Apparently, Few Doctors Report Adverse Reactions For Statins

[tex]

Hi All,

This is an interesting report about the reasons behind the failure of many doctors to report Adverse Drug Reactions, (ADRs), for statins. Apparently doctors like statins so much, that they refuse to even acknowledge that they have any faults, which, of course, creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Statins work by inhibiting the production of an enzyme that is vital for the formation of cholesterol, HMG reductase. The biggest problem with statins, apparently, is that HMG reductase is not the only enzyme that they inhibit. They also inhibit the production of other vital compounds, and that's where the trouble begins.

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/statin ... ports.html

Tex

[Linda in BC]

Hi Tex:
I started reading anohter article on this same site you quoted above, this one about low immunity and resitance to infections/infectious diseases, and it's possible dietary causes. Interesting what they have to say on this page about low-choleserol.

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/immunity3.html

Installment one of the same article said this:

The role of refined carbohydrates in respiratory problems was demonstrated dramatically in a study comparing the Kikuyu and Maasai tribes.[iii] The Kikuyu, living mainly on cereals, had a death rate from bronchitis and pneumonia which was ten times higher than that of the meat-eating Maasai. A similar comparison carried out at a girls' boarding-school found the same: researchers demonstrated that the incidence of colds among the girls was directly related to the amount of sugar each consumed. Their evidence showed that the girls who drank fizzy drinks and ate sweets and other refined carbohydrates suffered many more respiratory problems and colds than girls who did not. The advice given to reduce the likelihood of getting a cold was to cut out sugar and eat no bread or other products that contain either wheat or rye.

So maybe we don't have to feel so bad about not eating all those vegetables, baked goods and grains! It may be doing us more good than we realize...

[tex]

So maybe we don't have to feel so bad about not eating all those vegetables, baked goods and grains! It may be doing us more good than we realize...

I think you're right. I've always felt that the paleo diet was a much lower-carb diet than is so often claimed. Basically, the paleo people ate significant amounts of carbs, only when they were unable to obtain enough meat, (whether from animals, fish, or fowl), to fulfill their needs. Meat is a complete food. It contains all the amino acids needed by the human body. No other food fulfills that requirement. Why would the paleo people seek out any other food, when meat was the perfect food for their needs? The answer is - they wouldn't, unless they were starving.

At least that's how I see it.

Tex

[Stanz]

This is all fascinating. My DH has a family history of high cholesterol, both parents have heart problems and respiratory problems. My DH has never smoked, eats very carefully and still has high cholesterol. His MD has been suggesting Statins recently.

He sleeps with a C-Pap or not at all. Until the last month or so he needed to spray a steroid into his nose in order to breathe at night. Since he has been mostly GF, as I do the cooking, he hasn't needed the steroid. We also got a new bed that is made of all natural materials about this same time that his nose cleared up. I wonder how this all connects.

I've been reading about the controversy over high cholesterol for years now. Frankly, I don't think they have a clue what are good and bad levels and I think diet is more important than how you score on a test. His Dad ate fast food and sugars all his life and he smoked for 50 years until he developed emphysema and type 2 diabetes and started being tested for everything. It was then that they put him on Statins for his cholesterol and maybe it's just a coincidence that all his heart problems started then, as well as developing lung cancer. Neither of his parents question the drugs prescribed. I've had to just shut my mouth as they will not listen, they prefer to trust their doctors. It is truly maddening.

[tex]

Connie,

I find it very interesting that the statins were first "invented" by the drug companies, in the late 1970's:

http://organizedwisdom.com/History_of_Statins

With every passing day, the use of statins continues to escalate, as doctors write prescriptions right and left. And yet, the more statins we use, the more heart disease and cancer, we are faced with. Since research proves that cholesterol is protective of infections and cancer, is it any wonder that cancer rates and heart disease are skyrocketing? Since you mentioned lung cancer, consider this:

The annual incidence and mortality rate of lung cancer has increased
more than any other malignancy in the last decade.

http://www.lungcancersurgery.org/lung_c ... istory.htm

Obviously, something is causing this surge in lung cancer deaths, and, of course, we all know that heart disease is the leading cause of death. If so many people are now taking statins to prevent death from heart disease, why is it the leading cause of death?

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm

A little birdie tells me that the answer to that question probably has something to do with the increasing use of statins. Duh!

