I guess this is the 64 thousand dollar question - Is it Lipitor or is it Diabetes?
Neuropathy is well known to be associated with statin drug use. David Gaist was one of the first physician researchers to report this to the medical community in the journal, Neurology, in the year, 2002.
In his original paper he expressed concern for the increased susceptibility to neuropathy among diabetics placed on statin drugs.
He estimated that diabetics had as much as a sixteen fold increase in risk of neuropathy when statin drugs are used but stressed that non-diabetics also are susceptible.
The symptoms of numbness, tingling, burning and pain are now known to thousands of statin users. Any peripheral nerve can be involved.
The mechanism of action appears to relate to the ubiquinone depletion resulting from statin drugs in what might be called collateral damage from the effect of statins on the mevalonate pathway.
One of the important functions of ubiquinone, in the form of ubiquinol, is the maintenance of cell wall integrity. Every cell in our body depends on ubiquinol for cell wall turgidity and stability.
When inadequate for whatever reason, cell wall integrity is compromised and breakdown of the cell results. Neuropathy, myopathy and even liver cell inflammation all appear to be based upon ubiquinone depletion. Ubiquinone is perhaps better known as Coenzyme Q10 or just CoQ10**.
Certainly no mainstream medical practitioner would dare suggest the use of high dose natural vitamin E to treat and prevent neuropathy. Those who follow biochemistry and orthomolecular approaches to remedy health problems just might.
Afterall, these colleagues of mine, not unlike me, actually read the research.
Now consider that statin drugs are implicated in TGA (transient global amnesia). You ask is it the drug or Alzheimer's? And just how many airline pilots are taking these drugs? (a great attorney class action idea, eh?)
Thanks to SpaceDoc Duane Graveline for his energy in documenting so many problems with these drugs. He is one of the few that also recognizes Red Rice Yeast as having similar health risks as the Rx.
** It is recommended that any one taking any statin or cholesterol lowering drug also take CO Q 10, at least 100 mg daily, or more.
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Perhaps you have seen the Direct-to-Consumer TV and print advertisements with Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the Jarvik Heart, speaking on behalf of the Pfizer’s anti-cholesterol drug, Lipitor.
Perhaps Jarvik is not the best choice for the Lipitor campaign which has had mixed reviews. Instead of Jarvik, a more convincing yet unlikely spokesman would be the popular Duane Graveline MD MPH, a former NASA astronaut, and author who was started on Lipitor during an annual astronaut physical at the Johnson Space Center, and 6 weeks later had an episode of transient global amnesia, a sudden form of total memory loss described in his book, Lipitor Thief of Memory.
Two more unlikely spokesmen for the Lipitor ad campaign include Mary Enig and Uffe Ravnskov.
Should either one be selected as Lipitor spokesman, I myself would run down to the corner drug store to buy up the drug. It seems unlikey that even Pfizer’s deep pockets could ever induce them to recant their opposing position on the cholesterol theory of heart disease.
Mary G. Enig writes, ”hypercholesterolemia is the health issue of the 21st century. It is actually an invented disease, a problem that emerged when health professionals learned how to measure cholesterol levels in the blood.
Uffe Ravnskov MD PhD is spokesman for Thincs, The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics, and author of “The Cholesterol Myths, Exposing the Fallacy That Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease”. His controversial ideas have angered loyal cholesterol theory supporters in Finland who demonstrated by burning his book on live television.
For more discussion on this, see my newsletter: Lipitor and The Dracula of Modern Technology
Jeffrey Dach MD
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