Dr. Maryanne Demasi – ‘Statin Wars: Have we been misled by the evidence?’
Dr. Maryanne Demasi is a former medical scientist who completed her PhD in Medicine at the University of Adelaide. Her research focused on the pathology of Rheumatoid arthritis and potential therapies. Her innovative research has appeared in several internationally published medical journals.
Leaving her lab coat behind, Maryanne accepted a position as a political advisor and speechwriter for the South Australian Minister for Science and Information technology portfolios. She advised on issues concerning Intellectual Property and commercialisation of research.
Maryanne was headhunted by the ABC ‘s Catalyst program in 2006 and gained a reputation for reporting on relevant and sometimes controversial medical stories. She has won numerous accolades for her work and in 2008, 2009 and 2011 was awarded the National Press Club of Australia’s prize for her excellence in health journalism.
A formidable woman and a doctor. Great thanks to Maryanne for keeping it real in a world where medicine is just marketing.
Good to see Maryanne Demasi..been a fan of hers for ages. Love the generous and courageous Scientists and Doctors who are helping us wake up about basic principles of good health.
Agreed
Was about to write a similar comment when I saw this one 😉
My mother was on Statins, her dose was increased. She’s elderly. Her memory got progressively worse. “Dementia is normal” “Memory loss is normal” etc etc. She was about to be put in an assisted living facility. She couldn’t remember the basics. I read about Statins and memory, and the fact that cholestrol is an essential building block in memory. I stopped her Statin medication. Her memory returned comletely in 8 days. It was a miracle. NO STATINS
*WOW… amazing, totally amazing. Somebody told me once that **_pharmaceutical companies DO NOT make most drugs to cure a given illness but to manage it so in each case they can make billions eg, Tamiflu, as stated by Dr Demasi in the clip._*
I far as I know statins are bloodthinners? The “take an asprin/disprin (bloodthinner) a day for health” is also odd; disprin brings the temperature down, so if your temperature is already low, you can walk straight into trouble taking temperature lowering medication, surely. The awful thing is that if you’ve been on disprin for a while, as soon as you stop your blood goes into clotting overdrive, apparently. Perhaps it’s wise to take your temperature for a while before taking temperature lowering medication. IMO, one-size-fits-all medical advice is often dangerous advice!
You did the right thing, I would rather take my chances with heart attacks rather than risk dementia, it is a terrifying disease. I hope your mum is well.
“It was a miracle!” Nope it was just observation, application, courage & intelligence. Well done for having the guts to try something else other than shoving more pills.
@Hah Mi There is no much profit in a cure, the profits are with creating conditions/patients and keeping people on the meds for the rest of their lives.
I am 67 years and I have been taking statin for five years. My cholesterol levels are very low but my doctor still insisted that I should take statin. But just by common sense I stopped taking statin and I feel better; I could exercise much better and spend over 2 to 3 hours every day exercising / physical work in the fields. I stopped going to my doctor. Thanks for your video.
The statin medication Lipitor was prescribed to me due to the cholesterol thing. In 6 months time I had a hard time getting up from a chair. then I fell flat on my face injuring my eye during a simple walk. To make a long story short,after all the testing, I now have Inclusion Body Myositis and my muscles were destroyed and so was my life. I also have congestive heart failure due to it and am fighting every day to stay out of a wheelchair and the hospital.
Anyone taking a statin must take CoQ10. Or better yet, stop taking statin.
@Rik Steele Rick, these “doctors “have a lot to answer for, hope you are feeling a bit better.
same here, buddy
Low carb diet and physical fitness and intermittent fasting…. If u do all it will be much more better
I was put on statins after a heart attack and believe me it was horrible all I did was sleep and couldn’t remember things it was a nightmare. I am so grateful I came across this video because my intuition was telling me that it was not a good thing to be taking emphasize that I dropped my cholesterol by going partially keto and eating Chia seeds in my oatmeal
My dad was a scientist working in a lab, working on the connection between high cholesterol & heart disease, about 40 years ago… he said that there was never a connection & every time he reported it, it was swept under the rug by his superiors. He retired as Head of mens health department at Pfizer 10 years ago
Wow ! Thanks for sharing
Jaysus!!
