Statin drugs wildly overprescribed for patients with kidney disease

Sunday, September 22, 2013 by: PF Louis
Tags: statin drugs, kidney disease, overprescription

(NaturalNews) A recent pharmacological report from Oregon State University claims that kidney patients shouldn't be prescribed statin drugs so often to reduce their risk of heart attacks.

This is despite the fact that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is higher among kidney disease sufferers.

The lead author, Professor of Pharmacology Ali Olyaei, summarized the report with, "I believe the evidence shows that the majority of people with chronic kidney disease are taking statins inappropriately."

"They may help a little in early-stage disease, but those people are not the ones who generally die from cardiovascular diseases. And by the end stages the risks outweigh any benefit."

The risks referred to include side effects of severe muscle pain and loss, dementia and diabetes type 2. Contrary to the reasons why statins are given to kidney patients, the body of research showed that statins do nothing to slow the progression of kidney disease. [1]

Statin side effect reports increase, but so do sales

Statin drugs are among Big Pharma's sweetheart products. Their worldwide sales exceed 30 billion dollars annually despite the increased warnings of side effects.

Here they are: nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headaches, rashes, muscle aches or dysfuncton, tendon problems, dementia, amnesia, depression, chronic fatigue, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, peripheral neuropathies (nerve damage) and even fatal rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown). [2]

An important cellular compound for heart and muscle health, CoQ10, is diminished by statin use. It's no wonder that terrible muscle issues and worsened heart health can occur as a side effect. [2] [3]

And there's more bad news for those who put their hopes in statin drugs to prevent heart attacks. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, calcium is the best predictor of who will have a heart attack and who will not.

They found that coronary calcium was six times more accurate in predicting a potential heart attack than the risk factor determined from family heart disease history.

Another study published in the journal Diabetes Care determined that coronary calcification was significantly higher among heavy statin users than those who used statins less. [3]

The worst statin side effects are from the actual intended effects

Statin drugs are designed to reduce cholesterol. But is cholesterol the cardiovascular disease monster that it's been targeted as? Cholesterol is actually a necessary fatty tissue. It's slippery and elastic and doesn't clog arteries.

More and more cardiologists and holistic health practitioners are coming out and voicing this in books and articles. Cholesterol is even produced excessively to protect against arterial inflammation. And some cardiologists are coming out with this understanding too. [4]

Cholesterol is needed as a major part of our brain tissue and the myelin sheathing that protects our nervous system and facilitates neuron transmissions.

In our skin, it performs the first phase of converting sunlight's UVB rays into vitamin D3, a prehormone that helps create, regulate and balance other hormones for optimum health.

So it's not so much the "side effects" of statin drugs that create other health issues and dramatically increase CVD risk. It's the statin drugs' intended effects that are problematic.

Viewing high cholesterol as a cause of disease is like claiming skid marks before accident scenes cause accidents instead of seeing them as attempts to avoid accidents.

As mentioned earlier, high cholesterol readings are not good markers for CVD. But high readings may qualify as markers for inflammation. Arterial inflammation has been observed more and more as the actual source of CVD, not cholesterol or consuming too many saturated fats.

Inflammation has been attributed to chronic stress, lopsided omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratios, sugar and HFCS, synthetic food additives, hydrogenated oils (cheap unhealthy fats) and environmental toxins. Cholesterol just tries cover it up for awhile. [4]

Sources for this article include:

[1] http://oregonstate.edu

[2] http://www.naturalnews.com

[3] http://www.naturalnews.com

[4] http://www.naturalnews.com