Natural Alternatives to Lipitor, Zocor & Other Statin Drugs What to Use and Do to Help Lower Your Bad Cholesterol Jay S. Cohen, MD

ISBN: 0-7570-0286-2 Length: 160 Pages Size: 4X 7-inch Format: Quality Paperback Category: Health Price: $7.95 US / $10.95 CAN Availability: In print Click below for: Synopsis • Contents Introduction • Reviews

Synopsis

Elevated cholesterol and C-reactive proteins are markers linked to heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular disorders. It is estimated that over 100 million Americans--more than a third of our population--suffer from these conditions. To combat these problems, modern science has created a group of drugs known either as statins or as specific commercial drugs, such as Lipitor, Zocor, and Pravachol. While over 20 million people take these medications, the fact is that up to 42 percent experience side effects, and a whopping 60 to 70 percent eventually quit treatment. Fortunately, other options are available. Here, for the first time, is a concise guide that explains the problems caused by statins, and offers easy-to-follow strategies that will allow you to benefit from effective natural alternatives.

Written by a highly qualified researcher and physician, Natural Alternatives to Lipitor, Zocor & Other Statin Drugs begins by explaining elevated cholesterol and C-reactive proteins. It then examines how statins work to alleviate these problems, and discusses possible side effects. Finally, the author highlights the most important natural alternatives, providing information on the science behind their claims, their proven effectiveness, and their suggested dosage.

If you have elevated cholesterol and C-reactive proteins, or if you are currently using a statin, Natural Alternatives to Lipitor, Zocor & Other Statin Drugs can make a profound difference in the quality of your life.

Jay S. Cohen, MD, an Associate Professor (voluntary) of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, is a nationally recognized expert on medications, side effects, and the safe use of drugs. He has published his research in medical journal articles and books, and has been a keynote speaker at major medical conferences and at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Contents

Introduction

1. Avoiding Statin Overtreatment or Untreatment with the Precision-Prescribing, Safety-First Method
2. How Much Cholesterol-Lowering Do You Really Need?
3. The Right Statin At the Right Dose:
4. Low-Dose Statins: The Evidence
5. Why Do People Respond So Differently to Statin Drugs?
6. Women, Seniors, and Statin Drugs
7. Side Effects and Other Common Problems With Statins and Strategies for Dealing With Them Effectively
8. Effective Alternative Therapies for Reducing Cholesterol
and Other Risk Factors
9. Essential Nutrients for Preserving Cardiovascular Health
10. Which Heart-Healthy Diet Is Right for You?
11. How to Cut Statin Costs By 50% or More
12. A Comprehensive Approach to Heart Health

References
Index

Introduction

How many these questions about statin drugs, the top-selling drugs for lowering elevated levels of cholesterol and C-reactive protein, can you answer?
• How can I determine whether I need a statin?
• Which statin is best for me?
• What is the right dose for me?
• What are the side effects and how can I avoid them?
• Are there long-term risks with statins?
• If side effects occur, what can I do?
• Are there alternative methods I can use instead of statins?
• Are there other things I can do to preserve cardiovascular health?
• What is the best heart-healthy diet for me: low-carb or low-fat?
• How important is exercise, and how much is necessary?
• How can I save 50% or more off the high cost of statin drugs?

These are important questions for the 100million Americans with elevated cholesterol. These questions are even more important for the 20 million Americans who take statin medications -[m-dash] Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Mevacor, Lescol, or Crestor-[m-dash] and for the 25 million more who are slated to be taking statins soon.

Taking statins is simple, right? Elevated cholesterol = statins. Yet, statins are potent drugs that can cause serious side effects. Are doctors prescribing statins with the care needed to use them effectively and safely? Are doctors carefully selecting the right statin at the right dose for people as individuals? Are doctors thinking about how to reduce people's risks of side effects and long-term toxicities? Are doctors offering you and others ways for keeping statin costs as low as possible? Are they informing you about other, safer, proven-effective, less expensive alternatives? For most statin users today, the answer is no, no, no, no, and no.

Statins help millions of people, but like all drugs, they can also cause harm. Medicine's most respected pharmacology reference, Goodman and Gilman's Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, states: “Any drug, no matter how trivial its therapeutic actions, has the potential to do harm.” Statins' effects are not trivial.

Statins are very powerful chemicals that exert effects in every cell of your body. Many of these effects are good, but some can be bad. How can you maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks? Just like when buying a car or choosing a college for your child, the more information you have, the better your chances are of doing it right. What information do you need to take statins safely and effectively? That is what this book provides.

Most doctors will simply tell you that statins are safe and hand you a prescription. Yet, statins have many common side effects that cause physical discomfort or mental impairment in millions of people. Sixty to seventy-five percent of people started on statins stop taking them. The average patient lasts only 8 months on statins.Why? Side effects, inadequate effects,andcost. These are the issues that come up again and again when I give seminars, speak with people, or read their letters. These are the problems that mainstream medicine hasnot learned to overcome.