Tex

[Stanz]

Wow, from your first link, Tex, I went here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus_terreus

and then I went here: http://www.doctorfungus.org/thefungi/as ... erreus.htm from the Wiki link.

VERY INTERESTING. My FIL has been through the mill in the last several months. In April a chest xray found a mass in his lung. They weren't sure what it was. First dx cancer, then a mucous plug, then a fungus, basically they had no idea what it was.

So in May they do surgery to remove it, at this time believing that it was a fungus. It was probably Aspergillus, but tests are "inconclusive". AND - inside that fungus was a small cancerous node that they've been treating since with radiation, which they finished with yesterday, and during which time he was basically a pain in the ass for my MIL, who has her own health issues, having just had her thyroid removed, and now he is just exhausted and still a pain in the ass and miserable.

Now I don't know what all that means - yet - but if they are CREATING statins from a fungus, then it only makes sense to me that taking statins could cause fungal growths in someone with an already compromised immune system and emphysema.

He's a walking miracle from so many standpoints, he should have been dead years ago. He's had a quadruple bypass and numerous stents since then. As you may recall, my MIL had her thyroid removed because she had a small lump which turned out to be benign. I was basically told - after doing and relaying research on thyroid tumors - that she appreciated my input but expected us to respect her decision. She was afraid of cancer, having had breast cancer 10 years ago.

I don't know what to do with this information, if I should forward him your first link and let him go from there, or what. They don't listen or research, they believe what their doctors tell them and take any and all drugs prescribed. Both are in their late 70's.

[tex]

Connie,

I'm sure you're aware of this, but remember that the original source of lovastatin is Red yeast rice, an ancient oriental food.

Red yeast rice and 'statin' drugs

In the late 1970's researchers in the United States and Japan were isolating lovastatin from Aspergillus and monacolins from Monascus, respectively, the latter being the same yeast used to make red yeast rice, but cultured under carefully controlled conditions. Chemical analysis soon showed that lovastatin and monacolin K were identical. An article "The origin of statins" summarizes how the two isolations, documentations and patent applications were just months apart.[2] Lovastatin became the patented, prescription, drug Mevacor for Merck & Co. Red yeast rice went on to become a contentious, non-prescription, dietary supplement in the United States and other countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_yeast_rice

Tex

[Stanz]

Not like I'm any expert on fungus/yeast here, but from what I've seen just now in researching via your link, I am very concerned and glad that I didn't forward any info on to my FIL, not that he would even listen, even though his father was an MD as was his brother and he is a retired therapist, so Lord knows he's not stupid.

I bought RYR for my DH and he's been taking it for 2 months, during which time his asthma has gotten worse. Now I see from research that anyone with asthma shouldn't take this, so obviously there is some property in this that can affect lungs, just don't understand the connection yet.

If this is true:

In the late 1970's researchers in the United States and Japan were isolating lovastatin from Aspergillus and monacolins from Monascus, respectively, the latter being the same yeast used to make red yeast rice, but cultured under carefully controlled conditions. Chemical analysis soon showed that lovastatin and monacolin K were identical. An article "The origin of statins" summarizes how the two isolations, documentations and patent applications were just months apart.[2] Lovastatin became the patented, prescription, drug Mevacor for Merck & Co. Red yeast rice went on to become a contentious, non-prescription, dietary supplement in the United States and other countries.

then it doesn't make a difference if they isolated it from Aspergillus or Monascus, it's still potentially toxic for someone who is immune compromised. Sorry, I should probably research this more, but I'm still tired from my last job and have so little time to try to understand how all this coincides.

Seems like we've all been poisoned by GM foods, no non-GM seeds are even alive now since Monsanto has effectively invaded and killed our food supply, so now we can't even grow our own foods. So we're all screwed and I'm rapidly reaching the "what's the point" stage today so I need to step away before I go into full on PTSD -ooops-too late.

Tossing the RYR and hope it wasn't what caused DH's asthma symptoms to worsen. Going to the store to buy some groceries for dinner now. Let's see, I can buy GM veggies that are labeled organic, and meat that has been poisoned in the ocean or meat that has been fed GM grain. Should be fun. And I wonder why I'm afraid to eat and don't regain any weight. On an up-note, people say I look great, what have I done? I was never overweight, so I can't wear any shirts that don't cover my upper arms because my skin hangs from my bones now, and whatever we've done to our atmosphere that has resulted in us not having a summer here means I don't need to worry about being too hot because we're still having NO SUN here in Oregon and it's supposed to last through July, but I look great!

