{"id":12905,"date":"2018-11-11T19:11:42","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T01:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/?p=12905"},"modified":"2022-03-21T15:10:03","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T20:10:03","slug":"how-to-get-off-statins-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2018\/11\/11\/how-to-get-off-statins-2","title":{"rendered":"How To Get Off Statins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Getting off statins <\/a>is easy. Stop swallowing the pill. If you\u2019re not in a potentially high-risk group (as described below) and your doc prescribed a statin to get your cholesterol down a bit, you won\u2019t have a heart attack or a stroke that day or week or probably that decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s no \u201cstatin withdrawal\u201d and you weren\u2019t born with a statin deficiency.<\/p>\n
In fact, many of you quitting statins will probably start feeling better in just a couple weeks. I admit \u201cbetter\u201d is rather vague, but perhaps you\u2019re so used to having achy muscles, fatigue, and brain fog that you think these symptoms are normal.<\/p>\n
Does my recommendation to stop taking your statin sound glib, a bit cavalier? After all, when you were handed the prescription you were told something like \u201cYou must take this every day or you\u2019ll get a stroke or heart attack.\u201d And now I come along suggesting that for most of you statins are simply not necessary\u2026provided you\u2019re willing to take charge of your health.<\/p>\n
A new verb: deprescribing<\/strong>\nThe statin controversy is quite lively among physicians themselves. John Mandrola, MD, a cardiac electrophysiologist from Louisville, wrote a short blog post on the physician-only portion of Medscape expressing his doubts about statins. You can\u2019t link to his piece without a password, but do have a look at Dr. Mandrola\u2019s very good website and especially at this piece, \u201cTo Deprescribe\u2026Adding a New Verb to the Language of Doctoring<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Mandrola\u2019s Medscape post received an astonishing 631 physician comments, most of which supported his position, namely that the 2014 guidelines from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) on statin prescribing were not only unrealistic, but potentially dangerous.\u00a0\u00a0In addition,<\/span> this JAMA study published in 2017<\/span><\/a> found that\u00a0statins are of\u00a0virtually\u00a0no benefit as a primary prevention of heart disease in people 65 and older.\n<\/span><\/p>\n
Of course, all this came out after all the statins went generic and Big Pharma had generated hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. Statins have been the biggest moneymaker in the history of medicine.<\/span><\/p>\n
There are four guidelines regarding who should take statins. Many physicians in the US and most in Europe agree with the first two, partially with the third, and not at all with the fourth (my comments in italics):<\/p>\n
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  1. People 40 to 70 with Type 1 or 2 diabetes.<\/strong>\u00a0This group has an increased risk for heart disease, including heart attack, and taking statins has been shown to reduce this risk. (However, diabetes is a potentially reversible condition with weight loss and exercise, and once the diabetes has been reversed it is possible to go off statins.<\/em>)\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. People with a history of a cardiovascular \u201cevent\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0such as heart attack, stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA), angina, or peripheral artery disease (statins definitely reduce the chances for a second such event<\/em>).<\/li>\n
  3. People 21 or older with a very high level of bad cholesterol<\/strong>\u2013LDL 190 mg\/dl or higher. (Even though the high cholesterol may be genetic rather than lifestyle-induced, you needn\u2019t capitulate entirely to your genes. Healthful eating, weight reduction, and exercise can bring down high cholesterol of any kind, including genetic. If, after several months of lifestyle changes, your cholesterol remains stuck in a danger zone, then taking a statin is reasonable, especially if along with genetic high cholesterol you also have a genetic premature early death risk.<\/em>)<\/li>\n
  4. People 40 to 75 with no cardiovascular disease, a (bad cholesterol) LDL of 70 mg\/dl or higher, and who have a 7.5% or greater risk of having a heart attack or stroke within 10 years<\/strong>\u00a0(the 7.5% or higher is predicated primarily on reversible \u00a0lifestyle factors\u2014see more below<\/em>).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Note: the ACC does acknowledge that beyond age 75, there is no significant data showing any heart disease prevention benefit from statins.<\/p>\n
    Lifestyle\u2026again<\/strong>\nIt\u2019s Number 4 that caused a great deal of eyebrow raising among doctors. The risk factors that would put a person in the 7.5% category include genetic susceptibility, yes, but also smoking, obesity (especially belly fat), inactivity, high blood pressure, and a significant family history of early heart disease. When these factors are combined with the newly established LDL of 70 mg\/dL, it\u2019s estimated that in the US alone the number of current statin users would increase from 12.8 million to 48 million.<\/p>\n
    If you\u2019ve been following the news on bad cholesterol over the years, it used to be worrisome when LDL was higher than 100 mg\/dL. According to the ACC guidelines, 36 million more people now need statins to hit that glorious 70 mg\/dL. That means one adult in three would be taking statins, as many as one billion statin users worldwide, and total statin sales at $1 trillion a year.<\/p>\n
    But wait a minute. Except for the genetic susceptibility to early heart disease, every one of those factors that would place someone in the 7.5% risk group is reversible with lifestyle modification. And, most importantly, lifestyle changes will help even if you\u2019re genetically predisposed to heart disease. Also, the newly available Corus-CAD test (which I\u00a0discussed in a previous Health Tip) can confirm or refute your personal genetic susceptibility. If you\u2019re concerned about your susceptibility to heart disease, I do suggest the Corus-CAD.\u00a0 It might be a good idea to get this test if you\u2019re in that LDL group with 190 mg\/dL or higher.<\/p>\n
    With all this in mind, read these aloud.<\/p>\n