NHS doctors to give Covid patients statins and blood pressure drugs in hope they will prove to save lives as part of new trial Participants will be given apixaban – or Elquis – typically used to stop blood clots Or the cholesterol busting drug atrovastatin – sold over the counter for £12 Researchers are aiming … Read more
I recently stopped taking statins after suffering a droopy eye and sight problems because of the pills. A month later, my eyesight is not better. How long will it take to go back to normal? Statins are medications that reduce the levels of cholesterol in the blood, and they’ve been proven to prevent heart attacks … Read more
Are these the new statins? Cholesterol drugs with fewer side effects get approval from health chiefs Bempedoic acid could be given to NHS patients who can’t be prescribed statins It is the first new cholesterol lowering tably drug to be authorised in 10 years The new drug costs around £600 a year and could help … Read more
Back in 1986 I made a film for the BBC science series Tomorrow’s World about a remarkable new class of drugs called statins. Studies had shown that statins could cut people’s risk of heart disease by lowering their cholesterol levels. It was all very exciting. Thirty-five years on and statins are now one of the … Read more
Patients are warned not to shun statins after new research shows they are wrongly blamed for the aches and pains of old age New study suggests statins wrongly blamed for aches and pains in old age London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found the drugs had no effects They believe symptoms could be result … Read more
Statins ‘cut risk of Covid death’: Study finds cholesterol drugs taken by eight million Britons reduce chance of dying to virus by 43% in hospital patients Statins tackle ‘bad’ blood cholesterol and they are used by eight million Britons A study has now found giving statins to Covid patients can reduce death risk The study was … Read more
Eight million people in the UK take statins every day. But could inhaling them rather than taking them in pill form prevent common side-effects? Statins, one of the most widely prescribed drugs, are taken to reduce levels of ‘bad’ LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol in the body. When it builds up in the blood, LDL cholesterol … Read more
Statins side effects are caused by ‘nocebo’ effect when patients fall ill because they believe pills will do them harm even before they take them, study says ‘Nocebo effect’ could account for 90 per cent of statin side effects experienced A study found that those taking a dummy pill reported very similar side effects A … Read more
Statins made my legs ache, but when I stopped them I developed severe pins and needles, and it’s now painful to walk any distance. Is there anything I can do? Colin Bower, Nottingham. Your symptoms are highly suggestive of peripheral neuropathy, a common condition that occurs when the peripheral nerves — which run from the … Read more
About 80 per cent of high risk patients taking statins for cardiovascular disease still have high cholesterol and may need higher dose medication, study finds. Researchers from Imperial College London analysed the findings of a major study of cardiovascular patients in 18 European countries including the UK. Those at the highest risk of cardiovascular ‘events’ … Read more