The study also found that while 25 percent of people never filled their statin prescription in the first place, a similar number of people didn’t bother to fill their second one. “Moderate-intensity and high-intensity statins increase relative risk for diagnosed diabetes by about 10 and 20 percent, respectively. High cholesterol levels in your blood increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes. One of the country’s top specialists in nutritional and preventive medicine, Dr. Magaziner is coauthor of The All-Natural Cardio Cure: A Drug-Free Cholesterol and Cardiac Inflammation Reduction Program (Avery). This will affect roughly 1 in 100 statin users during five years of statin use. The authors wrote: “[E]xaggerated claims about side-effect rates with statin therapy may be responsible for its underuse among individuals at increased risk of cardiovascular events. © 2005-2020 Healthline Media a Red Ventures Company. What I tell my patients: Start with 250 mg daily, and increase the dose by 250 mg every two weeks until you are taking the amount recommended by your doctor. Our content is further subject to our Terms and Conditions. Even if you can't take a statin, you can enjoy the many benefits — and pleasures! For, whereas the rare cases of myopathy [muscle pain] and any muscle-related symptoms that are attributed to statin therapy generally resolve rapidly when treatment is stopped, the heart attacks or strokes that may occur if statin therapy is stopped unnecessarily can be devastating.”, “Statins are very safe in the majority of patients,” Shin emphasized. So, researchers set out to determine: If statins are so effective, why are so many people failing to take them? Most integrative physicians are very knowledgeable about natural remedies. Experts say the benefits of statins far outweigh any risks. It’s the most common side effect of statins, but another way to look at it is that nine out of 10 patients don’t experience it at all. *, The natural regimen that I’ve fine-tuned over the past 25 years for my patients…, Fish oil (typical daily dose: 1,000 mg total of EPA and DHA) fights inflammation, lowers LDL “bad” cholesterol and is part of most good heart-protective regimens. But new research finds that only 6 percent of these patients are taking the drug as recommended by a doctor. Researchers found statin use was associated with a 9 to 13 percent increased risk of new-onset diabetes. DrMagaziner.com, Get The Latest Health, Life & Money Trends. Short-acting statins work better at night because the liver enzyme that produces cholesterol is more active at this time. What I tell my patients: Take pantethine with meals to reduce the risk for indigestion and to aid absorption. In the American Heart Association’s (AHA) first scientific report specifically reviewing health issues associated with statin use, the AHA states that, in double-blind randomized controlled trials “there is little, if any difference (at most 1 percent) in the incidence of muscle symptoms between the statin and placebo.”. Researchers say even healthy young people need to keep an eye on their cholesterol because high levels at a younger age can lead to health issues when…, Researchers say people who move up or down the economic ladder can face higher heart-related health risks than those whose status remains more…. “The more patients adhered to their statin regimen, the better that they did. Researchers looked at whether they took their medication and how many major adverse clinical events such as strokes and heart attacks they experienced over the following five years. Here are some other fiber-rich foods that have been found to give cholesterol the heave-ho…. In a pair of articles published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers tout the potential of bempedoic acid as a powerful new tool…. May emphasized that statin drugs are the only cholesterol-lowering drugs that have been shown to significantly and reliably reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and death in high-risk patients.