Crestor: The Super Strong Statin Drug

Statins are in the news again. This time it’s Crestor, the super-strong statin which is making headlines and by the looks of it is heading for world domination.

A recent two year study (funded by the manufacturers of Crestor, AstraZeneca) called Jupiter, released its results earlier this week. Jupiter only included patients with high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) a compound linked with inflammation in the body. The study involved 18,000 patients and was designed to see if Crestor reduced heart attacks and strokes in patients with high inflammation in the blood stream, but with low-to-normal cholesterol levels. The results show that heart attacks were cut by 54 per cent, strokes by 48 per cent and the need for a bypass cut by 46 per cent, compared with a placebo.

Why the big upset?

Now you may think that the study shows good results, but here are a couple of other things to consider.

• The study was funded by the manufacturers themselves who are incentivised to broadcast only the good news. If you delve a bit deeper it’s clear that their interest is market domination and boosting their earnings. The results of the recent study have already boosted the share price of AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca gained as much as 4.7 per cent in London trading after the results of the study was made public. The stock was up 3.3 per cent in Japan and climbed 10 per cent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Crestor sales are already estimated at $3.45 billion for 2008 and may almost double based on the CRP study.
• There is a major risk that statins like Crestor could become the next ‘miracle cure-all’ prescribed to almost anyone showing a slight risk of cardiovascular disease. On Monday Lori Mosca, professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, quipped at a meeting of the American Heart Association: ‘Should we put them in the drinking water… Are we going to use this like aspirin therapy? This finding is clearly expanding the universe of who should receive cholesterol pills.’

Not the first time and probably not the last 

Here at HSI we have reported many times on the dangers of using statin drugs. With news of the ‘wonder’ that is Crestor and the threat that it may be prescribed at the slightest whim, we are compelled to do so again.

Statin drugs have two primary effects on the human body.

• Inhibition of the mevalonate metabolic pathway which thereby inhibits cholesterol production.
• Nuclear factor kappa B inhibition (NF-kB inhibition), meaning it exerts a powerful anti-inflammatory action thought to be the reason for its cardiovascular benefits.

Again, this all sounds good but as always there is more to it than meets the eye:

Statin drugs girds the entire mevalonate metabolic pathway. So it not only inhibits cholesterol production but also inhibits the natural production of CoQ10, dolichol, and selenoprotein, meaning that it interferes with an essential metabolic process on a cellular level.

What gives?

‘But it lowers my cholesterol’, I hear from the back benchers. Yes, it will certainly do that, but it does not do just that in isolation:

• It also inhibits C0Q10 production which can have the following adverse effects: congestive heart failure and chronic fatigue (energy production), hepatitis, myopathy, rhabdomyolysis and neuropathy (loss of cell wall integrity).
• Dolichol inhibition includes a broad spectrum of behavioural and affective disorders.
• It suppresses selenoprotein which is strongly linked with muscle pain.
• It also disrupts normal phosphorylation pathways which can result in enhanced tau protein production and release. There is a puzzling association between statin use and the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. Tau is the protein prominently deposited in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients and also has been observed in other neurodegenerative diseases.

Side effects

That’s not all, below are a few listed side-effects you may experience when using statins as a ‘life-long’ medication:

• Neurological side effects: Amnesia, confusion, forgetfulness, and disorientation, increase of any pre-existing senility and persistent loss of short-term memory
• Muscle pain: You may feel this pain as a soreness, tiredness or weakness in your muscles. The pain can be a mild discomfort, or it can be severe enough to make your daily activities difficult. You may also develop joint pain, muscle ache and fatigue.
• Liver Damage: Statin use could cause your liver to increase its production of enzymes. If left unchecked, increased liver enzymes may lead to permanent liver damage. Liver problems may develop without symptoms which is why people who take statins should have their liver function tested about six weeks after they start taking a statin.
• Digestive Problems: Nausea, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, or constipation can occur after taking a statin.
• Rash or flushing: You can develop a rash or flushing after you start taking a statin and these may occur sporadically.

Migraines and headaches: If you are prone to either you may find that statin use will trigger your headaches and migraines more often and they can become more severe. Dizziness and flu-like symptoms are also common side-effects.

What’s wrong with this picture?

