Part 2: What You Should Know About Treating High Cholesterol with Statins
If you have high cholesterol, your doctor has most likely prescribed a statin medication to help lower it. Statins inhibit the liver from producing cholesterol, thus lowering the overall blood cholesterol level. However, there are risks involved in taking statins that you should be aware of before you start, stop or change cholesterol medications or treatment.
Statins work by replacing the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase in the liver. This enzyme is responsible for producing cholesterol, so replacing it lowers your levels. Sounds great, right? Well, there is always something to consider when we mess with how the body works. The human body adjusts to the changes that we make. For example, when the liver senses that less cholesterol is being made, it produces a protein that increases the number of LDL (bad cholesterol) receptors. What follows is just a chain reaction of chemical adjustments that our bodies must make to compensate.
One side effect of statins is that the body becomes depleted of coenzyme Q10, specifically, ubiquinone. We learned in a recent blog article here that the body converts ubiquinone into ubiquinol, which is responsible for clearing free radicals out of our cells and facilitating our cells use of oxygen for energy. One may think that you could just take a CoQ10 supplement and be fine. But, that’s not the case. Statins interfere with a huge array of enzymes that our bodies need to survive.
Recent studies are emerging that show reducing your cholesterol with statins can actually increase your heart attack risk due to CoQ10 depletion. The heart requires the most oxygen and the most energy of all the muscles in the body to function. CoQ10 produces the cellular energy responsible for keeping the heart functioning. It is also responsible for producing collagen and elastin necessary for heart cell repair. Statins restructure the way that your body makes certain enzymes increasing your risk of permanent nerve damage, cancer, anxiety, depression and more.
Admittedly, statins are popular because they do their job well. Their job is, specifically, to lower the blood cholesterol levels. But, does that mean that you should put your body through the damaging chain reaction of events that stem from inhibiting your cholesterol production?
Before taking statins it is critical to understand how they affect the body and the side effects that may ensue as a result. We need to evaluate the benefits and risks of these drugs before we resort to their use.
Some signs that you may be having adverse side effects from taking statins include shuffled steps, muscle pain or weakness, heel pain, bone spurs, severe back pain from weakened muscles, slurred speech, fibromyalgia, fatigue, pins and needles in the extremities or severe deep itching of the palms or soles of the feet. Some people have immediate reactions (within thirty days of starting to take statins) and others do not see the effects for years.
Talk with your doctor before combining statins with any supplements. Do not stop taking statins without talking with your doctor first because there is a severe risk of heart attack associated with suddenly stopping or reducing your use of statin medication.
Part 3 of the “Cholesterol and You” series will focus on cholesterol maintenance using more natural substances, such as diet, niacin, vitamin C powder, fish oils and Eurofiber, a supplement containing a valuable combination of the best soluble fibers.
About the Author: Phil Le Breton is owner at Wholesale Nutrition. He has a strong interest in helping people achieve greater brain and body health. For more information about C-Salts, otherwise known as the best Vitamin C, or about other Vitamin C powder products, visit http://www.nutri.com where you can buy Vitamins and Supplements of the highest quality.
Tags: cholesterol medicine, lowering cholesterol, statin danger, statin risk, statin side effects, statins, taking statins, vitamin c powder