2 ms·

It is interesting, but keep in mind there may also be 100 others in your social circle taking statins without any side effects whatsoever. I don't typically t

by bb88 6y ago

It is interesting, but keep in mind there may also be 100 others in your social circle taking statins without any side effects whatsoever. I don't typically talk with my friends about the lack of side effects of medications I'm on. It's possible too that liver damage could have been caused by taking acetominophen with heavy alcohol use (e.g.), which the person might have been embarrassed to admit. I don't know. I don't know your friend. I'm also not accusing your friend of lying, but it wouldn't surprise me given human behavior.

giantg2 6y ago
"...keep in mind there may also be 100 others in your social circle taking statins without any side effects..." Not 100 (I don't have that many friends), but true. I'm not saying there's tons of side effects or that they are common. I was just saying that I know of 3 examples that make me question some things related to the study. For example, if I know 3 people with seemingly true side effects and they are part of the 10% of people with side effects, so that should mean I should know 30 people with side effects. And then I should know how many people taking statins? Even if 50% have side effects, then I'd need to know 60 people taking them in my fairly small (and young) group of family and friends. Maybe my group is too small to have a valid sample size, the study could be questionable (like the one on statins and longevity that recommended prescribing statins to basically every elderly person), or there is some other issue I'm missing. It would be nearly impossible to tell if someone was lying. I don't know that person very well, but from what they said it shouldnt be an issue. I would guess his flight surgeon investigated that as a possible cause since they are pretty strict about what medications you are allowed to take (the statin was prescribed by a different doctor and that caused some drama).
- bb88 6y ago
  Keep in mind about 35 million people in the US take statins, and liver damage is caused by a lot of things including hepatitis. That said, one of the best medical stories to come out of the last century was the doctor who discovered that phen-fen caused heart valve issues in a handful of patients he was treating. It wasn't the FDA, it was a doctor who saw it in his patients and discovered that was the only thing that was common in all of his patients.

by bb88 6y ago

giantg2 6y ago

"...keep in mind there may also be 100 others in your social circle taking statins without any side effects..." Not 100 (I don't have that many friends), but true. I'm not saying there's tons of side effects or that they are common. I was just saying that I know of 3 examples that make me question some things related to the study. For example, if I know 3 people with seemingly true side effects and they are part of the 10% of people with side effects, so that should mean I should know 30 people with side effects. And then I should know how many people taking statins? Even if 50% have side effects, then I'd need to know 60 people taking them in my fairly small (and young) group of family and friends. Maybe my group is too small to have a valid sample size, the study could be questionable (like the one on statins and longevity that recommended prescribing statins to basically every elderly person), or there is some other issue I'm missing. It would be nearly impossible to tell if someone was lying. I don't know that person very well, but from what they said it shouldnt be an issue. I would guess his flight surgeon investigated that as a possible cause since they are pretty strict about what medications you are allowed to take (the statin was prescribed by a different doctor and that caused some drama).

bb88 6y ago
Keep in mind about 35 million people in the US take statins, and liver damage is caused by a lot of things including hepatitis. That said, one of the best medical stories to come out of the last century was the doctor who discovered that phen-fen caused heart valve issues in a handful of patients he was treating. It wasn't the FDA, it was a doctor who saw it in his patients and discovered that was the only thing that was common in all of his patients.