Doctor says there is no evidence that statins are safe

This paper was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal May 6: 2008

Study title and author:
Statins - Safe?
Dr Herbert H. Nehrlich

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.cmaj.ca/content/178/5/576.abstract/reply#content-block

Dr Nehrlich, a doctor from Australia, discusses the effects of statin drugs.

(i) Statins reduce the body's production of mevalonate through the suppression of a liver enzyme called hydroxymethylglutaryl (HMG) coenzyme A reductase.
(ii) This enzyme is crucial in enabling the body to synthesize such substances as cholesterol, Co-enzyme Q-10 etc., substances that are essential for every living cell.
(iii) So, if you reduce the supply of mevalonate, the liver can no longer keep up production of sufficient cholesterol and has to slow the shipping of cholesterol from the depot (liver) to the various areas in need of it via the bloodstream. Hence, blood cholesterol will be lower in lab tests.
(iv) Mevalonate is not just important in this respect but is heavily involved in muscle metabolism as well as in the production of thromboxane. Thromboxane, of course, is the agent responsible for the important stage in healing called clotting and originates in the platelets of our blood.
(v) Mitochondria are energy factories that MUST have coenzyme Q- 10, the very substance that is in short supply when people undergo statin treatment.
(vi) The dismal success record of statin treatment, combined with their sometimes atrocious side effects (identified and hidden) makes the prescription of statins in humans an assault with unknown and likely dire consequences.
(vii) People tend to die with low cholesterol blood levels.
(viii) May I ask for the studies that have shown that lowering cholesterol is reasonable and thus good practice? Statins are safe? Let us look at the PROSPER Trial and the all cause mortality. It is not improved by statins.
(ix) I prefer to see cholesterol as an extremely vital substance, essential for good health and indispensable when it comes to repair and maintenance of the body.
(x) Statins are now Big Pharma's golden goose and the price of gold is rising.
(xi) If we think of rhabdomyolysis, of transient global amnesia and of the propensity of statins to initiate cancer in many animals, if we consider the truly dismal success of statin treatment then we can skip looking at the plausibility of using these drugs altogether.
(xii) Statins are mayhem to Coenzyme Q-10 and it follows that statins may thus weaken the heart. They may cause cancer in humans.

Dr Nehrlich concludes: "There is no evidence that statins are safe".

Transient global amnesia associated with statin intake

This paper was published in the British Medical Journal Case Reports 2009;2009. pii: bcr06.2008.0033

Study title and authors:

Transient global amnesia associated with statin intake.

Healy D, Morgan R, Chinnaswamy S.

Cardiff University, Psychological Medicine, Hergest Unit, Bangor, LL57 2PW, U K.

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21686951

Transient global amnesia is a syndrome where there is a temporary but almost total disruption of short-term memory with a range of problems accessing older memories.

This paper describes the case of a man who developed Transient global amnesia after taking statin drugs.

(i) A 57-year-old man was referred with end-stage renal failure. In 2001, he was started on dialysis for renal failure and was prescribed 40 mg simvastatin.
(ii) His worsening condition in 2004 led to unhappiness and his simvastatin was changed to 10 mg rosuvastatin in December 2004.
(iii) In February 2005, two confusion episodes were noted. In one, he had made 40 cups of tea but could later give no reason for this other than he must have been dreaming of having guests to the house. In the other, during home dialysis he had cut the lines into the dialysis machine with a pair of scissors. He vaguely remembered freeing himself from the lines and retiring to bed.
(iv) This latter incident and concerns that he might be drinking more water than advised led to a referral to the psychiatric liaison service in August 2005 because of possible self-harm. He denied thoughts of self-harm. But he described feeling that there were further episodes of behaviours for which he had no recall. Psychiatric assessment found no evidence of psychotic or delirious phenomena. He was not depressed.
(v) In September 2005, the patient’s wife reported that he was having episodes when he was uncertain where he was or what he was supposed to be doing. He complained of feeling disorganised at these times.
(vi) Physical investigations returned no evidence of triggers to these episodes.
(vii) In May 2006 he reported that he was completely unable to remember anything for a full day after his previous dialysis session.
(viii) Statin-induced global amnesia was diagnosed.
(ix) He discontinued his statin.
(x) His difficulties cleared on discontinuation of treatment and he remained symptom free thereafter.

The 57-year-old man mentioned above is only one case. To see more evidence of the relationship between statins and transient global amnesia visit the spacedoc website which is run by a retired family doctor Duane Graveline MD MPH.

In his career Dr Graveline was also a USAF Flight Surgeon and a NASA Astronaut.

Dr Graveline suffered from episodes of transient global amnesia after starting statin therapy. Read about his experience and the experiences of many others here.