Statins are the most profitable medications in the history of Big Pharma. They are promoted as the go-to medications to prevent/treat heart disease. A recent study found nearly 100% of men and 62% of women aged 66-75 should take a statin medication even if their cholesterol level is normal. (1)
Listening to conventional cardiologists, the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and many other mainstream groups would have you believe that statins should be placed in the water supply. If statins significantly lowered the risk of heart disease–they don’t–and if statins were not associated with adverse effects–they areؘ–then I could entertain a discussion on the widespread use of statins. However, statins are associated with a wide range of serious adverse drug reactions which should cause any health care provider to think twice or at least to use caution when prescribing this class of medication.
Let’s look at some of the adverse drug reactions from statins. The following numbers come from the FDA Adverse Events Reporting System. The information was compiled by Philip Blair, M.D. When I saw the huge numbers of serious reactions reported for statin users gathered from Dr. Blair’s data analysis, I said, “holy cow”. Dr. Blair explained that the FDA data, reported by practicing physicians in the trenches, shows frequent associations between statins and numerous serious conditions. Keep in mind that very few adverse drug reactions—from 1-10%–are actually reported to the FDA. This information was first reported to me by my colleague Duanne Graveline, M.D. Dr. Graveline suffered two transient global amnesia events and chronic neuropathy all due to taking a statin medication. He has written an excellent book about his experience with Lipitor. The book is titled, “Lipitor, Thief of Memory.”
Statins work by poisoning an enzyme (HMG-CoA reductase) which is needed to produce cholesterol, adrenal and sex hormones, memory proteins and maintain cell energy. The highest concentration of cholesterol in the body is found in the brain. Can you guess an organ that will suffer when cholesterol production is blocked? If you guessed the brain, you would win the prize.
All of the following events occurred from 2004 to 2014 and were gathered from the FDA Adverse Events Databases.
- Brain function: There were 36,605 reports of brain dysfunction which included memory impairment, transient cases of global amnesia, confusion, paranoia, disorientation, depression, and dementia related to statin use. Remember, this number is thought to represent only 1-10% of the true number of adverse drug reactions.
Can you imagine how quickly the FDA would pull a vitamin from the market place if is shown to cause tens of thousands of cases of brain dysfunction?
I have seen many patients suffer with a decline in brain function from taking a statin drug. Knowing how statins work—they poison an enzyme needed to make cholesterol—would allow anyone to predict that brain problems will be more common from statin use.
Folks, statins are responsible for many more adverse effects. In fact, there are well over 100,000 adverse event reports related to statins. In addition to the brain, statins negatively affect the functioning of the liver, kidneys, and muscles. I will report more about these other adverse drug effects in later posts.
I wrote in my book, Drugs That Don’t Work and Natural Therapies That Do, “You can’t poison a crucial enzyme or block an important receptor for the long-term and expect a good result.”
Perhaps we could live with all these adverse drug reactions if statins significantly lowered the risk for cardiovascular disease. But, they don’t. Statins have never been convincingly shown to prevent a first heart attack in both men and women. In men, the best of the statin studies show a 1-4% reduced risk of preventing a secondary cardiac event. In women, the numbers are worse.
It is shocking to me that so many health care providers and nearly all cardiologists would ever prescribe these medications for any patient. Heart disease patients are not developing heart disease due to a statin-deficiency syndrome. Perhaps these health care providers should start doing what doctors were taught to do: Search for the underlying cause of the illness and address that.
More information about statins can be found in my book along with recommendations about what you can do to avoid taking a statin medication.
DrB
- JAMA Int. Med. Published online November 17, 2014. E1
- Duanne Graveline, M.D. Lipitor, Thief of Memory
Awesome Blog! Great comments! Less than 6% of MD’s have any formal education in Nutrition from Big Pharma funded Medical Schools. Most all are unaware they have been scammed with the Low Cholesterol Craze. I was really upset that I taught a low Cholesterol diet for so long before I found out it was based on false information and Cholesterol has little to do with heart disease. Rather look at CRP Thyroid function and Iodine and Homocystiene levels.You can’t expect MDs to promote something they know nothing about. They are trained in Pharmacology. Most are legal drug pushers….
That said, I have seen Cholesterol levels drop naturally with exersize and modest diet changes only, from 250 to as low as 170 in less than 6 months. No drugs, only good side effects! Chiropractors have much more education concerning diet and supplementation. Or seek a Dietitian who understands Functional Medicine.
