Cholesterol News

This aritcle is an example of why I am very reluctant to take any cholesterol drugs (or any drugs for that matter). It made the top of the news last night on CBS Nightly News, and we've seen things like this so often that is it really a surprise? We are as often as not being given drugs that are only partially tested.

Excerpt:
"“This is as bad a result for the drug as anybody could have feared,” said Dr. Nissen, a widely published researcher and senior consulting editor to the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Millions of patients may be taking a drug that does not benefit them, raising their risk of heart attacks and exposing them to potential side effects, he said."

The CBS report was even more negative.

AMEN!! They tried giving this to my hubby a couple yrs ago, but it was so costly that I called and asked if they could prescribe something less expensive and they went for an older statin, instead. I HATE all the drugs and 50 side effects. It's really scary to think about what docs are willing to put in our bodies to make us "healthy", instead of helping and guiding us with what we should be doing with changing our lives and intake of healthy unprocessed foods without hormones. I feel very blessed to have the ARNP that I have that is willing to work with me, my diet and more importantly a Naturapath to find things other than DRUGS from the almighty Rx pad to make me healthier. I am still riding the fine line of needing bp meds, and if I do, I do, but I am going to keep working at making my body healthy regardless of the bp. I will do this!!

Wow! Your husband is lucky he didn't go for it bT. Who knows what damage could have been done.

Here is the link for the CBS report:
Anti-Cholesterol Drug Bombs in Tests

I just skimmed the article. hard to incorporate reading comprehension with two kids pulling at my legs all day, but wasn't Vytorin one the drugs. My husband is taking that and has been for about a year now. Scary. I sent him the article. Thanks Info.

YES... Vytorin is the drug that they are reporting on. I listened to it this am and it says that it has actually proven to do less work than the older statin drugs and that even "more" plaque is found in the arteries of people taking this, than the others. Very scary, but whats worse, is the study was done TWO years ago! I swear it's the almighty dollar and greed of the docs who write them and the Rx company's paying it out to the docs to push it.

My doctor has just recently started me on Zeita in addition to Zocor. Luckily, she gave me samples and I haven't spent any $$. I have been trying to be compliant. I will continue the Zocor. I really think that the change in my eating will take care of what the Zeita was intented to handle.

Graciepoo and CherBru: The CBS broadcast that I saw was a little different than the one above, which appears to be the morning edition of the news (I believe). I remember the physician saying that people shouldn't jump to conclusions, rather consult their doctor about what changes, if any, should be made (of course). Everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt these days. I'm glad if the article helps in any way.

I completely agree, with info. I would be on the phone to my doc to get in there and see what, if anything, should be done. If you aren't sure that you trust your doc, I highly recommend that you continue a search until you find one that is as good as you can find.

wOW THAT IS REALLY SHOCKING!! I worked for a large cardiology practice for some time, and we had many patients on those drugs... I actually even did a speech on them in college, and how there are different things for cholesterol. I had high cholesterol, and just by not eating fried foods, eating a handful of almonds a day, upping the exercise, and using olive oil, my cholesterol went back into check!! And it was not purely diet for me, b/c i'm 26, and I know my diet was not THAT bad...it is genetic also. Thanks for the info.

My husband is going to talk to our doc. thank you for the article. His cholesterol went down somewhere between 40-60 points after he got on the medicine but he also started south beach at the same time and lost 25 lbs before that follow up visit. So, i credit the drop in numbers to South Beach and his weight loss, he just assumes it was the medicine. I wish he had strictly tried diet and exercise before getting on meds. He went from eating fast food and candy ALL THE TIME, to eating tons of salads and veggies.

I take that drug-Vytorin, for about 1 year now; I had previously been on zetia and lipitor, and traded them in for an all in one. Now I will speak to a doctor about going back, and I will take this with a grain of sale-I WILL NOT PANIC. I WILL WAIT UNTIL MY END OF January visit to dr. comes up.......

I'm sure just one year will not have been able to do too much. Remember that you have been eating GOOD for some time now, and that has had to helped and made a difference in your cholesterol, all it's own. No worrying about it... I will say a prayer for you Susieq. Keep on doing great!

Following this up, CBS Evening News w/Katie Kouric said, last night, that the president of the company sold 900,000 shares last spring ($28,000,000 worth), after the negative study was filed at the company. She denied knowing about the study until two weeks ago. As a possible reason for why the company took almost two years for disclosing the findings, the news report cited that 500,000 Vytorin perscriptions are filled a week (the previous day I believe they said 1,000,000/week) There is an ongoing Congressional investigation into all of this so we have not heard the end of it at all. I'm pretty sure my figures are accurate but double check them as my memory fails me a lot more often these days.