This channel is dedicated to providing a layman's understanding of statin medications, their pros and cons, and my personal experience with them.
My hope is to offer hope to people who find the adverse effects intolerable and to assure them that the adverse effects are very real. Those of us who experience them are often stigmatized as being "statin deniers."
Please note that this is NOT medical advice and you should always consult with your own personal physician when it comes to whether or not you should be taking any medication, including statins.
Statins are a class of drugs that lower blood serum cholesterol by interfering with the normal function of your liver. The mainstream medical industry would have us believe that these are wonder drugs (yes, they often actually use that actual term.) In fact, these drugs are extremely dangerous for many individuals, useless for many others, and beneficial only in some circumstances.
I fainted last March through being dehydrated from a bout of Norovirus. I smashed my skull off a concrete floor causing a traumatic brain injury. I was in a brain trauma unit for six weeks, but I bounced back. I’m just past my 63 birthday, am a very fit runner and have my bloods checked annually, which are all normal, yet since I had my brain injury my GP surgery have tried to prescribe me to take Statins. They can shove them.
@eveoakley6270 wow, sorry to hear of your injury. Norovirus is always a concern for long distance hikers such as myself, and I can imagine such a thing happening to me. Statins statistically are associated with a small increase in hemorrhagic strokes. I wonder if you'd be more susceptible after such an injury. Just a guess on my part.
@@mystatinfreelife I’m willing to take that risk because I have no underlying conditions and my bloods are all normal. I would maybe consider them if my brain injury was spontaneous, but it wasn’t and was classed as a TBI. I’d rather not risk the side effects of statins, like my mum did. She suffered muscle pain, headaches, sleep problems, digestive problems such as bouts of sickness and diarrhoea, and she bruised easily. We only just realised her problems from watching channels like yours. She’s now 88, very sprightly and been off them for two years and especially relieved to be free of the sickness bouts.
Pure and simple. As an exercise physiologist, hearing your story warms my heart. The medical system has people freaking out. Your story is so good! If you haven't already, you will find the content from Ben Bikman at BYU to be very helpful and in alignment with your conversation.
The real question is: Who funded the study? Was the study observational or clinical? Who funded the so-called peer group? What was the purpose of the study in the first place?
I was prescribed statins last November '23 and I just stopped a few weeks ago. It's videos like this and the comments within that confirm to me that I made the right decision.
Statin sucks. It is just a way for drug companies to make money. Leave your cholesterol alone. Just forget it. The drug companies know where they are at. It’s the Benjamins!
What about fenofibrate? My doctor gave me that for my triglycerides along with pravastatin. I feel like my health is getting worse and I just want to feel better.
There are conflicting reports about drug interactions between fenofibrates and statins; unfortunately such contradictions are common, usually being statistical in nature (i.e. some people suffer from the interactions while others don't). See www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8112375/ You could be one of those who does not tolerate the combination. In fact, Cerivastatin (Baycol) was pulled from the market specifically because such interactions with that statin reached dangerous levels. I found my triglycerides responded far better to dietary changes than statins. I am on a Low Carb / High Fat diet. This diet does increase my total cholesterol, but I don't see it as a simple issue of "lower is better" - the quality of the lipids count, something that is lost on many doctors. I suggest you have a serious discussion with your doctor about getting off this combination of drugs.
Thank you for your video. You said a couple of things that caught my attention. We are very similar in age and in athletic interests with hiking. I have done a lot of research, and I’ve decided to stop statins. I made lifestyle changes and my bloodwork is now good. However, I can’t find where anyone has said if a person can quit cold turkey or do they need to wean themselves off them slowly. I know they’re not addictive, but my doctor is no help. How did you stop?
I'm sure everyone is different. In my case, I found I did have withdrawal symptoms, where some of the adverse effects intensified before they abated. I ended up waiting until from a work perspective, it was a time where I could afford to be "not at my best" for a week or so. For example, when there was a critical event at work, I stayed on them as the lesser of evils for that week, then I dropped them. Weaning off them would seem to be prudent if you have concerns, like going to every other day for a while. Some people (like those in a facebook statin support group) have claimed there can't be any such thing as withdrawal, but their reasoning was suspect. I heard an interview with Dr. Beatrice Goulomb where she not only acknowledged the possibility, but explained the mechanism by which they can occur.
I had a stroke 2 years ago. Was put on a statin in the hospital. Once I had time to check out these medications, I really want off the statin. I feel stuck on it because I dont want another stroke. Already have enough disability. Going to my dr in 3 days to discuss my options, again. He seems very reluctant to let me win this battle. Cardiologist wont even discuss it with me. Considering having surgery on my carotid artery then be done with it. Just see what happens from there. I feel all the claims about statins value are overstated. Would rather just take my chances!!!!
@barbaracordova5772 strokes and statins are a difficult issue. You may want to watch this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MA2wiZnMSVs.html though if you've had an ischemic stroke (vs. hemorrhagic stroke), it may be less applicable.
Thats playing with stats. But the real evidence is that more people die with low cholesterol than high cholesterol . Thats what matters. That negates the use of statins. Check out prof Tim Noakes.
It's certainly possibly but entirely speculative and impossible to determine. I wish we had an objective test for such things, but we don't, and aren't likely to have one anytime soon (for anybody.)
