While I have yet to act upon it, I'm now past 60 and in relatively good health. That said, I've been on a statin for two years and just started high blood pressure med this year. I should read up about them.
In defense of the medical profession, I haven't lost ALL confidence. While I admit I haven't researched it, I suspect that statins and hypertension meds have their place. Being careful has its place. However, it's probably just as wrong to be afraid of ALL medicine as it would be to have blind faith in anything the doctor tells you. The truth is likely somewhere in between.
One thing I often advocate: take generics where possible. I'm routinely prescribed them. There are at least two benefits: it saves the patient money. And perhaps more importantly, these are drugs that have been in use a very long time. They are off patent. That means nobody is making a lot of money off them, which naturally reduces the chance of greed swamping sound medical advice. Such a drug's side effect profile will also be well-known, or at least potentially so, since it's been in use for years, if not decades.
Compare and contrast with all the dubious products pushed for Covid-19. High profits, exempt for all liability, what's not to like? (at least from the pusher's viewpoint).
Read the book. I think you will be surprised at just how poor the science is behind cholesterol lowering. Most people (and doctors) think that heart disease is LDL clogging the interior of arteries, nothing could be further from the truth. Most people do not want to do the research for themselves, they just want to trust their doctor. I can't stress just how bad a strategy this is.
Look at it this way - we have drugs that are terrific at lowering LDL (statins, PCSK9 inhibitors) but heart disease is still the number 1 killer of Americans. How can that be if LDL is the cause of heart disease? And why do you think PCSK9 inhibitors were created when statins do a terrific job of lowering cholesterol? I'd bet it's because statins are now off patent.
While I have yet to act upon it, I'm now past 60 and in relatively good health. That said, I've been on a statin for two years and just started high blood pressure med this year. I should read up about them.
In defense of the medical profession, I haven't lost ALL confidence. While I admit I haven't researched it, I suspect that statins and hypertension meds have their place. Being careful has its place. However, it's probably just as wrong to be afraid of ALL medicine as it would be to have blind faith in anything the doctor tells you. The truth is likely somewhere in between.
One thing I often advocate: take generics where possible. I'm routinely prescribed them. There are at least two benefits: it saves the patient money. And perhaps more importantly, these are drugs that have been in use a very long time. They are off patent. That means nobody is making a lot of money off them, which naturally reduces the chance of greed swamping sound medical advice. Such a drug's side effect profile will also be well-known, or at least potentially so, since it's been in use for years, if not decades.
Compare and contrast with all the dubious products pushed for Covid-19. High profits, exempt for all liability, what's not to like? (at least from the pusher's viewpoint).
Read the book. I think you will be surprised at just how poor the science is behind cholesterol lowering. Most people (and doctors) think that heart disease is LDL clogging the interior of arteries, nothing could be further from the truth. Most people do not want to do the research for themselves, they just want to trust their doctor. I can't stress just how bad a strategy this is.
Look at it this way - we have drugs that are terrific at lowering LDL (statins, PCSK9 inhibitors) but heart disease is still the number 1 killer of Americans. How can that be if LDL is the cause of heart disease? And why do you think PCSK9 inhibitors were created when statins do a terrific job of lowering cholesterol? I'd bet it's because statins are now off patent.