D:3 K2 mk7. Niacin magnesium flax seed Coq10 garlic tabs
There is a link, I think it’s irrefutable… The problem is HOW is it related
I’ve heard that for years there’s no cause-and-effect. There may be a correlation between cholesterol and heart attacks but it’s never been proven that cholesterol naturally existing in the body is a major contributor to heart attacks
My husband stopped his Lipitor years ago. His cholesterol was high but there was no history of heart disease on either side of his family, no strokes. He was active, physically fit, was a diabetic so on a restrictive diet. I talked him in to stopping it after reading about this several years ago. He is seventy this year and his cholesterol is down from when he was on Lipitor.
And keto or carnivore diet will reverse his type 2 diabetes.
This lady is a true crusader for the truth.
I have resisted these statins as after being on them for a while I suffered chronic fatigue, muscle pains and developed cataracts.
This should go viral.
Thank You for being a true Crusader !!!!!!! 777
A doctor in San Diego revealed the negative aspects of stations twenty years ago. But she could not get funding to confirm her research. I stopped taking them after reading her results, glad I did.
Chronic fatigue that’s the word I’m.same Statin made my knees ache so bad used walking stick .left work retired early because of the pain.
It would seem almost self-evident that the drug could be a poison in excess. Cholesterol forms part of the cell membrane, is a building block of hormones, and making bile. Cholesterol _deficiency_ could very well occur.
She is a hot crusader indeed.
Years ago my GP husband and I watched an episode on Catalyst called ‘ The heart of the matter’ and it reinforced everything he’d always thought about the dangers of statins just from his observation of patients . They are a TERRIBLE drug !! I have horror stories of friends and family members on statins ( even dementia like symptoms!!) until they went off them … back to normal. Thank you for that great lecture👏🏻
Chiropractors followed the science and have been trying to get patients off statins and onto healthy diet for decades.
MD profession is full of quacks who keep shilling big pharma propaganda.
I wonder what he would think about the vax insanity. Same game different players.
I was a board certified Internal Medicine specialist in the USA. I had to retire early when I realized that allopathic medical doctors had become to a great degree simply pawns to push pharmaceuticals to end users for the benefit of pharmaceutical companies. About half of the disease burden in the USA is due to lifestyle choices and can be ameliorated by lifestyle changes. Pharmaceuticals like statins are inferior to diet changes but your family doctor does not know this because he or she is not taught this in medical school and this approach is suppressed in the medical literature.
Ive been looking after my mom for the past 11 years. She is 88 and suffers from dementia. Ive taken her to all her medical appointments. In this time and I’ve always had doctors wanting to prescribe medications to her after blood tests. Each time I would as the doctor ie: “She is 80 years old. What are the side effects on a person her age going to be?”
Every single doctor when asked that question could not give a reasonable answer nor would make a case to take the prescription. Sadly that’s what the medical profession has come to. Many doctors are incentivized to prescribe medications even to people of advanced age where the risks outweigh the benefits. My mom despite her condition is fairing well and Im betting she will reach 90 drug free.
@Richard Cabrera I recently watched this youtube by Prof Smith at Oxford uni. How B Vitamins & Omega 3s Reverse Cognitive Decline
Agreed. Allopathic is way too Rx and Sx oriented
This video is one of the biggest reasons I stopped taking statins 3 days ago and I’m starting to few better already. God Bless you Dr. Demasi !!!
Congrats.
Thank you for this. I’ve been on it for a year and started to develop leg issues. Was researching statin side effects and came across your talk. This explains so much – I’m not crazy.
I also have leg pain, 72yrs. Difficult walking. On rosuvastatin 5mths, time to go off It I think.
Thank you Dr. Demasi for your video. I am new to Statins and have stopped a few weeks before seeing this video and you confirm everything I have felt inside my being regarding these awful drugs. I have started a Keto type diet, inspired by Dr. Berg, learning how to naturally keep my system in godly form. I think your awesome, keep up your great work!
