You can just explain that you would like to know the exact science behind it. Getting a lifelong medication prescribed is not a small thing.But I tend to find it so difficult to discuss with healthcare specialists without wanting to come across as knowing better than they do.
In essence I think you have a very valid point and therefore my post above would be seemingly flippant and unhelpful. From personal experience I was routinely put on statins when I was 40. I took these for nearly 13 years before muscular problems caused me to be put on a different type. This caused me to come out in a major all embracing body rash and 3 days in hospital, where the top dermatologist told me that it had been caused by statins. Therefore I was taken off them completely. Two years later I had a double transplant and the nephrology team were going to prescribe statins. When I informed them that the dermatologist had given explicit instructions not to prescribe them, there was apparent consternation. I have not had any since 2011 and in February I had the best blood chemistry results in my lifetime. Of course I am not advocating that nobody benefitsfrom them, anymore than a patient's allergy to certain types of insulin means those types should be banned. I am truly pleased to see from your post below that they are of vital benefit to you. Keep well!Debates on statins on this forum really drive me to despair, there are the same handful of medically unqualified members who repeatedly come on, advise people that there doctors are only prescribing statins because they earn money out of it, and/or your cholesterol numbers aren’t that bad, and/or cholesterol numbers don’t matter, and/or statins are bad for your general health and/or diabetes.
So far as earning money is concerned, a recent debate on here nobody was able to say how much money an individual dr got for prescribing a statin to a patient, what we were able to establish was that there was a pot of money, that was divided between all surgeries depending on how they performed on 60 health measures, one of which was statins .... I can’t see any dr handing out statins just because their practice may get a few pence because they do ..
As to whether statins are good or bad for you, yes those who are anti statin in the same vein as those who are anti vaxers or anti diabetes meds will be able to point to some doctors who say statins, covid vaccines and diabetes meds are bad ... personally I would rather accept the opinion of the majority of health professionals when it comes to statins, rather than some anonymous member of this forum with no claim to have any medical qualifications, just an ability to use google ...
If you are going to base your health decision on the multiple posts on this forum, ignore the same handful of members who contribute to every one to tell how statins are bad and then see what you are left with, but it probably makes more sense to base your decision on the medical expertise of your doctors, rather than anonymous, medically unqualified, members of any Internet forum.
Your username and your posting style gives the impression you are a doctor or an HCP. If you are, then you should know that plaque buildup does not happen overnight, it takes years and years from childhood onwards to build up. You should also know that statins do not remove or reduce plaque once it is in place. So at best it may prevent future buildup.For the benefit of full disclosure, I take a statin, I have done for 17 years, both my parents had high cholesterol, my grandfather died of heart failure in his 40s, my father had a quadruple heart bypass in his 40s, my mother had narrowing of the arteries early in life.
As a result I was advised to have my cholesterol tested when I turned 40, from memory it was 9, diet got it to 7, at that time they wanted it to be 6, I am now at 4. I am unaware of any side effects, 16 years after I started taking it and many stones later I was diagnosed as type 2, I don’t suppose that has much to do with the statins but I guess someone quoting stats will use me as an example of statin users becoming diabetic.
My cholesterol levels decreased after eating low carb - I had been told to take Atorvastatin but it was frightening to realise that my memory had been affected. I lost the car in the supermarket car park, wandered around using the key to locate it, and then realised that I'd done the Christmas shop already and left the stuff in the car.
I could no longer sing from memory, and had forgotten so many things - I still can't remember how to play guitar, but quite a lot has come back over the years.
It was after only 5 weeks taking the tablets that I binned them.
I would rather accept the opinion of the majority of health professionals when it comes to statins, rather than some anonymous member of this forum with no claim to have any medical qualifications, just an ability to use google ...
of medically unqualified members
Not sure where that quoted text came from, but it seems to be out of context here. But I look back at the people I know who either had or succumbed to heart attack. Not one of them would be considered obese or even overwaight. They wer in general considered fit and healthy at the time I put myself into that category too since I have suffered this event in the past while my BMI has been at or below 21.[QUOTE="bulkbiker, post: 2511060, member: 219467
Edit to add.. in the 40 years that stains have been prescribed have heart attack deaths gone up or down compared to the previous 40 years? Maybe google has the answer..
I believe the study itself was done by Augsburg university in Bavaria,
This graphic is taken out of its context in Monica, and has an opinion attached to it by someone not involved in the study. I think the conclusion that is claimed may be misleadng.
Two years ago I was given access to some of the data from the ASCOT trial by one of the trial organisers. I crunched the numbers and came up with the absolute risk ratios and noted that there was a 10:1 exaggeration when looking at the Statin Licence Application report for the same data set. So I agree with Zoe about the bias that Relative Risk (as it used to be called) or Hazard Ratio as it tends to be called now, The trouble is that the manufacturers have managed to persuade the SACN and NICE comittees to use HR as their gold standard. Note that when they use HR they do not mention the data at all. HR is the result, take it or leave it.They seem to be coming thick and fast..
https://www.zoeharcombe.com/2022/05/a-new-look-at-statins-ldl-cholesterol-cvd/
So far as earning money is concerned, a recent debate on here nobody was able to say how much money an individual dr got for prescribing a statin to a patient, what we were able to establish was that there was a pot of money, that was divided between all surgeries depending on how they performed on 60 health measures, one of which was statins .... I can’t see any dr handing out statins just because their practice may get a few pence because they do ..
This may explain the LDL protein connundrumThere is no easily quantifiable amount per prescription, but targets around statins and diabetes are included within the indicators of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) which according to the King’s Fund accounts for approximately 10% of GP surgery income. The exact payments are based upon a points based system measured against a series of indicators.
Quality and Outcomes Framework payments
The Quality and Outcomes Framework accounts for around 10 per cent of a practice’s income. The Quality and Outcomes Framework is a voluntary programme that practices can opt in to in order to receive payments based on good performance against a number of indicators. In 2018/19 more than 95 per cent of practices took part. The framework covers a range of clinical areas, for example, management of hypertension or asthma; prescribing safety; or ill health prevention activity. Each area has a range of indicators that equate to a number of Quality and Outcomes Framework points.
One such indicator in the Diabetes Mellitus section is as follows:
‘DM022. The percentage of patients with diabetes aged 40 years and over, with no history of cardiovascular disease and without moderate or severe frailty, who are currently treated with a statin (excluding patients with type 2 diabetes and a CVD risk score of <10% recorded in the preceding 3 years)’
So yes, there is a financial incentive to prescribe statins.
You might find a read of the full King’s Fund report (linked) eye opening.
To directly answer @michelle88 I’d want to see evidence from my doctor in relation to their claim, which I have not seen mentioned elsewhere.
Watch out for the B1B stealth bomber of a scam in the backgroundFor those struggling with various risk definitions (Relative, Absolute, oddsratios etc) Hazard Ratios etc , David Spiegelhalter has clear videos on the Winton Centre site in the RealRisk section aimed at journalists
https://realrisk.wintoncentre.uk/
where there is also a link to the !RealRisk tool that can be used to get from RR/HR/OR to Absolute Risk.
My mother has been on statins for a few years now. She's 74 and I've noticed her increasing forgetfulness. I don't know whether due to age or statins, but it's definitely disconcerting!
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