Why I refuse cholesterol checks

All this worry about cholesterol makes me crazy. Our livers manufacture cholesterol for a reason. Most importantly, as far as I’m concerned, is that cholesterol is a major component of our brains and other parts of our nervous systems. I don't think it's a good idea to be messing with your body's natural processes--which is exactly what cholesterol-lowering drugs do. 

Statins work by interrupting the chain of events by which our livers produce cholesterol. Because of this interruption, other substances, such as co-enzyme CoQ10 are also thwarted.  CoQ10 is a cellular nutrient critical for maintaining the integrity of membranes for nerve conduction and muscle function. Depletion of CoQ10 and other substances that make up the chain result in a variety of side effects, the most common of which is muscle weakness and cramps. Many people also report problems with memory, depression and irritability, headaches, joint and abdominal pain, and tingling and numbness of extremities. The most serious and potentially fatal effect is rhabdomyolysis, in which muscle fibers break down and release their contents into the bloodstream.

I get particularly upset when cholesterol-lowering drugs are prescribed to old ladies, for whom the drugs have never proven beneficial (in fact high cholesterol is protective in older women). I know of two older women on Lipitor who have fallen and broken bones. Another, the mother of a friend, lost her ability to walk. She died not long after. As recounted in the memoir of her heart attack, Martha Weinman Lear reports, “…I had been started on a high-cholesterol pill, which had caused me, and apparently millions of other users, to have severe leg cramps, and which had not, as was now clear, kept me from the absurdity of my new condition.” These women should never have been prescribed the drugs, particularly since the drugs have not been shown to benefit anyone over 65 or women of any age, as revealed by an analysis of evidence from drug trials. 

The incidence of falls among older people has steadily increased. The number of people over 65 who were treated in emergency departments for injuries from falls has increased 50 percent over a decade. I’d be willing to bet that cholesterol-lowering drugs are a major culprit in that increase.

The primary beneficiaries of cholesterol-lowering drugs are the pharmaceutical companies, as I will discuss in my next post.

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