I hope that you blog on the recent study that claims that statins delay memory problems. My personal anecdotal evidence is the opposite. I stopped Lipitor early this year and my decline in memory stopped. Is there any hypothesized mechanism for the statins improving memory.

These kinds of studies have been surfacing over the past few years. Then better studies come along and refute them. And since memory loss is a well-documented side effect of statin use, I don’t think the possible reward is worth the pretty certain risk.

I guess it had to happen sooner or later…

Cholesterol Drugs for Kids

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/cholesterol-drugs-for-kids/

I read this in this morning’s Times. Unbelievable!

Sooo, today I came across a blog entry on Pharmalot about many trials being stopped early (as soon as the researchers see a good result). While I agree that a drug that is beneficial should get to patients as soon as possible, I can’t help wondering about the machinations of the drug companies…..

I agree with you that the method of stopping a study as soon as the results start looking good for your drug is irresponsible. But, we’ve got to keep selling those drugs…

Please re-instate the feature.

kr
Michael

Thanks for the heads up. That feature got left off when we upgraded to the most recent version of WordPress. It should be fixed now.

About the article that overweight children have fewer cavities. It appears from the article that the researchers used growth percentile charts to determine which children were overweight. In my experience this is as inaccurate a measure of obesity in children as the BMI is in adults, maybe even less accurate. My oldest son always ranked in the 95th percentile from birth and he was never overweight, he was just a big boy fed good protein and healthy fats and little sugar — low carb for his teen years, most of the time. He also had never had cavities until after he started driving and was able to stop at the convenience store after school. He went on a Mountain Dew binge for a couple of months. Between 6 month dental checkups he developed 5 cavities. Needless to say he learned his lesson and and immediately stopped the daily consumption of soda pop.

On another thought, I read this article yesterday about the analysis of human coprolites found in an Oregon cave.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080404/ap_on_sc/fossil_feces;_ylt=AgEKjnMR47JRZznvm1YZy0lxieAA

A quote from the article “While the analysis is not yet complete, he said there are bones of squirrels, bison hair, fish scales, protein from birds and dogs and the remains of plants such as grass and sunflowers.”

What! No carbs? Imagine that.

In April 2007 my friend, Eric Schultz, was sworn in as a Police Officer for our local Police Department and bought a house with his girlfriend. For the next six months Eric assumed everything in his body is working great. He was wrong. In October 2007 he was diagnosed with bone cancer, six months later the doctors decided to amputate his right foot. Now he has 4 more months of chemo treatments.

I am trying to get the message across that his diet is what put him in the hospital in the first place. I want him to understand that fat is good and grains are bad. I want him to understand that his never ending supply of “Fresca” is killing him and the aspartame is acting as a catalyst for his cancer that, according to his doctors, is being killed off by chemo. I have enlisted the help of Scott Kustes, Robb Wolf, Art DeVany, and Dr. Cordain. As you know they are all strong advocates of the paleolithic style diet and/or are against processed grains if any. My plan is to combine all the feedback that each of you brilliant people are willing to give me into one short, factual, and straight to the point document for my friend to read. All in effort to provide the facts of our side and present it in an organized manner for which Eric can use to make his own decision and not one based on the FDA’s food pyramid from grade school.

He is a victim of years of brainwashing making him believe that his doctors know what they are talking about, his Subway sandwich “Jared style” is good for him and that fat=high cholesterol=overweight. I am on a mission to prove him wrong and help him see the light. I need your help to bring the information to him in the same way that has reformed so many other “healthy” people from their once “healthy” ways. Unfortunately for us he doesn’t like to read..imagine that someone in his position not willing to put forth the time and effort to be properly educated…perhaps another epidemic in our country. Well too bad for him. If I have to force feed him this stuff I will.

Please, if you have anything to add, or have dealt with a similar situation I am completely open for suggestions. He thinks he has beaten cancer. He thinks that since it was in his foot and his foot is gone then he doesn’t have cancer anymore. So do all our friends! I am alone and I am determined to make sure I am not isolated completely. I am not giving up on them without a fight.

I would like to thank you in advance for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon,

Zach

– i am sorry if the format seems generic as i am using it for everyone i am contacting

Hi Zach–

MRE

“The Investigation: Statins
Statins are a modern wonder drug – routinely praised for their ability to lower cholesterol levels and prevent heart attacks. Over 3 million people in Britain are taking them. They are the most widely prescribed drug in the world. This week the Government announced a policy of heart check ups in England which according to the NHS’s national heart director will mean 7 million people taking statins for the rest of their lives. But is there any point? Only a tiny percentage of these people will ever benefit. In the “The Investigation” this week, Simon Cox asks are we are putting too many people on statins?”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/fileon4/?focuswin

Anne

Thanks for the great link.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/overweight-kids-have-fewer-cavities/

I read this, too. Interesting.

I am one who had a terrible experience with side effects from a statin. During the course I did a lot of research and came across a web site for USCSD (University of Cal. San Diego) who was doing a research study on negative side effects of statins. I filled out an online survey.

To my pleasant surprise I just received the following e-mail with 3 massive questionnaires attached seeking in depth information into how the statin affected my memory, neuropathy and muscles. I am so glad that at least someone is putting forth the effort to get to the bottom of the statin disasters.

(the email)

You generously filled out a questionnaire related to your experience on statins in January 2008. Thank you so much for the time and information you provided! We are writing to you now because you reported symptoms that are among the most common problems reported by statin users (e.g.
loss of memory or lowered thinking ability, muscle pain or fatigue, and neuropathy). Because so many people report these particular problems, and ask us questions about them, we are directing studies specifically in these areas. We hoped we might once again appeal to you for information on your own experience.

Attached are questionnaires that ask specific questions regarding muscle, memory, and neuropathy symptoms. We hope you might be kind enough to help once more, so that we have better information with which to answer questions by persons who experience these problems. If you prefer to have these surveys mailed to you, please e-mail us back your return address and we will immediately send them to you with a postage-paid envelope. **

Please e-mail the completed questionnaires to statinstudy@ucsd.edu (if applicable) or mail to:

UCSD Statin Effects Study

9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0995

La Jolla, CA 92093-0995

Please be reassured that any identifying information will be kept confidential within the study group. The “Notice of Privacy Practices”
booklet can be accessed through the following website:
http://health.ucsd.edu/hipaa/hipaa.asp.

If you have questions, or for more information, do not hesitate to call us at (858) 558-4950. Your contribution will help advance our understanding on the potential adverse effects of statin use.

Thank you again for your kind participation. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Cham

UCSD Statin Effects Study

P.S. If you know of someone else who has any experience on or with statins, we would greatly appreciate it if you would provide them with our contact information (statinstudy@ucsd.edu or (858) 558-4950) and let them know that their input can be of great help to us.

Hey Doug–

MRE