In light of recent information on China, I'm not inclined to have any faith in anything that comes out of there.

Your bundle of sunshine,
Connie

[tex]

Gosh Connie,

Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your day.

While fungus infections in the lungs are not common, they are always a risk, especially with certain occupations. The mycotoxin, aflatoxin, for example, was originally identified in the late 1980's, in corn infected with an Aspergillus fungus, when a farmer who got into a bin of corn and scooped some of it, (thus agitating the fungus into the air), without wearing a dust mask, developed a severe lung infection, because of it. The grain bin had a leak in the roof, which allowed water to leak into the bin, thus promoting the growth of the fungus on the corn. Aflatoxin is a byproduct of two Aspergillus species in the U. S., A. flavus, and A. paraciticus. Worldwide, there are hundreds of Asperigillus species that can produce aflatoxin. Aflatoxin, of course, is a regulated carcinogen, which can also be found in peanuts and cottonseed. I've had to test for it, and deal with it for over 20 years, in the corn business, so I'm quite familiar with those two species.

There are also numerous other types of fungal lung infections that can result from inhaling air contaminated with fungus spores. Inhaling the dust from bird droppings, for example, is very risky, and various infections can occur - coccidioidomycosis and histoplasmosis, for example, and there are other soil-based fungi that can cause infections if inhaled, such as blastomycosis and cryptococcosis. People with compromised immune systems are the most vulnerable, of course, but anyone can develop a fungal infection in the lungs, if they inhale a sufficient number of fungus spores.

Aspergillus is actually a tropical fungus, so it's most common here in the South, but under the right conditions, it can grow at much higher latitudes. I would suspect that it's not usually a significant problem north of the Mason-Dixon line, but that's just a WAEG, of course. These are naturally-occurring parasitic growths, of course.

Tex

[Stanz]

You didn't ruin my day, Tex, I am just frustrated. It seems like the more I know, the more depressing it is and I feel awful if I have contributed to my DH's stress by exacerbating his asthma.

I was editing my two previous posts when you answered this, as I've been in contact with my MIL and learned that the fungus my FIL had was never conclusively ID'd and basically they just don't know what it was, so you should read them again.

In any event, my FIL was a therapist in an office, he wasn't in a corn field. They did live in Tacoma during the years that it was very toxic and that may explain some of the problems my DH's husbands family has had that are not shared by siblings on either side that didn't live there. Specifically that both DH's parents have ADHD, as does my DH and his sister. His brother doesn't have ADHD, but is not what I'd consider "normal" and that brother has two sons - one is genius - the other has a form of autism. His sister has 2 boys, 1 is normal, the other likely has Aspergers. So - there's some environmental factor there, IMO. Maybe it's just genetic, I don't know.

This just all makes me feel out of control of my own environment and makes me feel vulnerable despite the care I take to protect the ones I love. I worked an average of 16 hrs. a day on my last 9 days of work, 2 of them being 20 hr. days, so I'm a bit out of sorts and emotional, forgive me.

Off to shop now!!

C

[tex]

There's nothing to forgive - I totally understand. This whole health issue is a complex quagmire, impossible to understand, with the current state of technology. I try to deal with it by just going with the flow, and doing what I feel is best, anytime I need to make a decision. I try to avoid second-guessing those decisions, but if I don't like the way something is going, then I try something else, (or I just stop doing whatever I think might be the cause of the problem). At any rate, there's not much point in worrying about it - that just adds to the stress.

After all, according to medical research, especially concerning diet, what's good today, is bad tomorrow, and vice versa, so I can't really make a bad decision about food. If there's a conflict with current "expert" opinion, I'm just ahead of my time, (or behind, depending on how you look at it).

Happy shopping!

Tex

[Gloria]

On an up-note, people say I look great, what have I done? I was never overweight, so I can't wear any shirts that don't cover my upper arms because my skin hangs from my bones now

Well, I'm glad to read that I'm not the only one who looks like that. Someone who's known me for years keeps telling me I look great - I've gone from a size 8 to a size 4. Who wants to be a size 4 when they're in their 60's?

You are putting in awfully long days. I don't know how you do it. It's time for a sunny vacation!

Gloria