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Starting now, Radio 4 Statins to be made available over the counter

Guzzler said:
Hope this link works.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009387

Sounds like they just might not have thought it all through yet. Whadya think? :(
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Thanks for sharing this. Much appreciated.
Gave it a listen on my PC. (For some reason it was a little glitchy on my iPad, Inspite of having a BBC I player account.)

Hmmm, as good as my local pharmacy is.. (& mine is exceptional.) I just wanna pop in & pick up my repeat script when ready, say thanks & leave..
I already run the gauntlet with my DN & GP on the subject of statins. (I just happen to be a man of a certain age..)

Lol, "Statins in the water." I have no idea how that could be implemented or even work.. (I'm thinking along the lines of the "non-event" concept of orally taken insulin? Statins may not survive in a water supply.)
 
If a drug is diluted in drinking water there is no way to control the dosage some people drink large quantities of water others drink less so the dose you get depends on how much water you drink in a day.

The whole idea is insane.
 
JohnEGreen said:
If a drug is diluted in drinking water there is no way to control the dosage some people drink large quantities of water others drink less so the dose you get depends on how much water you drink in a day.

The whole idea is insane.
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It could possibly lower the cholesterol in the central heating system? ;)
 
KK123 said:
In the water supply?, blimey Mbaker, don't go giving them ideas!
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(EDITED...others covered next sentence).

This has been seriously suggested, I believe in America. What's good is that the impressive Ivor Cummins has been presenting from the ground up, in places that ordinarily like to present contrary findings, and the audience is GP's. The more this happens the harder it will be to at least make "silly" law changes in the UK:

 
Dr Paul Mason in a lecture on Statins (Denver Low Carb series, I think, states that stains have a 25% side-effect rate. (which includes death and severe crippling muscle damage.)
A subscribing to zoeharcombe.com would reveal that statins in trials have not ever been statistically proven to show significant benefit for CVD. Yes, they may have some unintended anti-inflammation effect but nothing else.
And, though not proof of causation, from work by Zoe Harcombe (in 2008), use of WHO data from 192 countries shows that as the total cholesterol level in humans gets lower the rate in males and females of CVD and all causes of death increases.
Whilst in the good old days aspirin was made available over the counter before more stringent laws which may have banned it from being so, are UK citizens considered guinea pigs for some unclear cause? May as well put it in the drinking water?
 
There is a kind of twisted logic.

If statins are now cheap as chips (aaaahhhh.....chips!!!) then it makes financial sense to sell them OTC.
Takes them off the surgery budget and presumably saves the patient money because they are cheaper than the prescription charge.

Unfortunate that there is a question over the benefits from statins, though.
 
LittleGreyCat said:
There is a kind of twisted logic.

If statins are now cheap as chips (aaaahhhh.....chips!!!) then it makes financial sense to sell them OTC.
Takes them off the surgery budget and presumably saves the patient money because they are cheaper than the prescription charge.

Unfortunate that there is a question over the benefits from statins, though.
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No logic involved. The reason they want to make them OTC is to reach a wider audience (ker-ching). Ignore the (non) science behind them and just go with the consensus view.
 
Guzzler said:
No logic involved. The reason they want to make them OTC is to reach a wider audience (ker-ching). Ignore the (non) science behind them and just go with the consensus view.
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I have a suspicion that they are aiming at the ‘worried well’ who are perfectly healthy but listen to the hype from medics that statins are good for them so they will be able to buy them over the counter just like vitamins and flu jabs etc.
 
Mbaker said:
If these are otc this is not as bad as it seems, as one would have to actively choose to take them. If they were in the water supply then for me this would be a legally challengable action.

It is simple but hard with the otc move - somehow on a shoestring budget "we" need to have the views of Aseem Malhotra front and centre, as a counter balance to statins becoming sweets.
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Many will die. Its dangerous not to hv some fat.
 
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Daphne917 said:
I have a suspicion that they are aiming at the ‘worried well’ who are perfectly healthy but listen to the hype from medics that statins are good for them so they will be able to buy them over the counter just like vitamins and flu jabs etc.
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Bingo. And next-up will be over-the-counter Metformin. Apparently modern humans have a built-in statin and Metformin deficiency. Everyone should be popping them like Smarties. They'll be selling them both as double-packs in Tesco before long :shifty:
 
The benefit of statins is not that they lower cholesterol, but that they can reduce vascular inflammation and stabilize soft plaques which are vulnerable to rupture and clot formation. Unfortunately, all the focus is on cholesterol.
 
Sapien said:
The benefit of statins is not that they lower cholesterol, but that they can reduce vascular inflammation and stabilize soft plaques which are vulnerable to rupture and clot formation. Unfortunately, all the focus is on cholesterol.
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And the downsides? CoQ10 depletion, Mevalonate interuption, lowered immune responses etc etc And that is apart from emerging evidence linking low total cholesterol to dementia, Parkinsons and Alzheimers. There are the sometimes devastating results of downstream side effects, too.

Risk to Benefit ratio , all day long.
 
Mbaker said:
(EDITED...others covered next sentence).

This has been seriously suggested, I believe in America. What's good is that the impressive Ivor Cummins has been presenting from the ground up, in places that ordinarily like to present contrary findings, and the audience is GP's. The more this happens the harder it will be to at least make "silly" law changes in the UK:

Click to expand...
I really liked this Ivor Cummings talk and would like to bookmark it on my computer. Please could you post a link so I could save it.
 
Krystyna23040 said:
I really liked this Ivor Cummings talk and would like to bookmark it on my computer. Please could you post a link so I could save it.
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Hi,

If you click on the arrow top right panel of a YouTube post that says "share." (Centred in the screenshot below.)


image.png


You will get the link address which can be highlighted, copied & saved?

image.png


Hope this helps..
 
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