4 ms·
Skimming, I started out willing to go with them, but then they lost me with: > 2. Safety so boring it is practically soporific > Serious muscle injury from st
by neilv 1y ago
Skimming, I started out willing to go with them, but then they lost me with:
> 2. Safety so boring it is practically soporific
> Serious muscle injury from statins occurs in <0.1% of users; hepatotoxicity is an order of magnitude rarer. For context, you’re free to purchase orlistat—a drug whose calling card is oily rectal incontinence—straight from Amazon’s shelves. If we are letting consumers gamble their underwear for a few pounds lost, we can surely trust them with the pill that costs pennies and saves hearts.
Are they saying that there will be many serious muscle injuries if this prescription drug goes OTC, but an already-OTC drug has a potty-humor side effect, therefore... through the power of dismissive levity-logic, we can just chuckle and stop thinking, and it's that same human capacity for rational thought that ensures that a OTC medication with dangerous side effects will be used only judiciously-- Sorry, I don't follow?
- roxolotl 1y agoA family member experienced the muscle wasting side effects of statins. They didn’t even need them but they were overweight so their doctor thought it was a good idea to put them on statins. Took months to figure out what was wrong and it changed their life permanently damaging their mobility. Whenever they change doctors even though they don’t have cholesterol problems they still have to fight to be kept off of statins because they are overweight. Statins are wonder drugs for those who need them. There’s absolutely no reason individuals should be deciding for themselves if they need them though. Bloodwork is required at a minimum to determine if they are needed. They are not NSAIDs.
- neilv 1y agoSorry your family member had to go through that. I think you have an important message, and it looks like comments here are getting drive-by downvotes.
- OutOfHere 1y agoFor the record, OTC NSAIDs like ibuprofen are not too safe either. They can and do easily cause stomach and intestinal ulceration. The point is that statins are not much more dangerous. Odds are that your family member was taking a more powerful statin and in a higher dose.