[itissteve]

A review study of 83,000 people taking statins who were using the US Veteran's Administration health system, compared to patients within the VA system who were not taking statins.

55.9% of the patients taking statins had diabetes progression during the study period, compared with 48% in the active comparison group.

My takeaway from the study: the almighty "protocol" that many health providers use to recommend specific therapeutic or medication regimens to those who fit broad categories ("over 40" "diabetic" "overweight" etc.) may be defined too loosely to be treating each patient properly as their condition requires.

 

[etherea]

Thanks for the link!
My diabetic mother had so many issues with statins. The rheumatologist I took her to blamed her muscle weakness on Crestor. Her doctor was infuriated that another doctor would take her off the statin. Between diabetic neuropathy and statins she ended up in a wheelchair.
Later my doctor prescribed them and I took them for a short while. I think he forgot he prescribed them--later he asked me if I could tolerate statins. I said no and he accepted that without other questions.

 

[kyteflyer]

My takeaway from the study: the almighty "protocol" that many health providers use to recommend specific therapeutic or medication regimens to those who fit broad categories ("over 40" "diabetic" "overweight" etc.) may be defined too loosely to be treating each patient properly as their condition requires.

I’d be inclined to agree!. There is no one size fits all, for any of our medical conditions. My GP was initially skeptical of my refusal of statins but when the blood results came in he stopped worrying

 

[volleyball]

My takeaway is different. It is like looking at auto repair records and making a judgement call.
1 group is cars that are driven less than 5k a year and the other is 40k a year and then saying the brand is the problem.
I give this study a bravo as it states that they don't know the correlation. They would have to do a far expanded research.

 

[itissteve]

volleyball, I'll give them points for stating that they don't know the correlation.

I'm referring, though, to the general medical community's (at least in the U.S.) seeming (and not-so-transparent) willingness to just throw medication at overly-broad categories of patients. My doctor recommended a statin for me years ago, based on my being over 50, overweight, and diabetic. The fact that my cholesterol numbers were not in the range where statins were recommended was something I had to find out about myself. When I pointed out that my numbers didn't need improving, she stopped pushing the statin. It's the health organization's protocol that's at issue, and when taking the broadly-recommended medication (may) cause other significant health issues, that's when I think patients need to be their own advocates.

 

[mbuster]

My takeaway is different. It is like looking at auto repair records and making a judgement call.
1 group is cars that are driven less than 5k a year and the other is 40k a year and then saying the brand is the problem.
I give this study a bravo as it states that they don't know the correlation. They would have to do a far expanded research.

I think all of y'all are right.