Crestor Safe ? - High Cholesterol Message Board

heart44 · 05-24-2005, 04:54 PM

Hit all the news sources today that Crestor has a 2 to 8 times greater risk for side effects than other statins drugs [not that the other statins are safe, just that Crestor is "less safe"].

Of course..... all the Crestor proponents are on the band wagon already making statements like:

QUOTE from Canadian News Wire:
The Circulation report attempts to draw conclusions that simply cannot be drawn from adverse event reporting data. The FDA's own disclaimer on the front page of the AERS states, "the information contained in these (adverse event) reports has not been scientifically or otherwise verified as to a cause and effect relationship and cannot be used to estimate the incidence of adverse drug reactions."

I guess the fact that people are taking time to let the FDA know they are experiencing side effects from statins doesn't really matter.

Lenin · 05-25-2005, 06:14 AM

I'm sure there's lots of stuff like, "I'm taking Lipitor for 5 years and now my back hurts."
Anecdotal information yields poor conclusions because cause and effect is illusive. Add to that the suggestibility of humans and the larcenous behavior of some researchers and one can easily come to the conclusion that the only conclusions one can "take to the bank" are those obtained through large double blinded studies...and they are few and far between.

cathyinto · 05-25-2005, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenin

I'm sure there's lots of stuff like, "I'm taking Lipitor for 5 years and now my back hurts."
Anecdotal information yields poor conclusions because cause and effect is illusive. Add to that the suggestibility of humans and the larcenous behavior of some researchers and one can easily come to the conclusion that the only conclusions one can "take to the bank" are those obtained through large double blinded studies...and they are few and far between.

How many reports are I was taking Lipitor for 5 years, my legs ache, stopped taking it and got better. How many people have come on this board with something like that?

heart44 · 05-25-2005, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cathyinto

How many reports are I was taking Lipitor for 5 years, my legs ache, stopped taking it and got better. How many people have come on this board with something like that?

Good question. Here's another scenario. Patient takes Lopid.... doesn't lower cholesterol fast enough, so Lipitor is prescribed. Lipitor lowers cholesterol but patient has aches and pains and memory loss. Dr says, "lets try Pravachol." More aches and pains, but more severe this time. "Lets give it one more shot, try Crestor." Aches and pains, elevated CK, memory loss..... The patient had been challenged with so many different cholesterol lowering drugs that side effects are now permanent. Do you think these side effects were reported anywhere? The side effects and permanent disabilities are "real" but they don't count. This is what's happening everyday all over the world.

Lenin · 05-25-2005, 02:06 PM

If it's balaced with "I've never taken a statin and I have developed lots of aches and pains" or "I've taken statins for years and never developed pain" then the anecdotes are worth taking seriously. But often what you get on a web site or in complaints to the FDA are more like:
"I feel pain and I feel I shouldn't therefore it must be something external."

I knew a lot of people before statins were invented and MANY of them had aches and pains...two were even crippled and in wheelchairs with arthritis. Had they taken statins, guess what they'd have blamed.

There are even several people here who say, I've been on a statin for for 5 or 7 years and have SUDDENLY developed back pain. Cause and effect? In the realm of possibility but "not bloody likely." <in my best Austen Powers>

In science you learn NOTHING without large impartial studies. Anecdotal evidence is no evidence at all.
If the FDA pulled every drug when 100 people said they had sore muscles, there's be nothing in the pharmacopeia.

Remember the FDA pulled the COX-2 Inhibitors when a tiny proportion of the takers developed severe problems, they prevented thalidomide from reaching market, they pulled the liquid protein diet, they pulled Carter's Little Liver pills, L-tryptophan and Preparation-H; they'll do the same with statins when and IF the complaints become credible.

I think you'll see Plavix and Niaspan pulled first though!

All that said, unless one needs the strongest of the statins perhaps to get the maximal chance of battling heart disease or an extremely high risk of same, I think the weaker ones are a safer choice than Crestor. I don't doubt that some minority of people absolutely cannot and should not take these potent medications, as is the case with many classes of drugs and obviously the strongest ones like Crestor will show the strongest side effects in the shortest time.