Duane Graveline, a former astronaut and medical doctor is one of the few 'lone voices' warning of the side effects of statin drug use. His website spacedoc.net probably has more information on statin drug side effects than any other place on the internet.
Duane 'Spacedoc' Graveline, author of Statin Drugs Side Effects: the misguided war on cholesterol
Doc Graveline has now released some more of his research into the side effects of cholesterol lowering drugs. These medicines, which are the biggest sellers in the history of our human pharmaceutical experiment, interfere with the body's ability to produce cholesterol in the liver, and not only that. By suppressing a vital metabolic pathway, they interfere in cholesterol production but also in the synthesis of Coenzyme Q 10 as well as in the synthesis of dolichols, selenoproteins and other important substances.
We have been told for years that cholesterol is bad, or alternatively that there is good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, but always the message has been that we need to avoid cholesterol like the plague. We must do everything to lower this indictor of trouble. Unfortunately that is very misleading, because cholesterol is a vital substance our bodies need to function properly, and rather than the cause of heart trouble it is merely an indicator that something else is wrong and that the body needs more cholesterol to detox.
The side effects that come with our interfering in an important metabolic pathway are grave and at times extremely painful. Muscle pains are reported by large numbers of users. You only need to read the comments readers of this site have posted at the end of this article about LIPITOR, one of the cholesterol lowering statin drugs. The dissolution of muscle tissue is not only painful, it can lead to kidney overload and eventual death by rhabdomyolysis. But another class of side effects that comes with the use of statin drugs are cognitive degeneration, amnesia and uncharacteristic behavior, such as aggressive or destructive reactions that need little or no external provocation.
Why are those drugs still on the market after years of documented side effects?
They are big business for the pharmaceutical companies that make them, blockbusters that bring in literally billions of dollars every year. No matter the suffering they bring - or the perfectly useless nature of 'cholesterol goals' doctors are told to push their patients to reach.