15 reasons why you should think twice about Crestor

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15 reasons why you should think twice about Crestor

The world's media is today buzzing with the news that a statin drug, Crestor

(rosuvastatin), can 'turn back the clock' and make furring and narrowing

arteries healthier. It's reckoned the discovery could prevent thousands of

heart attacks and strokes every year.

The statin drug family was developed to help lower cholesterol levels, but

researchers have discovered that it can also reduce the effects of

atherosclerosis, where fatty deposits build up in the arteries, by up to 9

per cent. It can make a narrowing artery three or four years 'younger', and

some estimate on that basis that the drug could reduce the age of the artery

by up to 15 years if taken for 10 years.

The good effects were seen only at the maximum licensed dose of 40 mg, and

lead researcher Dr Neal Uren, a cardiologist at Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary,

admitted that doctors would need some convincing to prescribe such an

aggressive dose for long periods.

So should you, and here are 15 reasons why.

Crestor has been associated with myopathy and rhabdomyolysis, a

muscle-wasting disease that can lead to kidney failure. This was especially

apparent at doses of 40 mg.

In the USA, the 40 mg dose has a restricted use, and is available only to

people below the age of 65, and who have no health problems.

Another statin, Baycol, was taken off the market in 2001 following reports

of 31 deaths from rhabdomyolysis.

Crestor's manufacturer delayed the launch of the drug after early clinical

trials reported kidney damage and muscle weakness, the early stages of

rhabdomyolysis.

Even before it was granted a licence in the USA, lobby groups were fighting

to keep Crestor off the market. They pointed to evidence that suggested

that it was especially toxic to the kidneys. Aside from rhabdomyolysis, a

number of patients given the 40 mg dose suffered from persistent protein in

their urine (proteinuria) and blood in the urine (hematuria).

A special committee of America's drug regulator, the FDA, urged that every

patient on a 40 mg dose of Crestor have regular monitoring of their kidneys.

This recommendation was never taken up.

The FDA is very aware of the dangers of Crestor at the 40 mg dose. In an

attempt at 'risk management', as it calls it, 40 milligram Crestor tablets

cannot be stocked at retail pharmacies. Instead the pharmacist must order

them especially from a wholesaler, which takes an extra day before they are

in the hands of the patient. It’s hoped that this extra day may encourage

the pharmacist and patient to opt for a lesser dose.

Crestor can create a potent, and potentially deadly, chemical cocktail if

it's taken with other prescription drugs. People already taking gemfibrozil

or niacin, cholesterol-lowering drugs, or warfarin, the blood thinning

agent, or cyclosporine, should not also take Crestor.

General symptoms of adverse reactions while on Crestor include muscle pain,

weakness, tenderness, fever, dark urine, nausea and vomiting.

The FDA is not the only drug regulator that's worried about Crestor. The

Canadian authority has advised patients to take only the lowest dose of the

drug.

In 2004, the FDA ordered Crestor's manufacturer to tell patients in Europe

about the dangers of myopathy, serious muscle toxicity, especially at the

high dose of 40 mg. This effect became very apparent only after the drug

was granted a licence in the USA in 2003, even though it was part of the

initial warning when the drug was released in the States.

Crestor is a statin, a group of drugs that may harm as many people as it

helps, according to scientists at the University of British Columbia. They

analysed the findings of five major trials, and discovered that statins

reduced the risk of heart attack and stroke by 1.4 per cent – but increased

the risk of serious side effects by 1.8 per cent.

All drugs have to measure up to the risk-to-reward ratio. As every drug

comes with a potential side effect, doctors have to be sure it will probably

do more good than harm. But when scientists at the University of Sheffield

investigated the statins, they found that they were associated with a 1 per

cent increase in mortality every 10 years of use.

Some researchers go further, and reckon that statins actually cause heart

disease. Leading this controversial research is cardiologist Dr

Langsjoen, who has coined the term 'statin cardiomyopathy' to explain the

very high number of cases of heart failure he's witnessed in his 17 years of

practice among patients who were taking statins.

His heretical thinking is supported by science. Researchers at the

University of Texas gave us our first clues in 1985 when they found that

those suffering from heart failure had a deficiency of the enzyme ubiquinone

in their heart tissue. The less ubiquinone, the worse the heart failure.

Thought-provoking ideas and connections such as this fill the pages of the

information pack we’ve prepared as an anti-Crestor special. You'll find out

about the drugs, the therapies, the exercises, the alternatives, the diets

and the supplements that you can start introducing to help you lead a long

and healthy life. Take advantage of this special heart health pack today by

clicking on this link.

The whole ethos of What Doctors Don't Tell You is that there are many simple

and inexpensive ways of treating – even reversing – chronic conditions

without having to use powerful drugs. Why take the risk when there's so

much more you can do, and which can be just as effective, if not more so?

You can only find out by trying, and you can start today by clicking here.