatal acute MI. There were no differences in cardiovascular or all-cause mortality.”

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:25:08 +0000

You probably already saw this report, but in case not, here is a cite:

Michael O’Riordan. Majority of patients hospitalized with CAD at guideline-recommended LDL targets. theheart.org. [Clinical Conditions > Lipid/Metabolic > Lipid/Metabolic]; Jan 20, 2009. Accessed at http://www.theheart.org/article/936127.do on Jan 22, 2009

For the hospitalized CAD patients: “Mean lipid levels were LDL 104.9 +/- 39.8, HDL 39.7 +/- 13.2, and triglyceride 161 +/- 128 mg/dL” from which the apparent conclusion is to revise the guidelines because most patients had “normal” LDL levels. I presume that means more statins!

Whatever it takes to give more statins. That’s the name of the game today.

By: Pam Maltzman

Pam Maltzman — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:57:56 +0000

Dr. Eades, thanks for answering my previous question. I was not aware that you and MD were taking such a sabbatical from practicing medicine (I recall reading that you had a clinic in or near Boulder, Colorado). I hope that you post notices of any upcoming lectures on your website here. If you and MD do any lectures in the Southern California area, I will attempt to get there to hear you. Thanks again.

Will do. When we get our new website/blog redesign up, it should have a section that shows our schedule. As it stands right now, we have no lectures planned in So Cal in the near future, but that is subject to change at any moment.

By: helen

helen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:20:27 +0000

Well he could get a job as a funeral director so sad, calm and sincere too bad I was laughing so much I actually didn’t hear most of it!! oh well who says Lipitor isn’t good for something – laughter is the best medicine after all.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:09:09 +0000

Graeme, your father’s symptoms are very similar to the symptoms that Duane Graveline, MD. and others on his forum experienced after taking a statin. Dr. Graveline wrote a book called Lipitor Thief of Memory in which he describes the effects a statin had on his memory and health.
He has since developed what his doctor is calling “statin related” ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Others’ have developed a condition called mitochondrial myopathy which results in the symptoms you described in relation to your father. I don’t know if mitchondrial myopathy is involved as in some of the cases on his forum, but it may be something you want to investigate.. here is the link to his story and the forums.. http://www.spacedoc.net/rest_of_my_story.html

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:38:41 +0000

Does the Swedish paper on statins and beta cells have PMID? I searched entrez with ‘statin beta cell’ and didn’t see anything useful Could also mean *I* am not very useful LOL.

The nearest I found was this:

“Simvastatin reverses high glucose-induced apoptosis of mesangial cells via modulation of Wnt signaling pathway.”
Lin CL, Cheng H, Tung CW, Huang WJ, Chang PJ, Yang JT, Wang JY.
Am J Nephrol. 2008;28(2):290-7. Epub 2007 Nov 14.
PMID: 18004065

You’re going to have to help me with this one. Which Swedish paper? Where was it mentioned?

Thanks.