At the age of 7 a friend of mine, Albert was told that his life expectancy was about 25 years due to a heredity cardiovascular disease and extremely high cholesterol levels. His own father died at the age of 32 of the same reasons. Since then Albert has been on every imaginable cholesterol-lowering diet and hideous medicine the pharmaceutical industry produced. In spite of this his cholesterol levels never fell below 8.4.

A year ago I paid Albert a visit. He told me he was taking statins and that he was on the maximum recommended daily dose of 40mg. His doctor told him that the statins would save his life but he did not see a significant drop in his cholesterol levels despite being on statins for more than six months. He did however suffer from mouth and gum ulcers the size of one pound coins, severe migraines and loss of memory, chronic fatigue, diarrhoea, hot flushes and liver problems. He had already outlived his father and was 33 years old, but he was in agony as he saw his whole body fall apart. Sadly Albert thought it was the cholesterol that made his body so sick and he lived in absolute fear of dying young. I showed him some of our articles written on the topic and left him with his own thoughts on the matter.

Shortly after my visit he made the decision (along with a holistic health practitioner) to take a break from statins. Soon the side-effects subsided. He made the choice to maintain a healthy lifestyle and fight his high cholesterol levels naturally. He exercises rigorously and has become a lot more health conscious. The last time I spoke to him his cholesterol was 7.4, which is nothing short of a miracle considering his family’s medical profile and history. He looks as fit as a fiddle and he’s managed to repair the statin-damage. Above all he has hope for his own future and he enjoys good over-all health.

So what is wrong with this picture? Are we at risk of always looking for a simple solution (like dishing out and swallowing pills willy-nilly) for a problem that perhaps is not asking for a simple solution? Fighting high cholesterol is a life-long commitment; a commitment that will touch every aspect of your life. A statin like Crestor has been designed to be extremely strong, which means its side effects and the potential damage it causes can be more acute. So yes, it may improve one aspect of your health whilst it strips other parts of your health from its efficiency and necessary functionality… It doesn’t sound like something I would like to find in my drinking water and certainly not a preventative that should be readily available like aspirin.

As I’ve illustrated earlier in the article, behind the scenes there usually is a massive cash-cow reaping the real benefits of these ‘pharmaceutical wonders’. And in the front line people are given false hope and an array of severe side-effects (which don’t hit the headlines) – where is their real promised benefits? Shouldn’t a cure-all also carry a complete-benefit package?

Aftermath

If you choose to use statins, choose the right medication and dosage carefully with your doctor. The use of statin drugs should be part of a combination therapy. It is also extremely important to discuss further supplementation with omega 3, CoQ10, B6, B12 and folic acid, buffered with aspirin, to prevent further harm to your health through side-effects.

If you are suffering from damage due to the use of statins, research have shown that CoQ10, Acetyl-L-carnitine and selenium should be considered to alleviate some of the side-effects such as persistent muscle pain, weakness and fatigue.

Heart Disease – Related Reading:

Vitamin D Deficiency Related To Statin Use Could Cause Muscle Pain

Men Are At Greater Risk Of Heart Disease And Cancer

HOT TOPICS:

Bisphenol A: How to Limit Your Exposure to Dangerous Toxins

Male Menopause: Can Men Go Through ‘The Change’ Too?

Avandia: Just How Low Can Greedy Drug Giants Stoop?

Sources:

‘AstraZeneca heart beats faster on Crestor hope’ by Roland Gribben, published online 10/11/08, telegraph.co.uk

‘Management of statin drugs side effects’ published online, spacedoc.net

‘Crestor Side Effects’ published online, spacedoc.net

‘Crestor’ published online 21/10/08, netdoctor.co.uk

‘Cholesterol Pills in the Water? Crestor Market Widens’ by Michelle Fay Cortez and Tom Randall, published online 10/11/08, bloomberg.com

‘Statin side effects: Weigh the benefits and risks’ published online 30/10/08, mayoclinic.com

‘Crestor side effects make more headlines’, by Dr. Jay S. Cohen, published online, medicationsense.com

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Disclaimer: Bear in mind the material contained in this article is provided for information purposes only. We are not addressing anyone’s personal situation. Please consult with your own physician before acting on any recommendations contained herein.

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