Has your doctor said you need to go on a cholesterol-lowering medication? If so, welcome to the club. Millions of unsuspecting Americans are told each day that their cholesterol levels are “above normal” and must be lowered with statin drugs immediately.
For the past two decades, the safety of statins has been called into question and rightly so. People are actually dying on account of these dangerous and unnecessary drugs! Health Scams Exposed has uncovered the scary truth about statin drugs so you can make a more informed decision about your health.
Why Cholesterol is Actually Good for Your Health
In order to understand statin risks, it’s important to understand what cholesterol is and how it benefits your health. Yes, you read correctly. Cholesterol is good for your health, not bad. It’s essential for life and good health. Cholesterol is a wax-like substance responsible for creating every single cell in your body. It provides energy to cells, increases cellular flexibility and decreases permeability, which helps determine which substances will enter your cells and which will not.
It’s also important to your sex life. Cholesterol is necessary in the production of the sex hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Low levels of these hormones can leave you with decreased sex drive, energy and sexual capacity.
Furthermore, unlike what you’ve been led to believe, cholesterol actually supports heart health. This is because the enzyme used to make cholesterol is also the enzyme responsible for making coenzyme Q-10. CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant that fights the free radicals that lead to heart disease.
The Safety of Statins – The Statin Risks You NEED to Know
Cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Zocor and Lipitor have serious side effects associated with them. This is because these drugs inhibit the enzyme responsible for making cholesterol. Your body is suddenly unable to make any cholesterol on its own! Considering how much your body depends on this substance, you can imagine the side effects of forcing your body to go against nature!
The side effects of statin drugs include:
Weakness and fatigue are the most common side effects of statin drugs. As far as statin risks go, this may not seem like much but whenever you feel tired for no reason, your body is trying to tell you something. Namely, something is wrong!
Another one of the most common statin side effects is muscle pain. Oftentimes, people who take statin medications feel like they’ve worked out for hours when they’ve hardly done anything at all. They cannot walk or use their muscles for long periods of time without rest. Yet, when they complain of the symptoms to their doctor, the physician insists that the statin drug is not to blame and to keep taking it!
This side effect is called rhabdomyolysis, where your muscles actually disintegrate and burst. This side effect is not limited to just the muscles in your arms, legs, and torso. This can affect any muscle, including your kidneys and heart! With that type of risk involved, why are so many Americans being prescribed this dangerous drug even if their cholesterol levels are only slightly above what is considered normal?
Liver toxicity is a serious concern when taking statin drugs. This is because drugs such as Crestor have been shown to rapidly increase your liver enzymes to dangerous levels, resulting in liver toxicity. Weakness and fatigue is one of the first indicators of this harmful side effect.
Statin risks go on to include sexual side effects. Since your body is no longer able to regulate healthy testosterone levels, both men and women may notice a steep decline in sexual performance and desire.
This is a big one. Cholesterol is crucial to sustaining healthy brain function. Artificially suppress natural cholesterol and you’re setting yourself up for mental confusion, memory problems, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s disease!
A sudden and sharp decline in CoQ10 levels has been known to cause depression, irritability, and aggression.
Peripheral neuropathy is another side effect associated with statin drugs. It may start out a numbing or tingling feeling in the hands and feet and spread throughout the rest of the body causing pain, lack of coordination, and even paralysis.
Remember, your body cannot make new cells without cholesterol. This means every time even minor damage occurs inside of you, your body is unable to make necessary repairs. This leads to chronic inflammation, which can greatly increase your risk for a heart attack.
According to a study published at Harvard Medical School, long-term use of cholesterol-lowering medications has been shown to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes by a whopping 50%! This is the perfect set-up for doctors because once they get you on the statin drug; it’s only a matter of time before they know you’ll need a diabetes drug! The more drugs you take, the more money they make. Scary, huh?
Statin drugs are a multi-billion dollar industry. A little over a decade ago, Americans spent $6 million dollars on statin drugs. Now, the number has doubled and it’s growing everyday. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the National Institute of Health is insisting that 20 million more Americans should be taking statin drugs!
What Health Scams Exposed finds even more suspicious is the cholesterol guidelines. According to physicians, normal cholesterol levels should be 200 milligrams per deciliter (200 mg/dl). Who established these guidelines? In 2004, it was revealed that 8 out of the 9 doctors who came up with these new cholesterol guidelines were making big bucks from drug companies manufacturing statin drugs.
The Cholesterol Number Your Doctor Should Focus On
I’m sure you’re aware that cholesterol levels are made up of HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol). Most Doctors only focus on LDL. They mistakenly believe that LDL is the only important factor in determining their patients risk for a heart attack. When in reality HDL is the most important factor in determining your risk for a heart disease. Focusing on your HDL number is the proper way to bring your cholesterol levels into balance.
But pharmaceutical companies and doctors don’t want to focus on HDL levels because there aren’t any drugs that can boost it. There isn’t anything they can prescribe you or make money off of you.
Fortunately, there are natural ways you can increase your HDL cholesterol. Perhaps the easiest and most beneficial to your overall health is to eat a diet rich in Omega-3s. Foods like wild-caught fish, grass-fed beef, free range eggs, organic poultry and avocados are all rich in “good” fats.
You can also boost HDL levels by taking vitamin B3 (niacin). Many studies have shown the heart healthy effects of niacin. In one study knows as HDL-Atherosclerosis Treatment Study, 160 participants were given niacin and simvastatin (Zocor®) or a placebo. Compared to the placebo group, the group receiving niacin and simvastatin experienced a 90% reduction in death and myocardial infarction over three years.1 By comparison, statin drugs alone typically reduce heart attack risk by 25-35%. The 90% reduction achieved in the study thus is truly remarkable.
Niacin is a vitamin found naturally in our foods. Niacin rich foods include red meat, liver, chicken, turkey, beans, tomatoes, nuts and grains.
Knowing the risks associated with statin medications is your armor against becoming a medical statistic. Once you realize how much the drug companies not only want but need your business, your view of the conventional medical community may change. Before taking statin drugs, get a second opinion about your cholesterol from an doctor who specializes in alternative medicine.
1. Brown BG, Zhao XQ, Chait A, et al. Simvastatin and niacin, antioxidant vitamins, or the combination for the prevention of coronary disease. N Engl J Med. 2001 Nov 29;345(22):1583–92.
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