Still few medical professionals are aware of Iodine and it’s vital importance to the body. God Bless Dr Brownstein!!!
There has been some talk over the last couple years about putting it in the water supply. Sounds like they want everyone mentally impaired.
SunnySky, I’m not Dr B but I’m sure he would agree with me. Google Dr. Terry Wahls. She’s an amazing MD who had MS and stopped taking the interferon drugs and others for MS. She cured herself using a Paleo Diet and supplements. She went from a wheelchair to riding a two-wheeler. She is working on some studies for people to participate in. Maybe you can qualify or at least read her books or call her office and talk to her. She has been on all of the Internet talk shows.
Although the book is now 10 years old, Overdo$ed America by John Abramson, M.D. is just as relevant as ever for anyone facing the prospect of taking a statin drug. He pointed out the discrepancies between “official” statin prescribing guidelines and actual data from the Framingham study. If it sounds like salesmanship rather than science, it most likely is. Much excellent information on other drugs as well and illustrations of how “relative risk reduction” propaganda helps sell drugs that really are not passing the cost vs. benefit analysis. That and slick advertising.
Chris,
It is a wonderful book that I highly recommend.
DrB
Two things:
1) I sent this most excellent post to my father, age 79, who is taking a statin med. Years ago, he had a scary episode of transient global amnesia. I wonder, and asked my Dad, if he was on the statin drug then. I await his reply and pray he reads your whole article here.
2) You might not be able to say anything, but if you can, please do. Since 1998, I’ve been on beta-interferon for my MS, and concerned of potential side-effects, but at the same time afraid to just stop.it. I had the worst ever flare in 24 years this Spring….still not 100%, but tons better. Any suggestions? Please? Thank you.
I saw a man in my bodywork practice who was one of the early fallouts from the use of Lipitor. It was probably about 2004 or 2005. He came in with a walker and wearing one of those soft foam padded neck braces that people often wear after a car accident. He was in his early 50s and he had been a gym teacher and it sounds like he had had very good health until that point. Half his diaphragm was not working because the Lipitor had affected one of his phrenic nerves. I only saw him once or twice and my bodywork didn’t seem to have any help for his situation. That experience made me both very sad and very angry.
I also think about Sally Fallon and Mary Enig’s great book Nourishing Traditions. In the chapter on fats there is some talk about cholesterol and the author states that blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming a fireman for the fire, The body makes it’s own cholesterol because it’s such a powerful anti-oxidant and it makes it when it needs it, so taking a drug that restricts the bodies ability to make a protective agent takes away the bodies ability to protect itself. It would be like going to the scene of a fire where firemen are actively trying to put out a fire and killing all the firemen. I may not have perfect recall on what I read from that book so please feel free to correct me if I don’t quite have it right or I have oversimplified it too much.
Michael,
Nothing wrong with a simple explanation. It is simple. You said it well.
DrB
Statins also interfere with magnesium absorption, which contributes to its propensity to cause diabetes. Atrial Fibrillation is also linked to low magnesium levels.
The sideeffects from statins can can be easily eliminated. Just take at least 100 mg Co Q10. That’s is what Dr julius Whitaker recomended. (Many years ago)
Jacob,
Unfortunately, that does not work for everyone. Some suffer life-long side effects from taking a statin.
DrB
You are right on, Dr. B! I regret to say that I took Lipitor 10 mg for at least 10 years, until I suffered a horrendous episode of TGA (Transient Global Amnesia)! I read everything about it that I could find online and found Dr Graveline’s newsletters and books to be most helpful. However, my cardiologist and his PA mocked me, when I told them about the statin sde effect and that I had stopped taking it immediately after the TGA diagnosis!
I have atrial fibrillation, which I suspect is also related to the statin usage, because in retrospect, the AF also developed after I was on the Lipitor, but I never thought of the connection. I take CoQ 10 now and have had no further recurrence of TGA or AF episodes, thank goodness, but I’m afraid to discontinue the Diltizem that was prescribed for the AF. I would love to not have to take it if I could safely do it, but I fear that my heart strength may be compromised?
