Seven years ago at age 60 my Doc said that due to reaching that age I had moved into a higher risk category and he prescribed daily 40mg statins and 75mg aspirin. Very soon I experienced increased night cramps in my legs and the statin dose was reduced to 20mg which I have remained on with no ill effects. My cholesterol has reduced from 5.9 to 3.3.

After five years on the aspirin I began to feel ill with no appetite, was very lethargic and I lost 30lbs in weight over three months without trying. An endoscopy showed gastritis and duodenitis. I stopped taking the aspirin and have fully recovered. I gather that if you are going to get problems with aspirin it usually happens earlier in the course than it did with me.

Yes problems normally occur earlier - but not always. You may have been slowly bleeding such that you eventually became lethargic. The gastritis may also have occurred off aspirin so the drug was merely coincidental or additive.

All goes to show that these drugs should be taken with the knowledge of your GP. But the evidence is that aspirin does more good than harm

It sounds like your GP has got his finger on your pulse.

Aspirin has been heralded as a "cure all," or rather "prevent all," -some studies recently suggested it can prevent cancer.

In those with established (arterial) disease, low dose aspirin is a life saver.

In those without established disease, the "risk/benefit" equation is less clear. For the time being, we should leave it out of the water :)

When I was in my early thirties i was advised by a friend [now Cardiology Prof at Stanford University] to take small [baby] doses of Aspirin on a regular basis. Three decades later my AF induced Angiogram showed clear arteries [thanks Hannah V].

I am sure they would have been clogged but for the Aspirin intake.

Aviate

There have been some interesting discussions and I do not think that anyone questions the use of drugs for serious illness.
Maybe you would have had clear arteries anyway? ;)
But these discussions have brought up a question in my mind! Like it or not the drug companies are Multi Billion dollar enterprises who are mainly there to sell drugs.
Drug companies would not want a cure for Cancer HIV etc if such cures dried up their own market of long term drug use.
How much that influences "cures" ?
How much is spent creating new drugs rather than finding cures for some of the life crippling disease in our society?

Pace

Pace

Your argument falls a bit flat because aspirin was invented in 1846 and was never on patent so no drug company had a vested interest

Sadly drugs don't cure. They control and manipulate. Just as it fashionable to slag off bankers so this forum slags off drug companies. I have no reason to support the but they can only develop chemicals they can produce and sadly these chemicals don't cure

Interestingly some of the most profitable drugs are........antibiotics which........cure

CharlieOneSix (post 62) - possible undiagnosed helicobacter pylori causing sensitivity to aspìrin? There's a very great deal of it about coupled with rumours that there's a lot of money to be made from selling antacids and more sophisticated products for life.

I'm surprised how few have had the chance to hear of Professor Barry Marshall and his Nobel prize Barry Marshall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and the relevant foundation The Helicobacter Foundation .

Worth a look, perhaps?

I'm not sure that I've ever "cured" anyone, except when I syringed some'ones ears.

And even ear syringing has a significant risk profile. :)

Yes indeed. Olive oil for 4 weeks, or take the risk, thank fck for patient choice:)

I am at somewhat of a loss as to what the medical profession is supposed to do these days. Many of the conditions that we are talking about are the result of a complex combination of factors including genetics, environment, long-standing lifestyle choices, ageing, various exposures, etc, etc. Many would have us "cure" these complex conditions instantly, without the use of drugs (because drug companies are just trying to keep people sick to maximise their profits), and with no side-effects.

I wonder how many contribute to research in a meaningful way, rather than simply quoting doubtful science (and I use the term loosely) from self-serving websites.

Yes, let's look at how we spend our (your) £100billion/year.

Let's sort the lawyers out first of all (£10 billion)

Then let's deduct anything that doesn't directly improve health of patients (About £35billion)

Let's put that £45 billion into pre-school education.

Which will probably save on spending on Doctor's, Nurses and lot's of medications.

(oh, and we subsidise oily fish-ever seen a Fijjian with heart disease?)

Yes...yes I have. Recent WHO data lists cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death, at around 39% of all deaths in Fiji (as a subset of chronic disease in general which acounts for 74%).

Some drugs do cure, antibiotics for example. But from the drug company's point of view a drug which treats a condition and must be taken every day is vastly superior to a drug which cures outright.

oh well, fair enough comment. Another myth busted.

Well, "cured" me of thinking very bad things about the Medical Profession ! A bit more balanced now thanks but STILL very wary of Statins which is what this thread is all about.

When the doc checked my Chol level it was 5.0. Because I lived in Wales he prescribed statins (simvostatin). If I had lived 20 miles further east in England, I would NOt have reached the level for statin prescription (5.2).
Anyway - i loved the idea that I would be getting FREE statins for life under Welsh rules. I had read up on them and truly believed in what I was told about the wonder drugs.
Simvostatin lasted 3 months, by which time I could barely walk due to chronic hip pain. Told the doc, he said it will wear off, I said no it won't. I stopped. The pain stopped. Doc then swapped me across to Lipitor. Mmm, lipitor didn't cause any joint pain, not that I could remember because .....I couldn't remember!
Actually, I started having this feeling that my thinking process was a little cloudy. I had to work hard at thinking logically and clearly - it was a haze at times. I lived with it for about 6 months and wondered what would happen if I stopped the Lipitor. I didn't bother telling the doc - just stopped. Within weeks, my thought processes resumed normal. I went back to the doc - a different doc. Told them what happened. She looked sideways at me and said, she wasn't sure if the symptoms related to the statin. So she put me on Pravastatin. Everything was fine for months, then i started getting golfers elbow, then tennis elbow at the same time and in both elbows??
Went to docs, she said, you've got tennis elbow and alittle bit of golfers elbow. It's not the statins - less than 2% get those side effects. So I lived with it for a further year, blaming press ups, RSI etc etc. Then one day, after a check up with blood tests wherte my Chol level was 4.4. I decided to stop the statins: 3 months later the elbow pains have gone.
I have since started eating porridge, drinking pomegranate juice and watching my sat fats like a hawk. Latest blood test: 3.9 (no statins).

I wish they had worked, because of their other beneficial side effects but it was not to be. Statins do and can cause side effects which one could easily put down to other things and for that period in your life, the quality of your life drops.

Listen to your body.

Statins use and coronary artery plaque compo... [Atherosclerosis. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI.

Seems to suggest statins might not be so good?

Thomas, thank you very much. Giving more credibility to the "balance" and "everything in moderation" . To those who subscribe statins as the obvious remedy.........................be careful, be VERY careful. H U G E evidence mounting against this drug. Aaaaaah, but then you might lose your annual subscription to your fave golf club ( oooooops, SOREEEEE, just can'y help myself !). Tommy, good on you.My mate, referred to in the earlier discussion, also drinks pomegranite juice ( was that introduced to the Ozies by us ? ..Oh, damn, there I go again ! ). As I said before, he looks terrific after ditching the drugs & just passed his annual check-out for medical insurance, the local doc saying, as usual, WOW !

Look, before Ausdoc hits the frenzie button & Hermoncles thinks he is back at the Oxford Union ; there is a remedy, a cure, a comfort drug but for Gawdsake Medics, look at a balanced field. Pleeeeeze ! Admit, statins are showing results for those who REALLY need them. They are showing very serious side effects in those, incorrectly subscribed, who don't.

Cholesterol in the range 200(5.1)-240(6.2) = "Lowest all cause mortality."

WHO source.