Those Awful Side Effects

13^th Jun 2015

Thousands of patients refuse statins for cholesterol-lowering, even though these people are high risk for heart attack and stroke, said a journal recently. The reasons? The side effects! which include severe muscular pain, Diabetes 2, headaches, indigestion, raised blood sugar and more. A senior doctor stated that statins may improve long-term health, but the side effects reduce quality of life. Other doctors say there’s little evidence that statins prevent death and they are suspicious about their long-term safety.

So why are statins being offered around like a box of chocolates? It's good that these people are taking responsibility for their own health and not readily passing their bodies over to other people to sort out. They obviously don’t want a bucketful of horrible side effects from a statin which may or may not work.

Having spent the past five years, with the eventual blessing of her doctor, getting my 90-year-old Mother off 14 pills (some of them for the side effects of the side effects), she now takes one pill only, and her latest tests reveal that she no longer has Diabetes 2, skin disorders, depression or high cholesterol, and her previously suspect liver and kidney functions are good.

After five years of medication-hell, and physical deterioration, Mother is thriving, apart from mild Alzheimer’s which seems to be stable. When diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she was prescribed a pill, which we were told “may or may not work” with possible side effects of dizziness, nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, fainting, brief loss of consciousness, headaches, insomnia, muscle cramps, appetite loss, colds, aggressive behaviour, feeling agitated, hallucinations and itching. I chatted with Mother about the pill. She said "no thank you", much to my relief.

Please research, ask questions, discuss, make informed choices and have the courage to stand your ground. It’s worth it.