But they can be overcome--indeed, they can be prevented--which is why I have written What You Need To Know About Statin Drugs And Their Natural Alternatives. I am pro-medication and pro-statins, but my first responsibility, like all doctors, is to “Do No Harm.” Sometimes doctors cannot avoid doing harm, but this is not the case with statin drugs. Statin risks can be dramatically reduced with a treatment model that emphasizes precision and safety, as this book will describe.

Statins can be very effective drugs--if given for the right reasons to the right persons at the right doses with the right treatment goals. Unfortunately, millions of people are prescribed statin doses that are too strong for their treatment goals, provoking side effects. Fifteen to forty-two percent of people given statins get side effects. That's 7 to 15 million people. These side effects may be considered minor by doctors, but abdominal discomfort, muscle or joint pain, or memory impairment aren't minor to you. And some statin side effects are not are not considered minor by doctors: severe muscle pain or weakness, nerve injuries (some permanent), acute muscle breakdown, kidney and liver irritation or toxicity, and rarely, death.

Moreover, when 60% to 75% of people needing statins quit treatment, no one benefits. The long-term consequences of premature heart attacks and strokes harm not only patients and their families, but remain a costly, unsolved problem for hospitals, healthcare systems, insurers, and even the pharmaceutical industry and U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The good news is that most of these problems are preventable, but only if you and your doctor know how. This is explained in Chapter 1, Avoiding Statin Overtreatment and Undertreatment with the Precision-Prescribing, Safety-First Method. The precision-prescribing, safety-first method will allow you to maximize the benefits of statins while minimizing the risks.

The most important question, of course, is whether you need statin therapy at all and, if so, how much? Chapter 2, How Much Cholesterol-Lowering Do You Really Need?, answers these questions. Chapter 2 briefly explains the role of cholesterol, low density and high density-cholesterol (LDL-C, HDL-C), and C-reactive protein (CRP) on artery-clogging atherosclerosis and cardiac disease. Because of confusion about treatment goals, many doctors prescribe statin doses that are overly aggressive for most people's requirements. This excessive treatment brings little extra benefit in exchange for significantly increased risks. It's not a good deal. That is why it is important for you and your doctor to know how much cholesterol-lowering is really beneficial, so treatment can be tailored to your needs and goals. [Besides, most of the benefits of statins are obtained with the first 15% reduction in LDL-C, so you shouldn't be pushed to stronger statin doses if your body can't handle them. Chapter 2 also tells you about five other risk factors that are often overlooked. These risk factors explain why half of the people who get heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels, so you want to know about them.]delete text in brackets-- this is supposed to brief overview--you are giving too much away here

Chapter 3, Using the Precision-Prescribing, Safety-First Method with Statins, explains why the standard initial doses of statins are unnecessarily strong for millions of people. Because of the omission of important information from package inserts and the Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR), many doctors, not intentionally, overshoot the mark when prescribing statins, giving patients very potent doses when mild ones would do. [Chapter 3 shows why the standard doses, derived from statistical averages from carefully selected subjects in drug company studies, often do not match the needs and tolerances of everyday office patients. The chapter describes who is most likely to benefit from the precision-prescribing method and what your goals should be when first starting treatment. Chapter 3 also provides a unique table with comparative information all statins at all of their standard doses--as well as at lower, safer, proven-effective doses that few doctors and patients have ever seen.]delete text in brackets, save it for the chapter

Chapter 4, Lower, Safer Statin Doses: The Precision-Prescribing, Safety-First Method,provides several strategies for choosing the right statin at the right dose for you. Chapter 4 presents the scientific evidence on the lower, safer, proven effective doses of each statin. [It's not enough for me to say that lower statin doses work. Medical treatment should be based on scientific proof whenever possible. The evidence for half and quarter doses of Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, and Crestor statins is powerful and convincing, yet there is scant information about these lower, safer doses in package inserts or the PDR. This information is key not only for people needing lower statin doses, but also for people needing higher doses. Just because some people require aggressive statin therapy doesn't mean that treatment must start aggressively. Reducing cholesterol is rarely an emergency. There is ample time to find the dose you need in a stepwise manner that avoids overmedication and side effects. This is important because most statin side effects are dose-related: the higher the dose, the greater the risk. The precision-prescribing, safety-first method ensures that you get the statin dose you need and nothing more.]delete text in brackets, again save it for the chapter

Chapter 5, Why Do People Respond so Differently to Statin Drugs?, explains why different people respond so differently to statin drugs. It explains why some people need strong statin doses while others need just a little,and how to identify each without causing harm. Chapters 6, Women, Senior, and Statin Drugs, focuses on women and seniors, two groups that require extra attention and information in order to use statins effectively and safely. Few patients or their doctors know about the issues discussed in these chapters, but they are essential for optimal care with minimal risk.