We already know MOST Cholesterol comes from the liver. It have been lowering lipid levels with my patients by detoxing the liver. It works. So remember the acronym ABD. Always be detoxing. The cleaner those phase I and II pathways the better
I have never taken statins much to my doctors pushing. I am 66 on no prescri[ptions and my cholesterol has always been 240-270….excellent ratios and low triglycerides. My weight is fine and I still run 2-3 miles in the morning … I did start taking red yeast rice after my Dr. scared me to death (didn’t go to Dr. at all til got medicare). Should I drop the Red Yeast Rice. Don’t see any improvement.
Beth,
Red rice yeast poisons the same enzyme that statins do–that is what statins were designed from. Therefore, I feel the same about red rice yeast that I do about statins. You should discuss this with your doctor.
DrB
Years ago cholesterol levels were considered perfectly normal when they were almost SEVERN times the level currently talked about as being acceptable. The change and incredible reduction in so called ‘normal’ levels has come about purely and simply so as to increase profits for drug companies and their supporters; including many Drs and Professors. There is absolutely NO scientific evidence to support this reduced seri blood level.
Drug companies fund and therefore own most medical studies and in doing so they are at liberty to publish whichever bit of the study results which suit their purpose; to sell more drugs. Many study results do not get published because of the adverse effects of drugs on patients and therefore the potential adverse effect on profits. The drug companies simply do not publish the data. Further, they manipulate the result data and in some cases they actually change the facts so much that negative outcomes for patients are reported as positive outcomes.
My mum would not listen to me and believed her Drs were doing the best for her. The reality is they were killing her but in the process they firstly caused her horrific injury and disability. She died of heart failure; a terrible death whereby the individual is horrifically suffocated by their own body fluids. This is the very thing that Statin drugs are meant to prevent.
The problem is that the side effects for many people do not become apparent until years after they start the drug. Drs dismiss the accusation of side effects and demean patients who even suggest the likelihood of side effects.
These drugs kill. They do it in a most gruesome manner. They must be banned and drs who support their use must be shamed.
There is absolutely no truth that cholesterol causes heart disease. Heart disease was not described as a condition until relatively recent times. Dr Broda Barnes stated there would be no heart disease if low thyroid function was diagnosed and treated appropriately. It is important to under WHY cholesterol levels rise. Manufactured in the liver as well as absorbed from the diet, cholesterol levels rise when some liver dysfunction is apparent. Problems with liver function occurs when there is evidence of low thyroid hormone; treat the deficient thyroid hormone problem and cholesterol levels will fall.
Low thyroid hormone levels is associated with chronic inflammation. It is chronic inflammation which leads to heart disease.
My whole family, including my mum, suffer low thyroid hormone. The use of Statin drugs is contraindicated when hypothyroidism is evident and yet no Dr looks for hypothyroidism before prescribing Statin drugs. This is negligent.
Further even the drug companies have reported the need to supplement with CO ENZYME Q 10 when Statins are used. Co Enzyme Q10 is produced by the body along the same pathway as cholesterol. Co Q10 is another casualty of Statin use. CoQ10 is essential for all cells and particularly skeletal but essential heart muscle cells. I know of no-one taking Statin drugs, who knows about CoQ10 and the effect as a result of Statin use,I know no-one who is prescribed CoQ10 in tandem with Statin drugs. This is negligent.
Statins cause myopathy and neuropathy; that is malfunction of muscle cells and nerves cells. The heart is a muscle and if this drug causes problems with the skeletal muscles it is also causing problems with the heart muscle. If the heart muscle fails then heart failure will fail and the patient will be disabled and can only look forward to a gruesome end.
My mum suffered numbness of her legs and arms for at least 1 year before her death. This numbness progressed so she could not bear weight and became bed bound. She also acquired lung cancer and three spinal fractures due to bone cancer. There is strong evidence that Statins are responsible. She suffered excruciating pain when moved and particularly when using the bathroom or bedpan. These drugs must be outlawed.
Thank you for this blog post, Dr. Brownstein.
My husband, who never had high cholesterol, was nevertheless placed on simvastatin in 2005. He took it for a year without Coenzyme Q10 support. At the end of that year, his cardiologist asked him to take CoQ10 alongside the statin. He did. He was on the statin for a total of 4 years. He discontinued it in 2009 on his own.
Though he has been off simvastatin for 5 years now, he still needs to take CoQ10 to somewhat control his long-term statin side effects. With any interruption in his CoQ10 therapy, within days he suffers from crippling muscle pain and increased short-term memory loss (memory loss that was preceded by statin therapy). Despite being on substantial doses of CoQ10, he now has parkinsonlike symptoms as well. I’m convinced that simvastatin damaged his mitochondrial DNA.
