Tonight I sit here going through emails, which include synopses from various medical journals, highlighting medical research. I have to admit that over the past 18 years of being a veterinarian, I have come to the conclusion that in many instances, we are doing things wrong or have our priorities incorrect. We all sit around in front of the TV and hear commercials for various prescription medications and in today's world, it seems like there is a medication for every known condition. The old adage "Just because we can...doesn't mean we should" always comes to mind when I hear about new medications or therapies being offered. In some cases, the therapy/medication makes sense to me as a caregiver, but then again, the majority of them just seem to be a "bandaid" for a common medical condition, doing very little to resolve the problem itself.
Case in point are statin medications, which are commonly used to reduce blood cholesterol levels. I was once prescribed one of these medications for elevated cholesterol, but quickly developed signs of muscular pain or myopathy and discontinued the medications. After a brief recalling of clients that I have talked to over the years, I would have to guess that about 50-60% of these people are on some form of statin to control cholesterol. Myself, I have changed over to a niacin supplement, along with other dietary supplements and dietary alterations. I also exercise routinely every morning. Now, I will admit that I don't eat perfectly but I do exercise and try my best. The last visit I had with my doctor, my total cholesterol was way down as well as triglycerides. Actually, the values were down about 40 points and about 4 points out of the normal level. The crapper, as I will say, is that my physician recommended a statin medication despite my lowering the overall level on my own.
The thing that bothers me in these scenarios is that I feel that these medications are used as a crutch instead of doing what should be done and that is dietary corrections, changes in lifestyle and exercise. Too many people that I know on these medications lead sedentary lifestyles and their diets are severely lacking overall. The statins may be lowering their cholesterol levels, but none of these people have remarked to me that their levels are normal. Why? Simply because they are not the answer in my opinion. The other thing that bothers me about these types of medications are the long term side effects noted as a result of chronic use. First, cholesterol is a major component of various hormones that are present in our bodies, including testosterone and progesterone. It has been noted in a few studies that mid-aged and elderly men are exhibiting low testosterone levels which coincides with their use of statin medications. The low testosterone levels are contributing to poor overall health. It also makes one wonder about the recent commercials regarding "LOW T" in men. Hmmm, wonder if this population is taking statins? Statin use is also connected with a low level of CoQ10, which is a potent antioxidant present in the bloodstream. Higher levels of CoQ10 are associated with improved cardiovascular health....so a lower CoQ10 level is associated with poor cardiac health. So...are those taking statins more predisposed to cardiovascular disease despite having lowered cholesterol levels? I don't know the answer to this, but maybe there is a paper out there somewhere. Tonight, I was reading an abstract discussing that users of statins are 50% more prone to cataracts that those that are not and diabetics taking statins are even more predisposed to cataracts. Why?? It appears that the lens within the eye depends on cholesterol for cellular health and the statins are lowering the available cholesterol. Interesting as I did not know that.
The bottom line is that I think we need a different approach to disease in general, whether if that is impacting our pets, horses or ourselves. Just because a scientist localizes a cellular pathway involved in a disease process, does not mean that we create a medication to block it WITHOUT evaluating the long term potential down the road for other metabolic pathways that might be impacted. That is a tough thing to ask, especially in today's world of the pharmaceutical industry, who is looking at the bottom line dollar in terms of gross product sales versus the actual health of the patient. I think we all need to be our own advocates regarding our health as well as that of our pets and horses. We need to research and use our intuition when it comes to various therapies and not just do it because someone recommends it.
I believe that ultimately nutrition is going to be the key to all of our health problems. The downside is that a proper diet requires work on our end and often requires supplementation to be complete. I don't have all of the answers, but I certainly do have questions.
To you health,
Tom
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