I just read this AP story of some investigative reporting they have done (I didn’t think that reporters did investigations anymore!)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080309/ap_on_re_us/pharmawater_i

This has been a concern of mine for the past few years. I’m glad to see it finally addressed. After hearing rumors that prozac can be found in Seattle’s drinking water, when my grandmother, who had congestive heart failure, passed away a few years ago I was appaulled to learn that all of her perfectly good bubble wrapped medications were to be flushed down the toilet!. The amount of medications in pill form alone was two inches deep in a plastic box about the size of shoe box for light hikers. Aside from the waste of medications, and I do understand the reasons for the law requiring them to be disposed of, just the thought of all those pills going into the ground water made me think about how many times a day that must occur across the country. There must be a better system of drug disposal.

I am convinced that these trace amounts found in water are having an affect on the population. Obesity (which started to rise 15 years after birth control pills became commonly proscribed), feminization of boys in some areas and some cases of male baldness are three things I can think of off the top of my hear.

After reading the article I think everyone getting off as many drugs as possible will be the best long term solution for everyone.

I agree that getting off as many drugs as possible is the optimal solution. It’s not just drugs that are thrown down the toilet that make their way into the water supply. Many drugs are gotten rid of through the kidneys, so every time a person who is taking one of these drugs urinates, it adds drugs to the water. This is where most come from, and it’s starting to be a major problem.

There are no statin trials with even the slightest hint of a mortality benefit in women and women should be told so.

In other words, statin drugs don’t work for women.

To read more: Just Say No to Statins

Jeffrey Dach MD

my web site

http://www.newsdaily.com/Science/UPI-1-20080229-19353800-bc-france-statinstendons.xml

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16873939&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum

Nice reference. Thanks.

I think I have mentioned before that I have a sort of “hypo” metabolism — low blood pressure (100/64), fasting glucose at 50, low cholesterol 155 with perfect ratios on a standard diet & 175 on low carb/high fat (if I recall correctly)with HDL of 75, triglycerides below 30 LDL unknown since its based on a calculation (or have I got those two crossed? Its been awhile.) So my good cholesterol readings got even better eating eggs, bacon, steaks, cheese, and grande breves along with lots of colorful vegetables.

Regarding Lipitor, I have at least 3 family members who have been on it and 2 of them can’t go into their hot tubs without experiencing severe rashes and the third had muscle wasting so was switched to another statin and is experiencing memory loss.

Unrelated to this article, I just heard this podcast about some new research that is fascinating and I thought you would be interested too.

Evidently the research shows that high concentrations of glucose signal both adipose and muscle stem cells to differentiate into adipocytes at a higher percentage than the same stem cells grown in a low glucose environment. Also, both adipose and muscle stem cells differentiated into the same proportion of adipocytes. In addition, the researchers found that oxidative stress lead to the same result in the low glucose concentration cultures.

http://stke.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sigtrans;1/5/ec41/DC1

Hey Terry–

MRE

Life is much more clear and in focus now that I’m off of it.

Ressy

Glad to hear it.

Hmmm. I might take it myself for $1.35 mil. However, no one from Pfizer has called me yet.

MRE

Everything you say is true. I’ve just never heard of statins causing heart failure. Granted, I probably don’t know everything there is to know about statins, but I do more or less keep up with the statin literature, and I’ve never read about heart failure being a problem. It makes sense that it could be – I’ve just never read of it. And cardiac muscle is different than skeletal muscle, so physiology and pharmacology that apply to skeletal muscle don’t necessarily apply to cardiac muscle and vice verse.

Probably not. The heart is made of a different kind of muscle than is skeletal muscle.

Three things:
1- Nice to see you and Ferriss have something in common. I LOVE his book and have implemented a few of his moves (without dumping my job, yet, let’s wait on the economy a little). Cool to see you into lifestyle design as well.

2- Jarvik is done at Lipitor, completely. They’re pulling the ads and buying him out. He has a blog (who doesn’t) and he expresses regret and an explanation of the rowing controversy as an insurance thing rather than an inability thing. Rings mildly true, but he still looks like the crypt keeper.

3- Re: Dobson and Statins: It explains a lot. Particularly the mental degeneration effects of statins. It explains an awful lot. I wonder if the President is on statins…

The President? Isn’t that your boss your dissing in a public forum?

P.S. Tim Ferriss and I have more in common than you might imagine.