Re: stroke, homocysteine and B 12

From: David Rind (drind_at_caregroup.harvard.edu)
Date: 03/02/05 

Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2005 07:26:11 -0500

Zee wrote:
> And I would be happy to take statins were I not still suffering from my
> previous statin use and quite certain I would kill myself by taking one
> again. Over and over I was talked into going on yet a different one, or
> back on a previous one, because I AM AFRAID. I hoped, like anyone else,
> they would help me. My physicians would love for me to take Crestor and
> would write the script immediately, not because there is any evidence
> of overall efficacy--in me--but because it lowers numbers. A physician
> friend (who does not treat me) referred to it as:
>
> "My profession is notoriously numerically fixated (it's easier to be
> quick and dirty - and linear - that way). Numerical endpoints and
> standards make us slaver like caged vampires."
> http://tinyurl.com/3ku3r

As mentioned in the past, I don't disagree with this. I think lots of
people end up with their cholesterol numbers treated simply because we
have drugs that affect the numbers.

Have you or someone else calculated your ten year risk for a cardiac
event? Is that number so high that a 30% reduction in relative risk
(about what you might see with a statin) is worth lots of effort to try
to achieve? 

-- 
David Rind
drind@caregroup.harvard.edu

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