statins

[percypineapple]

My wife and I have been on rosuvastatin for a couple of years. we collected our repeat prescriptions and there was a note from the health centre/pharmacy.
it said that owing to the cost of statins, the government had told them to supply the cheaper alternative, and we would not notice any difference and the were just as good. i read the info sheet with the new statins, they are called
" lipitor". as I read on to the bit that says you should consult your doctor if you are taking some of the following, which was several medicines. amongs them is:
warfarin. verapamil. my wife is taking both of them. it also states that if you have had a stroke you should not take them. I had TIA, I don't know if that counts,but we have not taken the new tablets. the point i am getting at, is, should the medical centre/pharmacy have checked to see if the new tablets were safe for us, or, did the rosuvastatins have the same warnings and i never read the package leaflet?
Thanks,
Percy.

[Sqad]

Never read the instructions with your tablets.

Lipitor is atorvastatin and is safe to take with warfarin and verapamil.

TIA's are NOT a contraindication for taking statins.

[237SJ]

Sorry to poke my nose in. It says on drugs.com that there is a moderate interaction between Lipitor (atorvastatin) and verapamil. Apparently, verapamil interferes with the enzyme in the liver that is needed to eliminate atorvastatin from the body. So it should be monitored. The Warfarin issue is the same with rosuvastatin and atorvastatin.
Hope you don`t mind me interfering Sqad. This just caught my eye because they are ALWAYS advertising Lipitor on the TV in the States.

[DaisyNonna]

Had a stroke and was prescribed lipitor. Have taken it for three and a half years.

[percypineapple]

always a problem to know what to think. do we really need the statins? when i was administering the anti cancer tablets and all the other stuff my wife was taking, the doctor said " don't worry about spacing the tablet times, just give them all at once" I did not do that, i read the info, and if it was every four hours, then she got them every four hours.
I read a couple of years ago, that life expectancy for cancer patients was prolonged by giving tablets at the prescribed intervals.To me, that was obvious, these drug companies spent millions making drugs, and timing was in the literature, so therefore tested and important. when my wife had the breast cancer, she was told it was terminal, that was 20 years ago. she had a stroke shortly after the cancer op. we were told that it was the cancer gone to the brain. wrong again, it was a stroke from the blood clot, which she recovered fully from, but this was 20 years ago, so she had to go to a special hospital in west sussex that had the mri machine to find that out. A year later they took out the lympyh nodes from under the armpits, once again telling her it was terminal. I always thought teminal meant quite soon, but apparantly not in the eastbourne area of sussex. Sorry, i am whinging a bit. I now think we will stay off the statins for a month, then pay for a cholesterol test and see what the score is. It may be that we will have to be more careful with the diet. and Squad, once again thanks for the advice on the thyroide iodine treatment, my wife has not felt better for years, and thats only after three weeks from the treatment date. really glad she had it done. we are missing the grandchildren, but another week should give the all clear.
Percy.

[Sqad]

237SJ...LOL... always a pleasure to see and read your well written and well informed posts and you are always welcomed "aboard," an asset to Health sections.

percy.....look at it this way....an average week for a doctor is probably 100 consultations,5,000 a year during which time there is bound to be many misdiagnosis. mis managements and inaccurate prognosis.

A surgeon will 3,000 operations a year .....plenty for the occasional "cockups".......doctors are human and have normal human failings.

However, you best chance of a relevant diagnosis comes as a result of a consultation with a properly trained medical practitioner.

Glad the "old lady" is improving.