When I had a routine health check-up eight years ago, my cholesterol was so
high that the laboratory thought there had been a mistake. I had 9.3
millimoles of cholesterol in every litre of blood — almost twice the
recommended maximum.
It was quite a shock. The GP instantly prescribed statins, the
cholesterol-lowering drugs that are supposed to prevent heart disease and
strokes. For eight years, I faithfully popped my 20mg atorvastatin pills,
without side effects. Then, one day last May, I stopped. It wasn’t a snap
decision; after looking more closely at the research, I’d concluded that
statins were not going to save me from a heart attack and that my
cholesterol levels were all but irrelevant.
When I informed my GP of my decision three months later, I wasn’t entirely
honest. Rather than say I was sceptical about the drugs, I told my doctor
I’d quit the statins because they were causing pain in my arm.
He didn’t bat an eyelid. Evidence from the drug industry published this month
– evidence I suspect was heavily reliant on data from the drug industry, as
Dr James Le Fanu pointed out on these pages last week – may suggest that
side effects are uncommon, but previous studies have found that one in five
people on statins suffers adverse side effects, from muscle pain and
diarrhoea to memory loss and blurred vision.
More proof of the Life we have been feed about fat free...read it an learn from it folks.
More proof of the Life we have been feed about fat free...read it an learn from it folks.
No comments:
Post a Comment