Specifically, the FDA warned against taking simvastatins (Zocor or Vytorin) with the heart-rhythm drug amiodarone (Cordarone or Pacerone). The danger is especially high for patients taking more than 20 milligrams a day of the cholesterol drug.
Here's what gets me: Doctors have known for years of the dangers posed by this drug combo — yet they've done absolutely nothing about it. In 2002, the FDA issued a warning about combining the drugs. Since then, according to the FDA's own numbers, there have been 52 accounts of serious muscle injury in people who are taking both drugs.
You'd think they'd catch on that the fewer drugs the better. Guess you could call that wishful thinking on my part. The FDA's best solution for patients taking the combination is to consider a switching to another heart rhythm drug called Amiodarone. Seems to me like that would just be trading one potential problem for another.
My question is: Do the patients even need to be on those drugs to begin with? There is a lot of knee-jerk prescribing of statin drugs for patients with a high reading on cholesterol. But high cholesterol is not necessarily a sign of heart disease — or even that you're at significant risk for heart disease.
Statins interfere with the liver's production of cholesterol. That means you're putting your body at risk for problems with the systems that rely on that cholesterol. In other words, statin drugs end up causing more problems than they could ever hope to solve.
Before you start in with the statins, you should take a look at your diet to address a cholesterol issue. Make sure you're eating enough whole grains, vegetables and fruits. They contain nutrients called flavonoids, which help maintain healthy cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure and quiet inflammation — two of the other big risk factors for heart disease. You can also get flavonoids from tea, red wine, and chocolate.
