Comments on: Hidden Side Effects of Statins and How Easily You Can Uncover Them

By: David Evans

David Evans — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:35:53 +0000

I’ve compiled a list of over 140 scientific papers that document the adverse effects of statins http://healthydietsandscience.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Statins%20and%20Cancer

By: dearieme

dearieme — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 09:39:16 +0000

A retired friend points out that a far higher proportion of his pals who are on statins report nasty side effects than is consistent with the literature.

He’s an epidemiologist by trade.

By: Statin Enthusiast

Statin Enthusiast — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 05:37:08 +0000

These are not hidden side effects. These are pretty well known side-effects documented all over literature, especially the join pain and muscle pain. Most of these happen when statins are over-prescribed, i.e. doctors give patients with very high cholesterol more Statin than the recommended dose (the dose that the original safety trials were done). Some people think CoQ10 supplementation could help but the reality is that no body to-date knows for certain the exact reason why statins cause these problems.

Seth: You seem to be saying the author of this article made a fool of himself (and opened himself up to charges of incompetence) in Great Britain’s most popular paper.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:05:32 +0000

Evelyn M., total cholesterol is basically meaningless. We’re even discovering that LDL cholesterol, while better, is not that useful as a predictor of heart disease.

By: Evelyn M.

Evelyn M. — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:18:29 +0000

So what did the good British rheumatologist named Andrew Banji do about his elevated cholesterol level of 9.2 mmol/l (355.76179 mg/dl)? It is unlikely that Cholesterol at this level can be brought down by dieting alone.

By: Kim Øyhus

Kim Øyhus — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 07:12:59 +0000

Patches in the body can have different genes, biochemistry, or something.
They react differently from the rest of the body.
The front of his shin could be such a patch.

This should be useful for something.

By: dearieme

dearieme — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:22:20 +0000

One of the big studies of statins hid the side effects as follows. They gave the drug and the placebo to the two groups. In the first few weeks of the study many of the subjects suffered side effects so bad that they dropped out. These people were then obliterated from the statistics and the subsequent boasted-about results for benefits and side effects ignored their existence.

In my little corner of science we’d have called that “lying”.

Seth: I didn’t know about that. Because these drugs are so widely prescribed and so profitable and yet have so little apparent benefit — so little that the side effects could easily be worse than the benefits — “lying” is a rather weak term for the deception you describe.