Interesting look at statins from a doctor who calls himself a statin agnostic. Like many people my age, I'm on s statin so this is of great interest to me. This seemed the key bit:
There is one other problem with prescribing statins for primary prevention: it’s probably better to try first to see if someone can improve their diet, exercise, sleep, stress, and so on.
We will never have scientifically sound numbers to put on this, but lifestyle improvements might amount to 50-60% reductions in heart disease risks. They also can carry other benefits, too, like weight loss, fitness, and unearthed joy, which are hard to find in a 40mg atorvastatin pill.
I have greatly improved my diet, exercise, sleep, and stress over the past decade but I consistently question whether to continue taking my daily atorvastatin pill. For now I'll continue but I'll also continue reading up on the benefits and risks.
No statins ever for me, thank you I really have lost faith in doctors pushing pills instead of diet and exercise.
ReplyDeleteDon't necessarily disagree. Stopped taking statins for a few months but then my blood test results got all wonky and not in a good way. I'm viewing it as sort of Pascal's wager at this point.
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