Patients come in for a doctor’s appointment and announce that they lowered their dose or stopped taking statins after reading an article on the internet or talking to a clerk at a nutrition store. We hear this all the time.
Sometimes we find out about it when they have a heart attack and we are reviewing their medications.
Even those who have had a heart attack may stop taking the medicine because of false information.
A recent study of nearly 60,000 people age 66 and older found that within two years of having a heart attack, nearly one in five people had stopped taking statins. And nearly two in five were taking a lower dose or taking it less frequently than their doctor prescribed.
One of the reasons they cited was concern about side effects. Those concerns are unfounded. This is fake news in the true sense of the word, and the problem isn’t going to go away.
If you’re at risk for heart disease, talk to your doctor and rely on reliable news sources when it comes to statins. It can save your life.
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