Chapter 7,Side Effects and Other Common Problems with Statins, and Strategies for Dealing with Them Effectively, answers the many questions that people sustaining statin side effects have asked me. Unfortunately, the medical system isn't very good about identifying or handling side effects, so I have divided Chapter 7 into seven sections that identify specific problems and offer practical solutions. [In addition, this chapter describes how you and your doctor can forge a cooperative relationship that will serve you well not only with statins, but with all future medication decisions.]delete text in brackets

Many people do not like taking prescription drugs. If you're one of them, Chapter 8, Effective Alternative Therapies for Reducing Cholesterol and Other Risk Factors, is for you. There are several proven-effective alternative therapies worthy of consideration. [These alternatives have legitimate uses, and they cost much less than brand-name statins. You can buy them at health food stores, but]delete text in brackets Because making the right decisions about reducing cholesterol and other risk factors will have a major impact on your long-term health, I always recommend that you and your doctor make decisions about these alternative methods together.

Whether you take a statin or an alternative therapy or do nothing at all, there are 4 nutrients that everyone should consider for preventing cardiovascular disease. Chapter 9, Essential Nutrients for Preserving Cardiovascular Health, describes them and their importance: omega-3 fatty acids (fish oils), coenzyme Q10, folic acid, and magnesium. Most people are sorely deficient in these nutrients, whose vital roles in maintaining a healthy heart and vascular system are backed by extensive scientific study.

Nutrition, of course, is also a big part of the equation for heart health. Yet, there is so much confusion today. Low-carb or low-fat? Atkins or Ornish? Chapter 10, Which Heart-Healthy Diet Is Right for You?,provides original, clear guidelines to help you determine the best diet for you. This chapter also discusses exercise: the part it plays and the surprisingly little amount that's required to maintain heart health.

Obviously, you cannot take statins if you cannot afford them. Their high costs is another reason that people avoid taking statins, quit taking them, or take them less often than necessary. Chapter 11,How to Cut Statin Costs 50% or More,explains why statin costs are so high and provides several strategies for substantially reducing the cost of treatment. This chapter also gives you a comparative analysis of statins versus natural alternatives, a cost analysis most doctors or healthcare systems have never seen or considered. If cost is an issue for you, you need to know about all of these options.

What You Need To Know About Statin Drugs And Their Natural Alternatives concludes with Chapter 12, A Comprehensive Approach to Heart Health, with an overall strategy for setting your priorities and reaching your goals. Heart disease and strokes can be prevented. Vascular health can be preserved. By defining which steps you need--statin drugs or natural alternatives, essential nutrients, diet and exercise--and how to easily employ them together, you and your doctor can decide how to improve the quality and extend the duration of your life.

I have written What You Need To Know About Statin Drugs And Their Natural Alternatives to provide original, practical information that you will not find in statin package inserts, the PDR, or in medical textbooks or consumer references on statins or medications. Most books on cholesterol discuss statins with the usual pharmaceutical industry slant, which is the information that results in millions of side effects and millions of people quitting treatment. Such methods are wasteful and harmful. This book is much different: It is a primer on how you can decide whether you need treatment and, if so, exactly how much you need and how to accomplish it safely.

The best treatment--statin or alternative supplement--is the least powerful treatment that works. This book helps you define exactly what that is for you. In addition, unlike other books, this book provides information about essential nutrients that are vital, yet usually overlooked, for preserving cardiovascular health. Most doctors think they know everything they need to use statins properly, but they donot. I learned similar lessons the hard way when I treated patients. There is a tremendous amount of important information that doctors do not get through their usual sources, most of which comes from the pharmaceutical industry, and that you do not get through the media and typical bookstore references.

Most doctors and consumers do not know, for example, that medication side effects are the #4 leading cause of death in America year after year, decade after decade,or that medication reactions cause more than 106,000 deaths, 1,000,000 hospitalizations, and 2.2 million severe, often permanent disabilities each year. Worse, these numbers may be underestimates because they represent only hospital patients, not the 100 million outpatients taking prescription drugs. Most doctors and consumers do not know that many of these problems are preventable. These problems can be prevented, but only if you and your doctor have the information needed for matching your treatment to your actual needs and tolerances. This is the basic principle of the precision-prescribing, safety-first method.

You have a right to information that makes it possible to obtain optimal care with minimum risk. This right is known as informed consent. This right applies to medication treatment just as does to surgery. But to fully exercise your right of informed consent, you must receive enough information to make an intelligent choice. Most people do not receive enough information about statins to exercise their right of informed consent. Indeed, most people don't know they have choices-[m-dash] many choices-[m-dash] about different doses and alternatives when considering statin drugs. Many of their doctors don't know this either. Unless you receive information about how to maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks and costs of statins, you have not received informed consent. You arenot alone. Studies show that only a small percentage of patients receive sufficient information to make an informed consent in doctors' offices.

Statins can do a lot of good or cause serious harm. The difference depends on the decisions that are made based on the information available. The information available to most patients and their doctors today is inadequate to make informed choices for using statins safely and effectively. What You Need To Know About Statin Drugs And Their Natural Alternatives provides the information you need to do just that.

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