See also Dr Ken Berry, Sten Ekberg, excellent teachers. There are tons of keep low carb recipes now.
I received exactly the “how dare you?“ Objection from my doctor. It is clear that many doctors have become incurious, unconcerned prescriptionists. They have seven minutes with you and are anxious to get you out of the office so they can get the next patient in. Many of them don’t seem to have read anything or tried to research anything after they got out of medical school, which for many is decades. This means they have no new information other than what their drug representative is pushing to them. Medicine has changed drastically since I was younger. It is horrifying to me. Doctors have become an extension of the drug companies, not healers.
It’s due to the medical profession’s protocol of Standard of Care (SoC). When a Dr keeps his/her prescription within the SoC, he/she is professionally and effectively waived from liability should something subsequently go wrong with the patient for following the Dr’s prescription. But if/where the SoC isn’t followed, and the Dr prescribes things that fall outside of the SoC, he/she stands potentially liable for any or all of the adverse effects/consequences that follow as a result of the patient’s adherence to the Dr’s out-of-SoC prescription.
“Prescriptionists.” Love it.
So true… In my country Pharmaceutical labs and most pharmacies are owned by economic groups and doctors are kept in control by their patients recipes when they purchase their medicines
You are your doctor’s client. YOU PAY THEM. Take all the time necessary and do as you wish.
I get to spend 100% of my time with me and prefer to take my own informed advice. I prefer not to seek nor to willingly pay for a doctor’s unsolicited advice. If I break my leg I’ll be sure to trust and of course pay them for their services.
My doctor put me on a statin because of mildly high LDL. (My general health is excellent. 5’9″ ,155 lbs. ) He told me there were no side effects and everyone should take statins as they are a miracle drug. Immediately I became extremely angry and hostile. I could not sleep. I was very confused and could not think properly. I decided to quit the statin and see the effect. Immediately I started to relax and my sleep returned to normal. I told my doctor and he said “Well there are side effects to everything. That is to be expected. ” I told him I would rather die happy than take another statin. Needless to say he is no longer my doctor. Incredible these so called scientists are so invested in their almighty power.
Yeah my LDL is high to. But he don’t care about glucose number. It is high. Just curious did you change your diet to?
Ths side effects suggest you are intolerant to statins. But there are other options to reduce cholesterol in life. Just speak to a nutrition specialist
Thank you for exposing those pharma-criminals. Through a fairly strict low carb diet, but not keto, I reversed my T2 diabetes in 5 months. I lost 10kg all up. But here is the kicker: when I started the diet my triglycerides were 7 mmol/L and total cholesterol 9.8 mmol/L! In 5 months triglycerides normalised to 1.2 mmol/L and total cholesterol dropped to 6.2 mmol/L. And if my doctor saw just how much saturated fat I ate during the process he would have been apoplectic. And he was telling me at the beginning how I can’t do it without medications through diet alone. He was speechless when he saw the blood test results after 5 months.
Way to go, Friend! I just started a carnivore diet a week ago. Your story give me hope!
Can you redirect me to some details about your diet? I’m just getting into this and I’m looking for a sensible diet. But I don’t want to go Keto. My intuition says it’s overhyped and unhealthy though it yields spectacular short-term results
@Luuk de BoerI gave up processed cards in Mar😮ch this year, no flour rice pasta bread sugar and I stopped eating potatoes corn and milk. I only eat certain vegetables like broccoli collieflour zucchini and green leafy vegies, and like I said I don’t drink milk but I love cream in my coffee. After I started this I went further and started intermittant fasting, this was hard for a week or so mainly with the headaches from carb withdrawal but an electrolyte drink(no sugar) fixed that. Once the weight starts dropping off it is a lot easier as you see that it works and if you are feeling like eating in the morning just drink water, go for a walk or just keep busy and the urge will go. Another thing is I was on a statin for a year or so and was always feeling off but after watching a video on the side affects I experimented but not taking them and within two days I had a new lease on life. I have now lost over twenty five KGS and my Cholesterol is 7.1 but I feel the best ive felt for years. Look up DR Jason fong on U- tube he can explain it better, hpope this helps.
