On NPR’s The People’s Pharmacy I Finally Heard A Cardiologist Talking Sense About The Risks Of Statins: I Got Better Results With Exercise

Hi folks,

Dr. Eric Topol talking sense about statins on The People’s Pharmacy on National Public Radio. Finally someone - thanks!

About 40 years ago, whilst working in my laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, we discovered that I have a fairly extreme form of hyperlipidemia (high blood fat or triglyceride) with a resting level (no treatment) over 2000 mg/dL (extremely high), hypercholesterolemia (high blood cholesterol) of over 230 mg/dL (high) and low HDL (high density lipoprotein, so-called ‘good’ cholesterol, but really an indication of reverse cholesterol transport) of less than 20 mg/dL. These numbers indicate that I should probably be dead by now, and every cardiologist, fat or thin, that I have seen since then wants to put me on statins. These guys drive me crazy. When I mention that I tried statins, but I have controlled the problem more effectively with intense exercise, it is as though I didn’t say a word. They don’t listen! Then I heard a cardiologist, Eric Topol, talking sense about statins and their risks on National Public Radio today, in The People’s Pharmacy. Finally!!!!

The reason that I am ranting about this is that I tried statins and the improvement in my lipid profile was transient, whilst Ironman training has brought it more permanently into a much safer range without the pharmacological risks. More importantly, I have seen the lesions induced in muscle by statins, first hand.

Excessive exercise in an under conditioned horse (or human) can induce life-threatening muscle damage.

I’m a Toxicologic Pathologist by training. I took one look at a muscle of a rat treated with a statin and I thought, Monday Morning Disease (rhabdomyolysis) in horses or New Recruits Disease, in the early phases of military exercise training, both of which are induced by excessive exercise in under-conditioned mammals. I never took the stuff again. Why would I want a real risk of muscle damage in exchange for a statistically predicted reduction of a statistical risk of heart problems? I’m not a statistic, I’m an individual. When you take a statin you are messing with the entire energy (bioenergetic) machine, so it is no surprise to me that statins also come with a risk of diabetes.

FitOldDog avoids taking pills whenever he can by changing his lifestyle. But do I take some pills when advised by my doctor? Sure, if it makes sense after I’ve researched the issue and decided that I trust him/her.

Eating beetroots may make your urine red, but the color is not quite the same as that induced by rhabdomyolysis. The connoisseur can tell the difference.

For instance, I take aspirin and an ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitor to reduce the risk of clots forming in my remarkable and wonderful Cook Zenith abdominal aortic aneurysm stent graft, and to reduce the hypertension (high blood pressure) that the stent induced, respectively. I tried other approaches to the hypertension, but it was not enough, so medication was my only alternative. If I could get off of the stuff by stuffing myself with beetroots, would I do it? Sure, but I tried and it didn’t work, plus I got fed up of worrying about my red urine (one of the symptoms of rhabdomyolysis and eating beetroots).

I think before I take a pill, and if my doctor won’t listen to me after I’ve researched the issue of concern, I move on until I find one that will. We each have to decide for ourselves how to handle such issues, so I won’t tell you what to do, that’s for sure.

-k @FitOldDog

 Important Note: These posts do not provide medical advice. You should always consult your physician before undertaking or significantly modifying an exercise program.

Copyright © 2010 Kevin T. Morgan aka FitOldDog, Old Dogs in Training, LLC.