Lipitor helps few!
Did anyone read Business Week's cove story on Lipitor? It seems researchers now estimate that of the millions currently taking the drug, only one in one hundred(!) are benefiting from it! How many of the 99 who aren't benefiting are having adverse effects such as muscle pain, liver abnormalities and lowered CoQ 10 levels? Excuse me if I don't find that as astounding as it sounds but I and a chorus of others in the medical field have been saying for some time now that heart disease is due not so much to an elevated cholesterol level but to excess free radicals causing oxidation of LDL cholesterol and more importantly excess chemical mediators of inflammation causing damage to the inner lining of the arteries. The keys are antioxidants, and decreasing inflammation for which omega 3 fish oils are very helpful.
Once again, pharmaceutical companies pursuit of outrageous profits for their share holders has led us down the wrong path towards better health.
- Dr. Darren Clair's blog
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natural alternatives
I have been taking lipitor for over 5 years now! I hate to hear the ongoing list of adverse effects. Doc, is there anything that I can take to help my liver in addition to a good anti oxidant supplement. I heard from someone that fiber assists with lowering cholesterol. Is that true?
I have a cholesterol of 232
I have a cholesterol of 232 and my doctor wants me to take lipitor because my
father had a heart attack at 46 and an uncle and two aunts died of heart disease.
What should I do?
Daniel Martin
First, see if you have heart disease.
If you don't have heart disease presently, there is little benefit to taking lipitor, and there is the potential of adverse side effects. I think the best test for heart disease currently is the HeartSmart IMT Plus, a noninvasive test which can tell with high sensitivity if you have heart disease even at an early stage when there quite likely would be few or no symptoms.