Statins in the news AGAIN

From the journal of the Health Sciences Institute (UK)...........

FDA warning: Statins Linked To Memory Loss
Dear Reader,

Our regular readers will remember that a few years ago, I told you about Dr. Duane Graveline, a former NASA astronaut. Soon after starting Lipitor, Dr. Graveline experienced two bouts of total global amnesia (TGA). That's when all memory vanishes for several minutes to several hours.

I was reminded of Dr. Graveline's terrible ordeal when I read this comment from one of our readers, called Kevin:

"Modern day super-statins are exceedingly powerful. My fear is that the doses are much too high and that dosage regimens have been developed for ease of prescribing. I also find that the side effects of these drugs correlate with the dosage. For years doctors tried to get me to take 40mg of simvastatin instead of a daily mini-aspirin and I said: 'Thanks, but no thanks.'

I can no longer take aspirin and with very great reluctance, I have agreed to start with simvastatin. I insisted on 10mg tablets which I cut in half so the effective dose is 5mg. I have been guided here by the tremendous work of Dr Duane Graveline, who is a former USAF Flight Surgeon, NASA Astronaut and Family Doctor. I strongly recommend his books Lipitor: thief of memory and The Statin Damage Crisis."

Thief of memory

After Dr. Graveline's episodes of 'vanishing' memory he launched his own investigation of statin-related TGA. He found hundreds of people who shared their experiences of memory loss while using statins.

In fact Dr. John Briffa, contributing editor to The Cholesterol Truth, said that when he deals with ageing patients who complain about memory loss, one of the first things he asks them is whether they are taking cholesterol-lowering statins or not.

To further support the effects that statins can have on brain function, research into 171 individuals who complained of statin-related brain symptoms found that 90 per cent of people who stopped statins experienced an improvement in their symptoms… This tells me that there must be a link between statins and deteriorating brain function.

In his own research Dr. Graveline discovered that certain brain cells produce their own cholesterol. Neurons need this cholesterol to function properly. When something impairs cholesterol production, it can compromise thought processes.

The result… TGA, and just about everything in between. Including depression.

A few years ago, The Wall St. Journal ran an article about memory loss linked with statin use. Many readers posted comments about cognition problems and TGA. One reader suffered a crippling depression while taking statins. But her symptoms disappeared when she quit.

From that point, it was an easy decision. She said that risk of a heart attack "would be preferable to life on statins."

Given that statin benefits are wildly exaggerated, that's what I call clear thinking.

Now, after nearly 10 years the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally caught up and has recently noted in a Consumer Update that memory loss, forgetfulness, and confusion "span all statin products and all age groups."

We are yet to see if this so-called consumer update will carry any further weight

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Murray L

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Tikosyn uptake Dec 2011 500ug b.i.d. NSR since!
Herein lies opinion, not professional advice, which all are well advised to seek.

Thanks for the reminder, Murray. Wishing you the best, always! Erling.

Statins 101 - a brief refresher:

-- 'Statin' drugs are also known as 'HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors' because that's what they do. See: [en.wikipedia.org]

-- 'HMG-CoA reductaase' is an essential enzyme in the body's 'mevalonate pathway' See [en.wikipedia.org]

-- The mevalonate biochemical pathway begins the internal synthesis of many essential substances, including
- Cholesterol. See [en.wikipedia.org]
- Dolichol. See [en.wikipedia.org]
- Coenxyme Q10. See [en.wikipedia.org]
- etc.

-- The lie that cholesterol causes cardiovascular disease (CVD) is just that - a gigantic for-profit lie.
See: The Great Colesterol Con. The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It
by Malcolm Kendrick, MD. [www.amazon.com]

-- The fact that statin drugs cause major disease in all body cells and systems is a hushed-up fact - for profit.
See: The Statin Damage Crisis by Duane Graveline, MD, MPH.
[www.amazon.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2012 06:21PM by Erling.

Hi Murray -

With flu vaccine season upon us, we will all benefit by knowing if your many year use (10?) of the statin Lipitor preceding your devastating experience (from which we all hope you will fully recover) is a classic "Statin Damage Crisis". Please correct this if you know differently, but in my mind the way it came about was via weakened body system(s) from statin use, causing inability to ward off adverse effects of the vaccine itself. The vaccine used squaline as an adjuvant to "turbo-charge" the immune response, potentially causing a "cytokine storm", and in many an inability to handle the consequences..

Excerpts from Cytokine storm [en.wikipedia.org] :

"A cytokine storm, or hypercytokinemia is a potentially fatal immune reaction consisting of a positive feedback loop between cytokines and immune cells, with highly elevated levels of various cytokines.[1]"

"The primary symptoms of a cytokine storm are high fever, swelling and redness, extreme fatigue and nausea. In some cases the immune reaction may be fatal."

"Recent reports of high mortality among healthy young adults in the 2009 swine flu outbreak has led to speculation that cytokine storms could be responsible for these deaths.[10]"

Best wishes!

Erling
=============================

Vaccine May Be More Dangerous Than Swine Flu [www.milieuziektes.nl]
By: Dr. Russell Blaylock. July 7, 2009



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2012 05:21PM by Erling.

Statins Linked to Reduced Cancer Death
By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD


Nov. 7, 2012 -- Statins -- widely prescribed drugs used to help prevent death from heart disease -- may play a role in reducing risk for cancer death, too, a new study shows.

Researchers followed all cancer patients in Denmark diagnosed between 1995 and 2007. They found that those who took cholesterol-lowering statins before they were diagnosed were less likely to die from their disease than patients who did not take the drugs.

The study does not prove that statins have a direct impact on cancer survival. But Eric J. Jacobs, PhD, of the American Cancer Society, called the findings "intriguing and exciting" and worthy of further research.

But he says that "they do not mean that people with cancer should start using statins in the hopes of improving their prognosis."

He points out that a large number of studies that establish the role of statins in preventing heart attack and stroke have not shown the drugs to reduce cancer deaths.

"Additional research will be needed to clarify if and how statins might influence survival in cancer patients," he says.

The new study appears in the Nov. 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers used a national health database to track statin use among the Danish population. The study included close to 300,000 adults aged 40 or older. They had been diagnosed with cancer between 1995 and 2007. Researchers followed them until the end of 2009.

When the researchers examined deaths from all cancers, they found that patients with a history of statin use had a 15% lower risk of dying than those who had not used the drugs.

Slideshow: Top Cancer-Fighting Foods
How Statins May Improve Cancer Survival

Researcher Sune F. Nielsen, PhD, says there are several possible mechanisms by which statins improve cancer survival.

He says that some studies suggest that cancer cells need cholesterol to grow. And a lack of cholesterol has been shown to inhibit tumor growth.

"It is not so far-fetched to imagine that taking a cholesterol-reducing drug can slow the progression of cancer," Nielsen says.

Almost 19,000 participants in the Danish study took statins before their cancers were diagnosed. But the study did not address whether statins can prevent cancers from occurring.

The study had some limitations, including missing information for many patients about cancer treatment details, tumor size, and cancer spread.

Jacobs says there is little evidence from previous studies that statin use has important effects, "either good or bad," on overall cancer risk.

Neil E. Caporaso, MD, of the National Cancer Institute, wrote an editorial published with the study. He says important questions need to be answered before the studies needed to verify the findings can be conducted.

"But if statins do influence cancer survival it is certainly worth verifying because this could impact millions of cancer patients," he says.