Statin research

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Read this:

Depends on the age. As one ages, the psychologic causes such as depression and performance anxiety decrease from > 90% down to a low of about 30%, while issues such as medications, diabetes, alcoholism, hormone problems, and a host of other conditions prevail. The cultural bias against acknowledging psychological factors, esp. among men, makes assessment of that component very difficult.

Such condiitons are very common in the aging, and their mere presence does not necessarily imply that they are the cause of impotence. In fact, the very high response rate to Viagra et al implies that the large vascular plumbing ["plaques"] is basically intact (a large arterial obstruction causing impotence would not reverse with viagra type drugs, yet 70% respond to viagra). Furthermore, a single episode of impotence related to fatigue, drugs, alcohol, or simply fatigue often sets off a pattern of performance anxiety. It is very difficult to determine "THE cause" of impotence in many cases.

It is true that vascular and other physical causes are not rare, especially in men over 60, smokers, heavy drinkers, those taking certain medications, etc.

 

[dumpster56]

Furthermore, a single episode of impotence related to fatigue, drugs, alcohol, or simply fatigue often sets off a pattern of performance anxiety. It is very difficult to determine "THE cause" of impotence in many cases. Yea sure, too much booze, the babe says I wantcha and well he just is not up to the task. Tisk Tisk. Don't drink so much!

No self confidence??

Or no real connection with other human during the effort??

But seriously, a build up of plaque in the arteries is a problem that many who use the drug or see that there is a problem does stem from coronary artery disease.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i've already seen the commercials hyping impotence to scare viewers into taking a cholesterol pill.

oh good. another reason for statins: flaccidity

oh & by the way, i never met a gay man with performance anxiety. you poor str8 guys. it must be even worse than i thought. (sorry ladies, no offense intended.)

edit: i'm not sure but i think in the gay world performance anxiety maybe has something to do with singing in the choir.

 

[FinanceDude]

oh & by the way, i never met a gay man with performance anxiety. you poor str8 guys. it must be even worse than i thought. (sorry ladies, no offense intended.)

I don't suffer from it, I'm always ANXIOUS to have sex...........

 

[dumpster56]

i've already seen the commercials hyping impotence to scare viewers into taking a cholesterol pill.

oh good. another reason for statins: flaccidity

oh & by the way, i never met a gay man with performance anxiety. you poor str8 guys. it must be even worse than i thought. (sorry ladies, no offense intended.)

edit: i'm not sure but i think in the gay world performance anxiety maybe has something to do with singing in the choir.

Classic my friend classic

 

[HFWR]

I don't suffer from it, I'm always ANXIOUS to have sex...........

I believe the correct term is "eager"...

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

I don't suffer from it, I'm always ANXIOUS to have sex...........

I believe the correct term is "eager"...

oh grow up and quit being so premature.

 

[HFWR]

oh grow up and quit being so premature.

"There's about to be an orgasm, and if you want it to be yours', you'd better hurry up..."

 

[Buckeye]

If I read the article correctly (no discernable benefit for those over 65 or women, period), I think it pretty much confirms that my 93.5-year old MIL (lifelong non-smoker, normal BP, no diabetes, normal weight, no cardiovascular events for her or family) does not need to be taking a statin even though her cholesterol is 300 and always has been.

I sent her a copy of the article. We'll see what she decides to do. I would be very, very upset at the doctor who prescribed it a year ago if she suffers side effects and becomes ill from the drug when she has no other health problems.

 

[Buckeye]

I thought the discussion of inflammation and its relation to CV disease was the most interesting part of the article and we are not discussing any of that in this thread. It sounded like the ability of statins to reduce inflammation was actually more important than the cholesterol reduction itself and maybe that's why Zetia doesn't work because although it reduces cholesterol, it is not reducing inflammation and therefore not reducing CV disease. Dr. Nissen's (Cleveland Clinic) had some interesting comments.

Does anyone here get their CRP (C-reactive protein) tested to determine the level of systemic inflammation? Is the medical community moving toward using this number on a wider scale to determine risk?

Do we know what is the average cholesterol level of people who have heart attacks and what is the average cholesterol level of people who don't have heart attacks? Is there much difference? Do more people with low good cholesterol have heart attacks than people with high bad cholesterol?

 

[dumpster56]

I thought the discussion of inflammation and its relation to CV disease was the most interesting part of the article and we are not discussing any of that in this thread. It sounded like the ability of statins to reduce inflammation was actually more important than the cholesterol reduction itself and maybe that's why Zetia doesn't work because although it reduces cholesterol, it is not reducing inflammation and therefore not reducing CV disease. Dr. Nissen's (Cleveland Clinic) had some interesting comments.

Does anyone here get their CRP (C-reactive protein) tested to determine the level of systemic inflammation? Is the medical community moving toward using this number on a wider scale to determine risk?

Do we know what is the average cholesterol level of people who have heart attacks and what is the average cholesterol level of people who don't have heart attacks? Is there much difference? Do more people with low good cholesterol have heart attacks than people with high bad cholesterol?

My CRP has been always under .06 nice and low. Cholesterol runs between 179 and 229 depending on the time of the year and what I have been eating during the 6 month prior.

 

[innova]

Another thing to consider is that studies have shown continual but diminishing improvement with ALL reductions in LDL, not just down to 100mg/dL - it is really not clear what the 'optimal' LDL level should be.

On inflammation:
There have been a couple very small trials (do not draw major conclusions) looking at using statins as a treatment for multiple sclerosis based on the inflammation component. It seems statins have potent immunomodulatory effects - specifically on the ability of certain white blood cells to translocate to the site of inflammation. In MS, thats the brain / spinal cord. It may be that in CV disease a potential mechanism is to prevent the inflammatory immune response in the arterial wall.

Isolated pieces such as these do little to explain the complex picture we're seeing. For further interest, you might consider the CV risk profiles between the French and the Scottish. Both tend to have horrible diets, yet the French have markedly lower incidence of CV events. Google 'French paradox' for more information. Good stuff.