HealthBeat

Statin-Mania!

Remember the "Fab Four"? The "Mop-Tops" that took the world by storm back in the early '60's? Well, it looks like Britain is leading the way, for better or worse, once again!

Here's a headline from this morning's news pushes...
First OTC Cholesterol Drug Launched in Britain
It seems that the British government approved the switch to over-the-counter (OTC) status of this previously prescription-only drug, arguing that "easier access would allow more people to protect themselves from the risk of coronary heart disease."

The real truth of it, I'm betting, is revealed a little later on in the news article: "The move is expected to help reduce the state's drug bill significantly. Currently, Britain's National Health Service spends around 700 million pounds ($1.28 billion) on statin drugs each year." To say nothing of all those expensive government-paid-for doctor visits to prescribe the drug... To admit that Britain's much admired National Health System is in a heap o' trouble financially would be a gross understatement...

Here are a couple of questions, just to get you thinking on the subject: If statins are such a benign drug that they can be put out as "Over-The-Counter" drugs, available without a prescription, why did they require a prescription for all these years before now? Or, conversely, if they are a drug with enough risks associated that it was only safe to administer under a doctor's supervision, why and how has it suddenly become benign and safe enough for folks to prescribe for themselves, like Tylenol or Aspirin? Hmmm... I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that the patents are running out and these drugs will soon be flooding the market in generic form... It seems that in 2000, they were the world's number two class of prescription drugs, with sales of $15.9 billion. Making for strong brand name recognition via the OTC avenue will be good marketing strategy for the Big Drug Companies hoping to maintain that level of sales and profit.

Make no mistake folks - these are not benign, harmless drugs. Another article of today, Statins: The Next Miracle Drugs? is a little more balanced. It too praises the statins, but also lists some of the potential pitfalls, and offers these three very telling paragraphs at the very end of the article:

"As encouraging as the research is, statins aren't ready to be added to drinking water. They can cause potentially serious side effects, including a muscle destroying disease called rhabdomyolysis that can be crippling and even deadly if not caught early. Bayer pulled its entry in the statin stakes, in August 2001, after 31 people died of rhabdomyolysis linked to the medication.

Statins also have been known to cause muscle pain and weakness, fatigue, memory and cognitive problems and sleep disturbances. And the drugs may lead to erectile dysfunction and sweats and other trouble regulating body temperature.

And in April, researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health reported that statin use by women during the first trimester of pregnancy may increase the chances that their babies will be born with severe central nervous system defects and limb deformities."

Whew! What a laundry-list of really serious problems! Can you say "Thalidomide?"

So, how long do you suppose it will be before the OTC statins make their triumphant arrival on these shores, as did "The Fab Four" so many years ago? (I remember it well - and my parents allowed me to "stay up late" to watch Ed Sullivan welcome them to his "ReeelyReeelyBigShew" on our grainy little black-and-white television - what a spectacle!) Not long, I'm guessing...

And then what? Given the Great American Way of "bigger is better" and "supersize-it" I'm betting that those puny little 10mg doses will be regularly doubled, tripled, or even more by folks who have been "sold" on the value of "getting the cholesterol down." With a suggested prescription dosage of up to 80 mg per day, I can see problems. People may not know their pharmacology well enough to stay out of trouble, but they sure will do the math: Bubba is likely to say "Mah daddy has that bad cholesterol, and they say it runs in the family. His doc gave him that statin drug - 80 em-geez a day - and I know I don't wanna' get no bad cholesterol, so I'm a-gonna take some too - after all, they sell those little ones at the drugstore; I'll just take a bunch of 'em!" Or Tony, whose best friend Vinny just had a heart attack and is now prescribed a goodly dose of statins, as well as Aspirin. Why wouldn't Tony think that maybe he should "protect himself" by taking statins - after all, if they are marketed here as they are in Britain they will be marketed by Johnson & Johnson MSD under the brand name Zocor Heart-Pro. "Heart-Pro" - does that stand for "heart professional", or "heart protection"? Either way, you can be sure that the drug companies will be making us feel like we are ticking cardiac time-bombs if we are not taking the stuff. Tony, who admits to being "a little bigger" than his friend Vinny, is likely to assume that he needs a proportionately bigger dose of the pills. "After all" he may reason, "we both been eating the same junky diet..."

Who will monitor these boys, watch their bloodwork for signs of problems, recognize the side effects, treat them when things go wrong, or, Heaven forbid, look after their families if things were to go really wrong? Re-read those three paragraphs detailing some of the potential side effects please... right now is a good time.

O.K., I can hear some of you saying, "So, Mr. Doom-and-gloom, Mr. Nay-sayer, what are we supposed to do then if we are worried about our cholesterol levels?"

Here's the scoop. There are more natural ways of dealing with your cholesterol levels. I happen to know a doctor (I also just happen to be the lucky boy that married her...) who "works miracles" with cholesterol, without resorting to expensive and dangerous prescription drugs. She has a website-full of information, including information about Cholesterol. Check out www.drmyattswellnessclub.com .

Some of her advice will include using Niacin -a member of the B complex vitamin family, and the only "drug" proven to reduce mortality from elevated cholesterol levels. In the Coronary Drug Project Study, niacin was compared to cholesterol-lowering drugs and it was found that niacin was the ONLY "drug" that lowered mortality. It compared favorably to cholesterol-lowering drugs in effect but with a much better safety profile. That's right - a vitamin to lower your cholesterol!

Then there is Red Rice Yeast: A natural substance that contains a family of compounds that inhibit the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase which is responsible for cholesterol production in the body. Unlike isolated “statin” drugs, Red Rice Yeast contains a mixture of related but different statins that act synergistically. As a result, lower (and presumably safer) doses of any one statin are taken. Red Rice Yeast has been shown to lower total cholesterol and triglycerides while raising HDL levels. This stuff works so well that the Big Drug Companies and the FDA would like to see it banned - to protect their profits!

If you have been told to have "high cholesterol," or advised to use cholesterol-lowering drugs, or are concerned about your cholesterol, heart health, or your health in general, why not Consult Dr. Myatt and improve your health in a safe, natural way?

And then, smile as everyone around you succumbs to "StatinMania", just like the "BeatleMania" of the sixties.

Y'know, I'm gonna be humming "She Loves You, yeah, yeah, yeah!" all day now...

Cheers,
Nurse Mark

Wellness Club website:
www.DrMyattsWellnessClub.com

phone:
1-800-DR.MYATT (376-9288)
fax:
1-520-723-9002
address:
Dr. Myatt's Wellness Club
P.O. Box 3109-RB, Casa Grande, AZ. 85222