4 years has past and I am still not taking statins. I never felt so great in my life. Thank you for producing that video that allowed me to take a decision that suited me.
Four years ago my wife suffered a heart attack. Rushed to the hospital, a stent was inserted and the prognosis was for full recovery. Three or so months later she began to have a very minor, almost imperceptible stutter in her speech. It worsened gradually, her care marginalized by the Covid pandemic caused condensing and reducing the availability of all but essential medical services. Thus at the beginning of 2022, she was nearly mute: she knew what she wanted to say but was simply unable to speak. A neurological exam revealed no evidence of stroke and the overarching diagnosis was “sometimes these things happen to older people”. My wife, the highly educated and once extraordinarily articulate 78 year old woman was without the ability to verbally communicate. In addition, the affliction impacted some of her ability to write.
She and I had a lenghty session together, trying to piece together what had happened. When the stent was inserted, the doctor prescribed two medications one of which was a statin. Neither her personal car nor her current cardiologist expressed any particular concern with the statin, but I spend a couple of hours on the Internet and easily found a relatively large Japanese study that directly established that sometimes when prescribed statin, women over 65 years of age could develop aphasia. I gave this information to my wife’s cardiologist who reviewed her most recent normal blood panel and immediately ordered she cease taking the statin. This was three years following her heart episode.
Two days later my wife could read a simple sentence that I wrote for her. Following that she began speech therapy although the speech therapists had never encountered this sort of issue previously. Today, my wife is beginning to speak again, although it is not a linear improvement. There are better days than others and it is very much like teaching a three or four year old to speak.
Subsequently I have received additional information from others who have experienced this totally unpublished (to my knowledge) side effect of statins. Shortly after stopping the statin, my wife’s cardiologist emailed me that he had recently read some information linking statin to aphasia.
“hold fast”! (1Thess.5 :21) And thank you for sharing, this info is helpful for me
I’m a physician and have told many colleagues my concerns with cholesterol medications over the years. A radiology tech I worked with for years heard me but never took it seriously and I didn’t even know he was on cholesterol meds until after he retired. He could barely walk and though it was due to his back or hips but orthopedic surgeons repeatedly told him his hips were fine. One day he ran in to a radiologist he had worked with who told him how he almost had to quit golfing due to his pain and difficulty walking but then stopped his cholesterol meds and all those symptoms reversed. So my friend told his primary care physician he wanted to stop his cholesterol meds. His PCP then said no, wait, instead of that lets try a different cholesterol med. So he agreed and all of his symptoms got even worse but at his next appointment his cholesterol numbers were even better! So my friend on his own decided to just stop the medication without telling his doctor. And all of the pain and walking problems he had suffered with for over 5 years disappeared. No many how many people I warn, they still listen to their PCPs. Do people even realize that these doctors are penalized if they don’t prescribe these cholesterol medications AND if the patient’s don’t fill the prescriptions?
Yes, I know. I am a nurse who has worked in the system several years. Insurers control the healthcare system in the US. There have even been talks about giving statins to kids and that every pre diabetic and diabetic should be on a statin regardless of cardiovascular health. I was pre diabetic myself, but most of my markers where still in check except HBA1C. The dr went wild when I refuse, and predicted my immediate dead from LDL elevation only.
I’ve always argued back that my ratio is good and doctors left me alone… one said he was gonna give me a script and I said don’t bother, i won’t get it filled…
Was on statins for 10 years or so. Had muscle pain that I thought was age related. Also, had very bad insomnia that I thought was age related. Both went away when I quit statins. If you’re in your 40s and 50s and your muscles hurt, how do you know the cause? It’s easy to believe it’s age. If you’re muscles hurt, try taking a break from statins. It took about 3 weeks of no statins before I could clearly see a difference. You’re doctor is not free to tell you what he (or she) really thinks.