My husband was formerly a strong, active, alert man. Not only has he failed to recover from his statin damage, but the damage has continued to progress long after he stopped taking the drug.
Yvonne,
I am sorry to hear about your husband. It is not known how long these symptoms will last.
DrB
My 90 year old mother stopped (on her own) taking the statin drug prescribed for years by her Dr’s. She was losing muscle ability in her legs especially and experiencing frustrating loss of memory assuming it was just old age. Since stopping the drugs she literally has a spring in her step and acts at least 10 years younger. She was not on a high dose, but enough we were concerned. She understands how important it is to understand her own body and not just believe what the docs say. It’s the doctors that need educating!
Diana,
It is beyond ridiculous why a 90 year old was prescribed a statin.
DrB
What do you recommend cholesterol levels should be at to be healthy? Many people are scared by their doctors into taking statins (including my own mom!). I use Herb Pharm products and many that I grow and wildcraft. I have my mom using nettles infusions now which is a big step for her and she and her friend (who has diabetes) have been really working hard at improving their diet. my sister who lives closer has been coaching her with going back to traditional cooking(thankfully there is a small farmer right down the road from her to get free range poultry/eggs and organic vegetables). They are also adding more exercise but both are still overweight. Herb Pharm has a combination that includes: artichoke leaf and flower bud, hawthorn berry, leaf and flower, turmeric rhizome, and fennel seed. One of my clients went off statins and her levels went way up but with this herb combo the levels have come back down but not as far as the Dr wants it to(but she is sticking with it!) I am hoping to convince my mom to try this.
Dr. Brownstein, could statins cause or make Parkinson’s disease worse? How can a patient begin to stop using it? Does this process need to be done gradually?
Nini,
There are studies that link low cholesterol levels with an increased incidence of Parkinson’s disease. As for stopping a statin medication, I have not tapered my patients off.
DrB
What a coincidence! My doctor recently told me about the new study advocating statins for every man, and I countered by telling him about Dr. Graveline’s “Thief of Memory” book. Dr. Brownstein’s blog post mentions both of these. My doctor still supports statin use but he is not having any luck getting me on board. He says he’s saving a sample supply of Lipitor for me in the back room in case I change my mind. Ain’t gonna happen.
I wonder if the enzyme damage can be reversed after stopping statins?
Darla,
The studies have not been done to properly answer this question. But, my experience has clearly shown some do not recover.
DrB
After reading the Newsletter from Peoples Pharmacy and some of the feedback from patients who were taking statin drugs, most physicians refuse to acknowledge that these drugs could possibly cause disease …
The list of those diseases is getting longer and longer over time.
Folks, it is NOT old age. It is many of the darn drugs and not limited to statins.
Wondering if what you said about statins also applys to red yeast rice?
Carole,
The answer to your query is yes. Statins were designed from red yeast rice.
DrB
Dr. Brownstein, thank you for all that you do! Your website is a glimmering light of honestly in healthcare. It’s clear that you really care about patients.
Yes Dr. you are on target. I have been very vocal against Statins for more than 10 yr. and I’m not in the health field
at all. Good sense tell all that if the body of everyone makes cholesterol then it must be needed and to interfere with
that process is dangerous. Thanks for your efforts Dr. but it’s going to be hard to get Sheepeople to think.
Of course physicians prescribe statins. The cause of many/most chronic diseases is well established. Doctors want to do something but seriously changing patients’ food, exercise and habits of mind is a nonstarter with the patients. So they go with the flow and prescribe stations. Sad but true.
It will continue as it is and probably get worse because the drug companies will continue to gain the support of the new Congress. At this point it doesn’t matter what party’s holding power. They’re all corrupt.
I take NOTHING that comes from Big Pharma, and I’m proud of it. I use homeopathy, some herbal formulas and FOOD as MEDICINE. Since I began fermenting my food a little over a year ago, I’ve lost 78 pounds, I have a waistline again, my memory is getting better day-by-day, and I will not take their pills.
Happy Holidays… don’t eat sugar and processed junk. I’m trying a new ferment this week: fermented black garlic to enhance the taste of the food, but to also add the sweet taste to my SECRET Super-Aged, edible flower vinegar. I use it on everything, including eggs. It’s the secret to the weight loss success, I’m sure.
Vicki,
The masses want to know about your fermenting. Please, let us know!
DrB