Statins are increasingly being prescribed to bring down high cholesterol levels, which are thought by many in the medical community to be dangerous. I disagree.
Your brain and neurological system need cholesterol to function. As Dr. Sherry Rogers says in her September 2007 edition of her “Total Wellness Newsletter” (I highly recommend you subscribe to it to keep yourself updated about how doctors aren’t paying attention to health problems created by toxicity, nutritional deficiencies and side effects of prescription medication): “Robbing the body of cholesterol synthesis deprives the brain of dolichols, messengers or neurotransmitters, damages our NF-kB production that then ushers in:
- cancers, not to mention unusual
- ligament and tendon rupture,
- heart failure,
- fatal muscle/joint weakness,
- pain, and finally
- death from rhabdomyolysis.”
She then goes on to say that they can cause sudden amnesia. That’s a scary thing to think about: what if you’re on statins and you’re driving a car and all of a sudden you get amnesia?
Recent research has shown that statins also increase your risk of diabetes.
Remember, cholesterol is NOT the enemy – inflammation is! Cholesterol is simply the band-aid that is trying to protect your body from chronic inflammation.
In addition, remember that if you’re lowering cholesterol, you’re also lowering levels of hormones that are made from them, like progesterone and testosterone, which is why a low sex drive is also a side effect of taking statins.
Dr. Rogers points out in her February 2011 edition of “Total Wellness Newsletter” that “plasticizers and phthalates… are the number one culprit for a rising cholesterol or other lipid abnormalities. Plus they trigger the inflammation called arteriosclerosis.”
Most doctors simply don’t take into account the effect of toxicity on our health, but the research is there if they look for it.
Here are some great resources for educating you and your doctor further about statin dangers and the demonization of cholesterol. This is just a small sample of the over 900 studies that have shown the dangers of statins:
- Lipitor, Thief of Memory, by Duane Graveline, M.D.
- Statin Drugs, Side Effects, and the Misguided War on Cholesterol, by Duane Graveline, M.D.
- The Cholesterol Hoax, by Dr. Sherry Rogers
- Carcinogenicity of Lipid-Lowering Drugs, Newman TB, et al, Journal of the American Medical Association 275; 1:55560, 1996
- Statins and Risk of Incident Diabetes: A Collaborative Meta-Analysis of Randomized Statin Trials, Lancet 375; 9716:735-42, February 27, 2010
- Do Statins Cause Diabetes? Goldstein MR, et al, Curr Diab Rep. 2013 Mar 2
- The Estrogenic Effect of Bisphenol A Disrupts Pancreatic B-Cell Function in Vivo and Induces Insulin Resistance, Envrionmental Health Perspectives, 114:106-12, 2006
- Transient Global Amnesia Associated with Statin Intake, Healy D, et al, BMJ Case Rep. 2009;2009. pii: bcr06.2008.0033. doi: 10.1136/bcr.06.2008.0033. Epub 2009 Feb 26.
- FDA Expands Advice on Statin Risk
- FDA Warns on Statin Drugs: Labels on Popular Cholesterol Medicines Must Cite Risks of Diabetes, Memory Loss, Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2012
Most obstetricians do not warn their pregnant patients about toxins like pesticides in food, like phthalates or endocrine disruptors in consumer products, or like heavy metals in the environment that could harm their unborn child.
They’re oh so cute, but oh so toxic. 75% of children’s Disney, Spider-Man and Dora the Explorer back-to-school products had high levels of phthalates. Phthalates give plastics that “rubber ducky” feel.