Statins reduce all-cause mortality. While a small percentage of people experience harmful side effects, the vast majority of people benefit. And yes LDL cholesterol is associated with higher cardiovascular events. The studies showing low LDL cholesterol associated with higher mortality is misleading because a lot of people with very low cholesterol have other health problems that produce the low cholesterol. Google all-cause mortality and statins. It's not even debatable. The longer people are on statins, the more they potentially benefit. I've been on them for over 25 years and am doing just fine. I started out with HDL of 30, Triglycerides of 250 and total cholesterol over 200. On statins my numbers are normal. You can't tell me that I would be better off with those original numbers than I am now with normal numbers.
Please consider doing a podcast with the original authors of the bmj 2015 Study. Your audience i think would like an expanded discussion of some of the key statin studies such as this one. You would be very good as a host of this. And it would benefit the science by keeping key studies "alive".
I took atorvastatin and had bad muscle pain in my neck muscle, the next day , I could tell, take low dose it goes away faster, I rather exercise and diet in low carbohydrates , drink water and walk 30 minutes a day for 7 days , It worked for me, I see my numbers going down slowly but surely , especially my LDL and hdl
I have found my LDL goes down if I hike for days on end. That's probably my body's appropriate response in that case. I think we really need to gain an understanding of why our cholesterol levels are what they are, instead of defaulting to "higher is bad". I can keep my PCP at bay by simply having my blood tests done after a backpacking trip (10 days or more), but that doesn't rally give me the understanding.. something I'm still trying to figure out.
Intellectual honesty….. what a rare thing. You may be right… You may be wrong…. Being willing to attempt to call BS on something that would confirm your own bias is what science is all about, (and why good science is kinda rare). Kudos.
@shawnfallahi5616 I have no medical training, so I would not advise anyone with (or even without) known heart disease on getting off statins. I can only point out what the studies say, and how strong or weak such studies are. For someone with heart disease the decision is incredibly complex and unfortunately very difficult to get truly unbiased information on. And of course, I have biases too.
Well, applaud! The same way you can calculate how statins would shorten the lifespan and combine it together. The only question is that there is no data about that. Cherry picking data does not allow to fairly generalize pros and cons
Some time ago I was reading a definition of 'science', probably by a philosopher of science. A requirement of science is that experimental data should be openly shared, so that other scientists can replicate the experiments and verify results or disprove. By that reason I would submit that much of 'medical science' is not actually science! It has aspects similar to alchemy... 😄
This was an interesting exercise. However, it still doesn't change my personal view of risk. I definitely wouldn't take statins to live on average an additional 22 days. But I also would not accept the risk of adverse effects from statins hoping that I will be among the 495 people who take statins for 6.1 years just to live on average an additional 6 months or so. I still don't see that as a sufficient benefit. Especially when I have a higher probability of being in the group of 4,000 people in either group who did not die during the 6.1 year period whether or not they took statins.
Thanks for weighing in. I agree, this may not change the equation for many of us. It's too bad we can never know how it will help an individual and we are forced to base our decision on basically our personal values in light of shaky statistics, including the probabilities of a degradation of Quality of Life. I certainly haven't changed my position either.
@@mystatinfreelife Well I haven't dropped statins yet but I am about to. I just have some concerns about it because I am trying to switch to carnivore.
@@JohnA000 I suspect that your doctor will have a fit - on carnivore I suspect your trigs will decrease, and HDL will increase, but so might your LDL. It may be Pattern A (or transform towards that eventually) but most Primary Care Doctors really don't care about that. It's even possible that your Lp(a) may decrease, though that effect may be minor.
Why I take a multi-pronged approach to heart disease not relying on anyone factor. But I do believe that Linus Pauling is one of the smartest men that ever lived in the last 1000yrs to be one of the largest factors in the reversal of my heart disease.....
@juliepowell1853 yes, there can be. Certainly if tolerated, people with Familial Hypercholesterolemia (especially homozygous) may benefit. People with heavily oxidized LDL, other poor quality markers such as Pattern B fractionation, and at least some people in secondary prevention for whom lifestyle hasn't helped may need to consider them. What I find is low risk patients who don't benefit meaningfully are prescribed them. Also some doctors feel low doses may help stabilize soft plaque.
@@monikasea that seems a bit low to call for statins, even by conventional medical standards. According to the Cleveland clinic, normal levels are 60-117 mg/dL for women and 66-133 for men. Just a data point.
A year ago I started testing ChatGPT about saturated fat and polyunsaturated fats. There I learned that ChatGPT follows the classic dietary dogma's closely. Also when pushing it towards using some kind of intelligence to question it's earlier answers it stayed rock solid on "old wisdom". So, I consider it's good for assisting in documental research, not as a smart sparring partner. 😢
I believe that God made us to use cholesterol for many important processes. Eat a Proper Human Diet (look up DR Ken Berry) and let the body's natural processes keep you heathy.
.. my Dr giving me Statin, even my cholesterol and LDL is just few points out of border line guidlines(doubtful guidelines), even my Triglycerides and VLDL is in safe zone.. i asked her Bcomplex for sign of my "diabetic neuropathy", she asked me why i need it?, she never gave me Rx of it, but she prescribed me of Statin and asked me to take.. but im not stupid to believe in her - "clear and present danger" of medical malpractice, im not going back to her😅
Recent discovery (on my part): high-dosage thiamine supplementation for 6 months shows improved metabolic function, including higher HDL, and lower LDL-C and triglycerides. But then, that won't sell medications, so...
