Actispan Blog
Top 5 known unknowns about statins cholesterol drugs and muscle pain
Friday, January 11, 2013
Statin drugs do a good job lowering cholesterol, but they can also cause muscle pain and weakness, and less obvious side-effects such as digestive trouble, liver damage, and memory loss. You probably know someone who now takes or has taken a "statin" drug to lower cholesterol, since one in four Americans over age 45 has been prescribed a statin (under the brand names Lipitor, Crestor, Mevacor, etc). That's more than 30 million of our families, friends, and neighbors! Statins are very frequently prescribed, even over-the-counter in some countries, but what is really known about statin drugs, and perhaps as important, what is unknown? Here we explore the Top 5 "known unknowns" about statins cholesterol drugs and muscle pain, the most common of the statin side-effects. Read more
Statins for prevention, but how to reverse cholesterol artery damage?
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Statins cholesterol drugs are well known to lower "bad" LDL cholesterol levels in the blood and thereby keep our arteries healthy by slowing the formation and build-up of cholesterol "plaque". Though some may question the benefits of statin drugs vs. the side-effects of statin drugs (for example, muscle pain and weakness), there is no doubt that statins offer an important therapy for prevention of artery damage that may lead to heart attacks. Read more
Statin cholesterol drugs - don’t get mad, get even!
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Joel is 48 years old. At 41 he married his wife Debbie, and now has two children in school. Joel has always considered himself to be in reasonably good shape, even though he had gained "a few pounds" during his 20's and 30's. A couple of years ago, Joel decided to see the doctor for a physical examination, just a check-up really, something he hadn't remembered doing since his own school days. Joel expected the doctor to tell him to lose weight, improve his diet, and get more exercise, but otherwise give him a clean bill of health. Joel always was an optimist. Read more
Surprising benefits of cholesterol lowering statin drugs
Friday, February 10, 2012
We all know how bad high cholesterol is for us, right? We know this because universities and drug companies throughout the world have carried out clinical trials over the years which have demonstrated decreased incidence of stroke and heart attack in people who have maintained their cholesterol under control. Several of these trials have compared people who are taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs with people not taking statin drugs. In some cases, the results have been better than anticipated. A long term study of one of those trials produced some very surprising results, and was recently published in the European Heart Journal by Peter Sever and colleagues. Read more
Do statins protect against prostate cancer?
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Several lines of evidence in recent years have pointed toward the possibility that statin cholesterol drugs may reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Indeed, two new studies by researchers at the US National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic, respectively, in the Cancer Causes and Control journal and the Journal of Urology. The studies showed that high cholesterol is associated with not only increased incidence of prostate cancer, but also the increased incidence of the aggressive form of the disease. Furthermore, men taking statin drugs were less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, less likely to to have the aggressive form, and less likely to have prostate enlargement. Read more
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Wes, 59, Florida
