Sure, I can see that patients who looked like they were on top of things would have been left out of the programme. In media, you select the data which makes the point you want to make and you suppress the rest. But the message the program sent to the millions watching was not exactly great. The message was: it’s fine for you to disregard your health, eat crap all day long, so long as you take some drugs to sort it all out.
Ok, so clearly the production company are to blame, rather than the GP.
I know of no NHS GPs who hold that view. Obviously many private physicians will tell you what you’d like to hear…
In fact, heart disease has increased since we were told to not eat saturated fat, eat more grains and go on statins. This during a time when smoking has also decreased significantly. Go figure.
No: age-for-age, heart disease has plummeted over the last few decades. The chances of dying of an MI aged 60 are far lower than they were a few decades ago. The chances of dying of an MI aged 100 are much greater. We’re also much better at getting people through their first heart attack (so that they can have 5 more before they eventually die – often many years later) and also at identifying occult heart attacks that don’t show up on ECGs terribly well. In the past, a lot of people who are now diagnosed as having ‘acute coronary syndrome’ would have been sent home with Gaviscon for heartburn. Now, on the basis of we give them an angiogram, stent any narrow spots in the arteries and buy them another decade of good quality life before repeating it all over again.
So I can imagine that there might be statistics showing that, in some sense, cardiovascular disease has increased. We’re identifying it and treating it better and people are living with it for longer. But on the level that counts, people are doing better than ever. Fewer heart attacks. Fewer strokes. Less vascular dementia. It’s true that hospitals are filled with people in their late 80s and 90s who aren’t always a good advert for old-age but also, there are a lot of 90-somethings pottering about their gardens, writing their memoirs, getting into arguments with their husbands then getting blind drunk and falling down the stairs. Living life, in short.
I’ll agree that dietary advice has changed over the years – cholesterol in food is felt to be much less important, sugar is felt to be more harmful than was previously appreciated. There’s little doubt that smoking is bad for you though.
There is no way in hell I would take them, or any other medication for that matter, where my consumption was just a matter of age grouping/risk factors. In a case where they were prescribed following a medical event, eg. mycocardial infarction, I think I would be looking to change my lifestyle longterm rather than wanting to submit to lifelong medication.
Living a healthy lifestyle is great, and clearly how you live your life makes a huge difference to your longevity and quality of life. But there are limits – if you’ve chosen your ancestors carelessly you might be due a heart attack at 60 however healthily you eat. Even if you do everything ‘right’, nobody’s going to buy immortality by going jogging regularly and eating the right things.
Imagine somebody then invents a drug which buys you two decades, perhaps even a century of good quality additional life expectancy. Statins don’t do that. There’s a suggestion that sick people on Metformin actually live longer than well people without. If the advantage of taking a ‘wonder pill’ was clear and undeniable, would you still have such a philosophical objection to it. And what would that objection actually be?
I have some sympathy for the idea that living longer is inconsiderate towards the younger generation and the planet, but most people are essentially selfish (myself included) and I can’t imagine this argument making much headway.
When my new GP pushed statins 10 years ago, I refused. I’ve still never been really ill since I completed all the childhood illnesses by 9 years old.
I payed to get shingles jab, but refuse flu.
I don’t want to change a well-running system, at 75+.
On Googling statins, I found that a very small number fatal reactions involved myoglobin breakdown overloading the liver.
As I’ve always been better at long period exercise, I suspect I might have a high muscle myoglobin level. And be one of the bad reactors?
PS Annual 10 minutes with a GP is in early December, this year with a Practice doctor who doesn’t push statins.
I am not aiming this comment at anyone in particular, but my brother-in-law, who is a fairly eminent consultant in his specialist field, finds it very frustrating that patients come to see him prepared to argue his opinion based on 10 to 15 years of training is wrong based on their 30 minutes on the internet. He has further commented to me that he finds a good percentage of all the medical stuff on the internet to be wrong.
An interest and understanding is good, but I always believe that a successful person knows what they know, and knows what they don’t know. In business I recognise that and try to surround myself with people with knowledge that I don’t have.
