CoEnzyme Q10:
The nutritional supplement that may
make or break your program
It’s an imperfect solution, but supplemental coenzyme Q10 allows many people to take a statin cholesterol-reducing drug while sparing them from the inevitable muscle aches.
Statin drugs and side-effects
Cholesterol reduction with prescription statin drugs is
a multi-billion dollar industry for pharmaceutical manufacturers. Some
of these agents, especially Lipitor® (generating over $12 billion
dollars in revenue in 2005 alone), have become household names, thanks
to the intensive ad campaigns waged in the popular media.
Drug manufacturers tell us that the likelihood of side-effects from
statin agents is low, approximately 1-2% for serious muscle damage and
liver dysfunction (usually represented as a rise in liver enzyme lab
tests). They base these percentages on the frequency of side-effects
observed in formal clinical trials.
However, many physicians prescribing these drugs, and their patients who
take them, will tell you otherwise.
In many physicians’ practices, muscle aches and weakness occur in
approximately 30% of people taking statin agents within the first few
months. Over a longer period, we’ve seen muscle aches develop in
virtually everybody. The companies and clinical investigators roundly
deny this, claiming that even people taking placebo experience muscles
aches and weakness at a similar rate simply because humans are prone to
such things. We say NONSENSE! We witness these effects every day.
Are the symptoms progressive and will they lead to irreversible damage
of some sort? The existing experience dating back over ten years suggest
that mild muscle aches or weakness are not progressive and do not result
in any long-term damaging effects. In our experience, serious side
effects are, thankfully, very rare. Annoying, yes, but incapacitating or
irreversible? Almost never.
Let’s face it: The statins are pretty good drugs, considering that
they’re intended for long-term use. Imagine taking an antibiotic for 10
years! Even 10 days of antibiotic treatment leaves you with bellyaches,
diarrhea, and opportunistic infections that emerge after elimination of
the original organism. In this light, the majority of people taking
statin drugs year after year really do pretty well.
Toxic liver effects are extremely rare in our experience. But our belief
is that muscle side-effects are far more common than manufacturers would
lead you to believe.
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Copyright 2006, Track Your Plaque.