I recently had a conversation with a medical doctor about cholesterol and cholesterol medication. I was surprised that she was still recommending cholesterol-lowering drugs. And she was pretty excited about doing so.
Heart disease is still the number one killer in America. This is despite the fact that one out of every four Americans 45 years old and older are now taking cholesterol-lowering (statin) drugs. And one out of every fifty people taking statin drugs will become diabetic as a result of taking those drugs. In addition, many people complain of muscle pain as a result of taking these meds, some so bad that they cannot walk well. I see this problem very often in my practice. Searching the web about this issue will lead you to articles and posts implying that the muscle pain is not due to the meds, and that it is in the patients’ heads. Yet I see the pain often resolve fairly quickly once they stop the medication.
As I discussed this issue with that medical doctor, she was emphatic that anyone with a total cholesterol number above 200 needs that medication. She said her friend is a cardiologist, and is very up to date on the latest research, and told her recently that the data clearly shows that taking statins reduced the risk of heart attacks and strokes. It all sounded very compelling. I wondered if my position should change on this, as the latest data supports the continued use of these statin drugs.
Then, it hit me… these doctors believe that statin drugs are so important, and that the drugs save lives, and they readily (often times forcefully) prescribe them to their patients believing they are doing the right thing, and doing so with a big heart, because of the “data.” That super compelling data comes from the pharmaceutical companies. They design the studies, they run the studies, they collect the data from the studies, they publish the results from the studies, then they print out the results using crafty wording, compelling charts and graphs, and phrases highlighting the benefits. Then, a well-trained rep takes the data into the offices of the doctors, along with lunch and goodies for the doctor and their staffs, and sell them on all that greatness.
Well… this is what happened with every drug that got pulled from the market for causing too many side effects, too much harm, and even death. Good doctors prescribed these drugs based on all the great things the pharmaceutical companies told them. Oops! They left out the bad stuff. Merck failed to tell the doctors that Vioxx caused heart attacks, leading to an estimated 88,000 heart attacks, with 38,000 of them dying. And Purdue Pharma lied to doctors, convincing them to unnecessarily prescribe opioids, falsifying information, paying illegal kickbacks to doctors, and much, much more, creating an opioid epidemic that has taken the lives of over 600,000 Americans. And just about every major drug company has been found guilty of some form of deceit in regards to the studies they ran, the data they presented, and the claims they made which misled doctors.
Two things… (1.) The data has got to be questioned and scrutinized. Studies can be designed to show any outcome the that drug companies desire. The most recent example of this is the COVID vaccine. Just watch as the truth about the studies, the results, and the presentation of those results slowly emerge. This will be just another example of how major damage is done and innocent lives are taken because of the greed of pharmaceutical companies and their amazing ability to mislead and rake in huge profits. (2.) Doctors… STOP BEING MISLED.
I look at real world results. I watch my patients. I listen to what they are saying. No matter how compelling the “data” is, no matter how appealing the advertising is, and no matter how certain the medical community is that a test, a drug, or a procedure is safe and effective, if people are not getting well, the condition involved is not being resolved, and if the side effects and risks are showing to outweigh the benefit, it is NOT GOOD.
A foundational problem in medicine is that doctors continue to believe the same people that have continued to mislead, lie, and cheat. The so-called data, the studies, and the safety of medical procedures and treatments are often not what we are told they are. History has proven that. So, as convinced as your doctor is that something is “safe and effective,” and as convincing as they are when they urge you to do it, remember where most of their data comes from. They may have big hearts, mean well, and be very smart, but for some reason they continue to be misled.