Chalk one more painful side effect up to statin use

The list of statins’ negative side effects is too long to rattle off. These cholesterol-lowering medications have been implicated in an eye-popping array of problems. Diabetes, liver damage, memory loss, insomnia, cataracts, brain fog…the list goes on and on.

And now we have another one to add. A large study that was just conducted on military members and their families found that statins are linked to higher odds of having a back disorder. Including everything from herniated discs to spondylosis.

Specifically, the study revealed that for every 17 individuals prescribed a statin, one was diagnosed with a back disorder. As anyone with a back disorder can tell you, that’s no small matter. Back problems permeate every area of life. Sometimes they can make it impossible to do the simplest things. Even getting out of bed is a painful chore.

Trust me, I have seen firsthand how statins’ adverse effects can impact quality of life. The pain they cause doesn’t ever go away.

And for what? To lower cholesterol that often has no effect on your health anyway. Yet doctors are so obsessed with cholesterol that they’ll prescribe these risky medicines — even though they can do exactly the opposite of what we want them to do.

Imagine this. A physically active person walks into his doctor’s office. As we know, getting enough exercise does far more to lower a person’s risk for cardiac events than any statin medication ever could. But this person’s cholesterol is a little high. So the doctor insists on statins, “to reduce heart risks.”

This athletic person follows his doctor’s advice, takes the statins, and then — bam — slips a disc. Now those back problems have him laid up instead of at the gym, exercising as he always has.

So he’s given up the thing that did help his heart health (exercise) in order to take some drug that lowered an irrelevant number.

Talk about a win for Big Pharma and a lose for our poor patient.

I would bet his doctor didn’t even consider the potential negative impacts of the drugs. Which is a shame. If doctors are going to hand out statins like candy, they really ought to know — and communicate — the full extent of the negative impacts they have.

That way the prescriber and the patient can make an informed decision.

An informed physician would know that two studies have already shown that statin use is linked to musculoskeletal pain, including back pain. And don’t forget that many other studies have shown that they are associated with countless diseases, including diabetes.

Any other drug with this track record would have a black box warning. It may even be removed from the market. But not a big money maker like statins.

But my question is: Why anyone would want to take these medications when there are so many healthier alternatives for preventing heart disease?

Last week I told you about one natural way to decrease cholesterol — with a supplement that combines probiotics and red yeast rice extract. The combo was just as effective as statins, and with none of the risks.

And of course there’s always the tried-and-true advice to clean up your diet and exercise more. But drug companies can’t make money off those tactics, can they?

If your doctor urges you to take statins, I do hope you will give it some serious thought first. And explore all the natural options out there for keeping your heart healthy without them. For a full rundown of all of those techniques, check out my report The World’s Easiest Heart Disease Cure. You can learn more about it or order a copy by clicking here.

 

Source:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/879387


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