Posts Tagged ‘ statins ’

Cholesterol Drug and Cardiomyopathy – Why didn’t Anyone Tell me?

August 1st, 2011. By Hunter West

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Do you mind me venting?

I have just been put on a statin because my cholesterol is too high. Apparently my doctor says, at 54, I am at a high risk for heart attack and stroke.

Nice. This, in spite of the fact I have no history of heart disease in my family, I have never smoked, I have exercised semi-regularly and have always watched my weight.

Okay, maybe I haven’t been watching what I eat. I like my steaks and prime rib like everybody else. Butter on popcorn, if you please. And perhaps, on occasion, a beer or two, too many.

And okay, while never an exercise demon I was always a fairly active guy. Rode my bike to work. In the late 90′s I took up walking for health, and to lose a few pounds. Then in 2002 I took up running. I ran a half-marathon in under two hours. And I trained for a full marathon (although I never completed the actual race). I got myself down to my high school weight of 129.

But for the past five years I haven’t done a lot, due to work commitments. Is that the reason for my current troubles? Can five years of inactivity cancel out 40 years of fairly active living?

I guess…

So now I’m on low-dose Aspirin once a day, to thin the blood out. And now, as of last night, I’m on a statin to reduce my bad cholesterol.

Overall, statins are considered good things. And not all statins are created equal. Thankfully, I’m not on Zocor, or Vytorin. I’m on another one. But at 10mg, I’m on the highest dose Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cardiomyopathy, Cholesterol, Crestor, Rhabdomyolysis, Statin drugs, statins
Posted in Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues | 83254 Comments »2011-08-01+13%3A01%3A07Hunter+West

Merck in the Middle of Statin Drug Soap Opera

November 9th, 2009. By AbiK

dramamug Merck in the Middle of Statin Drug Soap Opera The latest flurry of statin drug-related news could substitute for your afternoon t.v. soap fix—except there’s a very real-life drama being played out. It’s full of intrigue and false promises. Who knew that the anti-cholesterol drug market could offer so much, and yet so little at the same time?

Here’s the topline history to get you up to speed—just in case you’ve missed the last couple of months’ news on drugs like Vytorin, Zetia and Lipitor…

Zetia + Simvastatin (aka Zocor) = Vytorin

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Vytorin + Zetia = Class Action Settlement

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Zetia + Atorvastatin (aka Lipitor) = Refused by FDA = Bad News for Merck

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Vytorin + Arbiter 6 Study (due 11/16) = Expected Bad News for Merck

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Niaspan + Arbiter 6 Study = Expected Good News for Abbott Labs

So what’s the deal with this Arbiter 6 thing? It’s the clinical study that was conducted—and whose results are hotly anticipated at the American Heart Association (AHA) annual scientific meeting in Orlando on November 16th—to review the efficacy of cholesterol drugs Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arbiter 6, Merck, statins, Vytorin, Zetia
Posted in Drugs/Medical | 1784No Comments »2009-11-09+15%3A00%3A35AbiK