Neil – it is my experience that unless you yourself stay very informed, a doctor’s visit can literally kill you. Doctors are only humans with tight schedules, and have all the variations of modern life just like us, so they tend to want the quickest or pat solution. And the one that gets you out of their hair as quick as possible and into the “cured” column. Here in the US, there’s also third component and that is to make their private employer good money as well (via the insurance companies). All of these things combined can really hurt you if you have anything that’s not vanilla or easily diagnosable. The morgues are literally littered with patients where a diagnosis and true ailment was come to months too late. Therefore it is imperative to inform yourself, trust your symptoms (after all you are the only one who knows how you feel) and demand engaged diagnosis that goes beyond easy answers. Yes, trust their opinion, but make sure you’re constantly verifying it with your take on it and your hunch. In my experience, 9 times out of 10, your layman’s hunch or suspicion of what might be wrong with you is normally correct. Yet very often they come to other conclusion and you have to indulge and let them run down that rabbit hole even though you know it’s probably a bum steer. So you defer to their expertise. But you waste valuable time if you have some serious ailment by doing the old “we’ve now tried that and the symptoms persist, so it must be something else..” dance.
It’s a bit like going to the electronics shop these days. Since internet came along, it’s a different ballgame. When was the last time you walked into an electronics shop and the sales person knew more than you about the product your interested in? Hasn’t happened to me in over 10 years. Equally, maybe, just maybe, as reasonably intelligent person (you’re a pilot after all) might have some kind of clue as to what your most likely ailment is?
Very few people go in with a foot rash coming out having had to amputate an ear…. 
Neil wrote:
I am not aiming this comment at anyone in particular, but my brother-in-law, who is a fairly eminent consultant in his specialist field, finds it very frustrating that patients come to see him prepared to argue his opinion based on 10 to 15 years of training is wrong based on their 30 minutes on the internet. He has further commented to me that he finds a good percentage of all the medical stuff on the internet to be wrong.
Sorry, Neil, strongly disagree. I have a heart issue. Most of the cardiologists/EP’S, have little knowledge. I even manage and alter my medication. I know my own body better than anyone. If you have an issue, learn as much as you can, learn to read and monitor your own body, and go armed with knowledge to your Consultant. Doctors and hospitals can kill you…..
Oh dear, so much complete tosh written in this thread! Statins save lives and extend lives. The evidence is indisputable. People chattering on the internet do not need to have any medical training whatsoever in order to comment on such things…and then suddenly there spring up forums and bulletin boards with people supporting each others’ unsupported views, not one of which has any scientific support. What is referred to in some parts as the cult of the amateur….The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen
I will now tell you my experience. I am but one of many millions of statin users. As one user, the data related to my experience is irrelevant, but the fact is there are many millions like me. Together we make up the silent majority who are delighted that these drugs exist.
My grandparents all suffered from cardiovascular disease and died young or started to have strokes young. None were seriously overweight. Twenty years ago one of my parents, whilst young, had a heart attack and immediate triple heart bypass – again not overweight. They are still alive. I won’t detail my medical history here, but I have been on high statins for a number of years and I’m delighted that they exist. They will, in my opinion, and more importantly the opinion of many thousands of scientists and doctors, certainly improve my chances of living a longer life than my forebears, and I hope, without open heart surgery. The idea that statins are somehow the result of a conspiracy involving the large pharma companies is so ridiculous that it makes me angry. It seems to be the case now that if someone invents a conspiracy theory involving some large faceless corporation or government agency, before you know it The Church of a New Conspiracy has set up its headquarters on the internet and the church is immediately overrun by apostles! Look here for instance: 9/11 conspiracy theories…
Statin work and are mostly exceedingly safe to use. Millions and millions of people use them every day and almost all users tolerate them very well. These people, in the main, do not post on bulletin boards every day saying “They work. Another happy day for me!”, so the people who post are instead the few people who hold the opposite view…largely or wholly without supporting evidence.
Rant over.
Thanks Howard. Great summary.
“It’s a bit like going to the electronics shop these days.”
“Most of the cardiologists/EP’S, have little knowledge.”
Two of the more ridiculous comments I’ve read today.
