Are you on the right track? I can’t really tell given the limited amount of info you’ve provided.

After a month of Crestor, in January, I still feel poorly, aches in arms, shoulder, upper back, and legs/feet, with tingling. It is exacerbated when I have anxiety attacks, and the docs insist the anxiety is the only cause of the symptoms. Well, I’ve had anxiety problems for 12 years, and never had these accompanying muscle issues.

Hi Daryl–

I suspect you’ll have the same problems with pravachol. If you do take it, make sure to take some CoQ10 as well. Keep me posted.

Good luck.

MRE

My blood glucose at diagnosis was 339, it is now 83, went from 4 pills a day for it, to 1.

Thank you Dr. Eades for all the good and positive work that you do.

Hi Daryl–

Sounds to me like you’re the one who did all the work.  Congratulations!

I would be surprised, however, even with the great blood work, if your doctor abandons his (or her) efforts to get you on a statin.

Keep me posted.

Best–

MRE 

Now this I have to disagree on! Statins not only lighten your waller, but also cause a host of other problems, including memory problems, muscle problems (even without increase in CPK), depression, neuropathy, and the list goes on!

Statins are well tolerated by some, but I suspect a significant number of people that stop them do so because of the side effects. Side effects that many docs dismiss as not being caused by statins, even when the symptoms disappear when the drugs are stopped and return (often faster and more severe) when the drug is resumed.

Hi Cindy–

Statins can cause a host of problems.  I didn’t mean to imply that lightening one’s wallet was the only side effect.  It’s probably just the least harmful.

Cheers–

MRE 

Hi Esther–

Good luck.  Keep me posted.

Best–

MRE 

But man, what did he sniff…

Isn’t cocaine a big, big risk factor for CHD? I would rather look in that direction than on the hamburgers.

Hi gallier2–

Cocaine is a major risk factor for heart disease.  Hmmm.

MRE 

“So, without a statin Bill Clinton’s LDL fell by 35%, then he had a heart attack. Forgive me for saying this William T. Sherman, but to my mind this would appear to suggest that a falling LDL level is a risk factor for CHD – as clearly demonstrated in the Framingham study, amongst others.

In the unforgiving logical prison that I inhabit, the parable of Bill Clinton would not seem to be a warning against stopping statins. It seems more likely to be a warning that when your LDL level falls, you are in serious danger of suffering a heart attack. However, I tend to find that one’s interpretation of events can be clouded by external funding issues.

Anyway, thank you to William T. Sherman [sic] for reminding us that ‘The future coronary health of the American public depends upon Baby Boomers and subsequent generations taking all of their cardioprotective medications for life.’

There is just no answer to that – at least not before the children have safely gone to bed.”

“Advanstar Communications is a worldwide business information company that publishes 110 business magazines and directories; produces 107 exhibitions, trade shows, and conferences; and provides direct marketing, database, and reference products and services to targeted industry sectors including healthcare, pharmaceutical, science, information technology, communications, manufacturing/processing, retail, hospitality, and fashion”

They also gave a list of their publications–
“Formulary” is one of them—so you know the drug companies are somewhere in that mix.

Hi BamaGal–

Thanks for your efforts.

Cheers–

MRE 

No, he’s screwed either way. If he didn’t take enough medicine it was the dementia talking!

True! 

Hi Malcolm–

Thanks for the leg work.  It’s good to know that Dr. Sherman isn’t totally demented.  Maybe he took a little too much of his own medicine just before he wrote the column on statins.

Cheers–

MRE