Spacedoc Newsletter
March 3, 2010  
Seniors, Statins and Side Effects
 
Tom Meade M.D.Thomas D. Meade, M.D.

How many seniors with heart disease are told that statins may cause shortness of breath or worsen their heart failure? Probably very few.

In addition to this information, what if your physician told you there are other possible side effects including memory loss, muscle and joint pain, liver damage death from muscle necrosis, decreased libido and testosterone inhibition, and many of these drugs have not been proven to decrease your chance of death from fatal heart attacks or strokes?

This is not to say there isn't a role for statins, but certainly it is far less and at a much lower dose than is being recommended today. It is now being recognized that the major benefit of statins lies in a recently discovered anti-inflammatory effect and not so much, if at all from the cholesterol lowering effect.
 
Dr. Tom Meade serves as The Senior Partner of OAA Orthopaedic Specialists.
He co-developed the 300,000 sq. ft. Integrated Health Campus, a landmark national showcase medical facility.
He also hosts two educational cable TV programs, "Real Life in the OR" and "Inside Medicine." 

You can see a two part interview with Dr Stephen Sinatra on Heart Disease hosted by Tom Meade and the two part interview with Dr Duane Graveline on Cholesterol from last year. All four videos are available at this link:
Interviews with Dr Sinatra and Dr Graveline hosted by Dr. Tom Meade.

http://www.spacedoc.net/seniors_statins_side_effects
 
Statins Impair ATP Production
 
Dr Graveline - creamA team at the Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London were investigating two cases of statin associated myopathy.

Both patients had been on Zocor 40mg daily. Analysis of skeletal muscle biopsies had revealed that both ubiquinone  and cytochrome oxidase levels were reduced well below normal.

In considering the possibility that these reduced values were due to direct inhibition by their statin drug, they next cultured nerve cells ( known as primary astrocytes ) to which a statin had been added.

These nerve cells showed a decrease in both ubiquinone and cytochrone oxidase similar to that of their Zocor myopathy patients.
 
Statins Impair ATP Production 

Duane Graveline MD MPH
Former USAF Flight Surgeon
Former NASA Astronaut
Retired Family Doctor
 
http://www.spacedoc.net/statins_impair_ATP_production
 
Books by Dr Duane Graveline MD MPH
Advertisement
"The Statin Damage Crisis" by Dr. Duane Graveline MD

BooksDr Graveline's third book on statins called "The Statin Damage Crisis" is now available.
 
Originally planned as a new edition to "Statin Drugs Side Effects," it has been released as a stand alone title so that the highly relevant material in "SDSE" will still be available.

Dr Graveline wrote the following introduction to this latest title:
 
Early on my NASA doctors told me my amnesia response to statins was nothing but a coincidence but I persevered to write my first book, "Lipitor, Thief of Memory" and now find that over 1,000 cases of amnesia and memory loss have been reported to the FDA, just from Lipitor alone.
 
Then I learned of statin damage to nerves and muscles and profound behavioral and personality changes, demanding I write a second book, "Statin Drugs Side Effects." Even this broadly encompassing book was insufficient to describe what I have learned more recently of the truly dark side of statins - their ability to alter the very fabric of our makeup.
 
I had long wondered why muscle and nerve damage seemed permanent and even progressive like my own ALS-like condition. Now I have found that the ultimate effect of statins on CoQ10 and dolichols is to damage the DNA of the mitochondrial life - force within our cells - mitochondrial mutation masquerading as premature old age. 
 
Duane Graveline MD MPH
Former USAF Flight Surgeon, Former NASA Astronaut, Retired Family Doctor 
 
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