member's forum/simvastatin

Posted November 17, 2003 · November 17, 2003

Dear Chris

Count me in for the member's forum, please. Many thanks.

secondly, did anyone else read in the papers today (Times) that simvastatin

will shortly be available OTC? " Doctors say thousands could avoid heart

failure by taking this drug " . Am I wrong, or is this the same simvastatin of

which the BNF cautions 'liver function should be tested before prescribing

and 2-3 months later, and 6 monthly thereafter for the first 12 months'? Or

have they suddenly decided that it's innocuous after all and safe for people

to self-medicate with? In which case, why do they apply seemingly more

stringent rules to herbs? The list of interactions (with drugs, let alone

herbs) is enough to give anyone heart failure. How about we send a strong

response to the MHRA (if that's what it's called now) and ask them

respectfully to keep their grubby little hands off our herbs, if they're so

happy to allow folk to give themselves toxic stuff like this? Could this be

a NIMH response, Trudy?

Sorry, but this has really got me annoyed!!! May have something to do with

the fact that, having got my mother's cholesterol down from 7+ to 5.1 using

a good diet and herbs, her GP said he wanted her to go on simvastatin so

that 'you won't have to bother with faddy diets at your age'. She

respectfully told him what he could do with his drugs, I'm happy to say!

Yours steamingly

Alison Morton

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Posted November 18, 2003 · November 18, 2003

Alison

It was not that long ago that there was 'world-wide concern' over the red

rice extract thing. That's the natural stuff that contains a statin.

Here we are worried about Cimicifuga, rules for one another set for others.

Ban kava on the finesst thread of evidence that it somehow affects the liver

and next week allow a drug that comes with a warning that your liver may get

damaged by the drug. You are not even supposed to drink when you take them.

Stuart Fitz

Posted November 18, 2003 · November 18, 2003

I'm sorry to keep saying this but it is all to do with the pressure exerted

by interest groups, The big pharmas are the MOST profitable of the global

companies and they exert enormous pressure constantly. They can afford to

keep paying masses of money to push their stuff, they will try and say herbs

are dangerous. This is because they can't make money out of unpatentable

medicines. Remember the ban on Kava closely followed the patenting of a

process for removing Kavalactones. Think of those glossy leaflets

advertising " safe " petasites with " the poisonous bit " taken out by a

patentable therefore expensive process. This is all about money.

They educate orthodox medics to consider that all medicines are dangerous

and tell them to cosider the risk/benefit ratio. I have seen articles in

which the " expert " medic says as an uncontestable fact that if a herb has

real benfits it must have side effects. This is how they are educated, this

is what most of them believe. and there is a major task not to be ignored

in contesting this assumption. We should not help the pharmas in their

claims that herbs are dangerous, they are not doing it for our benefit!

However... we are RIGHT. we have truth on our side and we have to keep

saying it in the appropriate way to make sense to whoever we are talking

to.

I'm sorry if this is a bit emotional, but I want my kids and their kids to

be able to get real medicine when they need it.

on 17/11/03 11:07 pm, Jim + Alison Morton at jim_ali47@... wrote: