Cholesterol and heart medication has serious side effects that could have serious health consequences for those who take it.
Medicines are intended to cure certain diseases or to make sure that a person can live with a disease, without serious consequences. Think of hypertension, cholesterol and diabetes: deadly diseases, with which millions of people in the world live today, leading a normal life.
All drugs have side effects. Before being put on the market, in fact, accurate analyzes and tests are carried out which are used to evaluate the risk-benefit ratio.
Recently, the name of a drug has emerged that is generally administered by doctors for treat cholesterol and cardiovascular problems. Unfortunately, in a large number of patients, taking this drug has resulted in myopathy.
Cholesterol and heart drug puts consumer health at risk
The drug he keeps at bay cholesterol and diseases of the cardiovascular systemwhich would cause these serious consequences to the health of those who take it, is the statin.
It is a widely used remedy for cholesterol, which serves to dissolve the plaques that form in the arteries causing heart attacks.
These drugs must be taken for life. Thanks to the statin, about 200 million people are able to live with a disease that would otherwise be fatal.
The statin was first used in 1987, so it is a substance whose properties have been known for over a century.
This means that statins have been carried out numerous clinical studies, which involved thousands of patients. The results of the tests carried out have proved the effectiveness of the drug. But despite this, there are still people who have doubts about the real effectiveness of the statin.
What are statins and why are they dangerous
They currently exist seven types of statins that perform different functions in our body.
In fact, there are some statins that are prescribed for counteract LDL cholesterol (so-called bad cholesterol) and others that, instead, are used for prevent the formation of cholesterol.
Some recent research has shown that statins they do not increase the risk of getting cancerhowever some tests have shown the presence of rather serious side effects.
One of the most common contraindications is myopathy, which is a painful muscle disorder. Myopathy, in fact, is a muscle disorder that mainly affects the voluntary muscles, also called striated.
We are referring, therefore, to all those muscles that are activated according to the will of the subject. When myopathy impairs muscle functioning, people notice that their muscle fibers they no longer work properly.
Although this pathology mainly affects the voluntary muscles, in the most severe cases it can also affect involuntary muscles, such as the heart.
In some cases, symptoms appear soon after taking the drug and the person may notice immediately:
- Muscle weakness
- Cramps
- Tendon problems
- Fatigue
The effects of statins
To date, the causes that would lead those who take statins to suffer from myopathy are not yet known. Basically, the correlation between the drug and the disorder is not known, that is, how it acts on the muscles causing them to malfunction.
Statins in all likelihood they interfere with a key protein which allows the development of muscles. Other theories speculate, however, that the drug could create one reduction of coenzyme Q10, which performs an important function by providing energy to the cells of the whole body, including those of the muscles, so that they can work properly.
A more recent study, dated 2019, speculates that Statins negatively affect muscle tissues because they cause the release of calcium in the muscles. This phenomenon would have several consequences on human health, including muscle pain and weakness.