Whenever anyone calls me for acupuncture because they have numbness or muscle fatigue, the first question I always ask is “Are you on a statin drug?”. If the answer is yes then the next question is “How long have you been on the statin” and “When did your symptoms appear”. Often the symptoms start appearing several years to a decade after beginning the statins. One case comes to mind of a patient that has had leg pain for over 10 years. Read the rest of this entry

Even though pharmaceutical companies are pushing statins on the general population through physicians – and you may have been pressured to take statins by your doctor you can still “just say no”. First of all there is not much compelling evidence that statins actually reduce your chances of getting vascular disease. However, there is clear evidence that statins can reduce your cholesterol levels. So what statins are doing is treating a number, not reducing chances of a functional disease outcome. There is plenty of information out there about the cholesterol myth so I will not repeat it here. You can read it and decide for yourself. Of course, there are cases where statins are necessary but they are just a small percentage of the number of people that are treated with these potentially deleterious drugs. Read the rest of this entry