Watchdog warns of risks of mixing popular statin with heart drugs

Watchdog warns of risks of mixing popular statin with heart drugs


(NaturalNews) Patients taking one of the most frequently taken statin
drugs may be told that their dosages will have to be cut following a
report that recognizes they may have side effects worse than the
diseases they treat. Statins are normally taken to ward off heart
disease. However, when mixed with other medicines that treat high blood
pressure, they have been shown to trigger some potentially fatal side
effects including muscle problems, lung disorders and kidney failure.

Simvastatin is the most frequently prescribed statin in the UK and the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority)
is concerned that mixing Simvastatin with Amlodipine or Diltiazem,
which are used to treat high blood pressure, may cause muscle breakdown
leading to kidney failure as these symptoms occur more regularly when
the drugs were taken at the same time.

The calls from the MHRA
may lead to doctors decreasing dosages to alleviate the side effects or
switch patients to alternative statin drugs. Drugs companies that make
statins claim that they are a wonder drug that can prevent heart disease
and should be taken by everyone over the age of 50; however, recent
research suggests that 40 percent of patients receive no benefits from
taking them. The side effects of statins are well documented and yet, so
called experts maintain that the health benefits outweigh the risks.
Judy O'Sullivan, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said "This is not based on any new revelations about unknown side effects of Simvastatin."

"We know that side effects with this drug
are dose related - the higher the dose, the greater the risk of
developing muscle pain. Because calcium channel blockers slow down the
rate at which Simvastatin is broken down, the drug levels in the blood
stream can be higher."

Healthy lifestyle is the only safe way of preventing heart disease

The
comments of Ms. O'Sullivan confirm that health professionals recognize
that there are serious side effects from taking statins and yet, they
continue to prescribe them like they are handing out sweets as a
one-drug-fits-all remedy. This, of course, makes huge profits for the
drugs companies who see a death rate associated with their drugs as a
statistical tool to see the viability of making sales.

There is
one guaranteed way to reduce so called "bad cholesterol" without the
side effects and that is to eat a natural diet and exercise. A diet of
junk food will have detrimental health
effects right from the first meal and the continued consumption of
fatty and sugary, processed foods will increase levels of ill health the
longer that it is consumed, and that is without taking into account the
dangerous additives that are added to processed foods.

Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/038090_statins_heart_drugs_toxicity.html