705 Comments

Great, as usual, but there is a correction to make. Statins do not make 1 trillion a year. It was an estimate, in 2014 by Ioannidis, that total cumulative sales would approach 1 trillion by 2020. But annual sales are around 15 billion (still a great business though) Source : https://www.imarcgroup.com/statin-market

Expand full comment
author

I am going to pin this so everyone knows that was incorrect.

Expand full comment
author

Oh dear. I went off a 2020 paper for that claim.

Expand full comment

AMD - I remember, in my much younger days looking at the corruption in our world and feeling so small and alone. One of the great ironies of life is that through this hideous travesty called COVID, we have come to find you and the stellar humans like you, Pierre Kory, Paul Marik, Aseem Malhotra, Tess Laurie, Bonnie Ann Cox, Jessica Rose, Dr Robert Malone, Bobby Kennedy. I am so inspired by all of you.

A wise man once said, “I truly believe we are at a pivotal time, where the work that each of us puts in can make an immense impact on the future course of this world.”

I, for one, am inspired to act upon that advice.

Thank you. I am eternally both grateful and indebted to you folks - for saving me from despair. ☺️

Expand full comment

Of all the medical wisdom I've ever heard, I like the wise man who observed "I'd rather have this bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy." 🤡 All joking aside, our host does an admirable job. Thank you!

Expand full comment

What a handle for your online persona! A bit intimidating…. But I truly appreciate your post! Hope u have a great day. 😁

Expand full comment

Amen

Expand full comment

Ditto.

Expand full comment

Great article Dr. as usual! My personal story with statins happened in the 90's and solidified my distrust of the medical industrial complex. At that time I had a bad sinus infection and needed a referral from my primary doctor to see an ENT (this was during the HMO days when everything needed a referral). So off to the primary who scheduled tons of bloodwork and allergy tests. It was found I had no allergies BUT my cholesterol was high, so I needed to get on statins, STAT! If I remember rightly, the doc said that required 6 month liver checkups to make sure the drugs weren't destroying my liver. I laughed in the doc's face and commented that I would never take a drug that had a side effect of destroying my liver just to get my cholesterol numbers down. The doc was not amused that I rejected the drugs.

Thirty years later I am still alive, no stroke or heart attack yet and with an intact liver. I also have never been back to any doctor since. As for my sinus infection - nasal rinses and time cured that.

Expand full comment
author

Happy you trusted your gut. I believe nasal rinses in most cases are the best option for treating the sinuses.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

I recall about 30 or more years ago a Dr. attempting to somewhat aggressively put me on anti-depressants after I had tried one in the past and felt it wasn’t worth the trade off or numbing effects. I resisted and actually ended up calling him a “drug-pusher”. Turns out I was right. Too often Drs. are just vending machines for big pharma. A very sad state of affairs that our bodies are nothing but a commodity for evil profiteers.

Expand full comment

I am very glad you resisted.

We think, or used to think, that drug pushers were the obvious ones on the street.

In reality the worst offenders were those we trusted called doctors, but they had doctored the truth to their financial advantage.

I was given immuno-therapy for an alleged cancer in 2020 until I realised what was going on and stopped. I will not trust medics again, and I wasn't ever that trusting.

https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2022/02/04/world-cancer-day/

https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2022/11/19/sodium-nitrite-e250-the-poison-in-your-food-and-how-to-remedy-it/

Expand full comment

Likewise after a near death hypoxic multi organ failure 1 month after horrendous Campylobacter ( lost 20 pounds in 4 days ) - renal failure, heart failure, coma; severe depression post event > GP prescribed SSRI's > Amyltriptyline. Brain injury not diagnosed until 2 years later .....whole nine yards of anxiety, morbidly severe depression and PTSD that still raises its very ugly head. Could not tolerate these bastard drugs, not even 10mgs - made me very comatose in morning. GP said "drugs not addictive" - liar; took every ounce of my slowly returning mental strength to get myself off them. Then I read how BigPharma screwed the trials for SSRIs among others. For me, as with others here, drug pushing "entities" are the personification of indolent evil.

Expand full comment

I learned drs were glorified drug pushers while doing medical transcription so I could be home with my kids. Every kid who saw this particular family practice got ADHD drugs and most adults were on antidepressants. Because of this experience I refused to put my 3 sons who were active healthy boys on anything. That family practice also pushed Phen Fen which i never took but ended up being disgnosed with Pulmonary Hypertension, sometimes caused by Phen Fen.

Expand full comment

My mother's doctor who recently retired was a drug pusher. The one who replaced him is also a drug pusher. That's the only way to make money in the medical industrial complex.

Expand full comment

Please explain. I don't understand, truly, how they make money writing subscriptions. patient pays for the visit whether doc writes one or not, no further payment, right? Missing something here. . . ?!

Expand full comment

I think drug companies give lots of stuff to Drs.

Expand full comment

Here's what works great for me - Grapefruit Seed Extract and water.

1. Take a nasal spray bottle and completely empty it and wash it out with water.

2. Fill the empty spray bottle with water and then add three or four drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract oil to the water in the bottle and then shake it up.

3. If you suspect a sinus infection, spray that mixture into both nostrils of your nose three or four times a day. Yes, you'll feel some stinging in your nose, which is due to the sinus infection. 12 hours later though, no more stinging sensation as the nasal infection will be gone. The next day or so sinus draining will occur post infection as the sinuses heal from the former infection.

This has always worked great for me. The key? Pure Grapefruit Seed Extract Oil.

Expand full comment

https://www.iherb.com/pr/nutribiotic-vegan-gse-grapefruit-seed-extract-liquid-concentrate-2-fl-oz-59-ml/4211

I used this, but for SIBO problems, drank 10 drops with water 2x a day to kill bad bacteria in the small intestines. Seemed to work.

Would you think this same stuff is what you are recommending?

Expand full comment

Yes, that's exactly the same product I use for sinus infections. Sounds like it worked for your SIBO too, which is awesome.

Just curious... how much water do you use with the 10 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract Oil?

Expand full comment

at first I just used a couple oz of water but it was too bitter. I experimented with lemon and lime(fresh juiced from 1/2 of one), added that to some water and it went down better. Basically, I minimally diluted the lime / lemon to maximize taste and inhibit that of grapefruit seed extract!

I believe instructions said to use a "glass" of water with 10 drops. I do my own thing. . . !

Hey, how's the fishin' down there in Fa? Inland or ocean?

Expand full comment

Thanks for the info on the amount of water you use. I agree that the GSE oil is quite bitter.

As for fishing here in Florida, when I do go bass fishing it's during the Fall and Winter months. It's just too darned hot and humid in the summer for me to be outside.

But sometimes I do go fishing in the summer. When I go, it's at Lake Wal-mart where I go to catch Tilapia in the frozen food aisle. <grin>

Expand full comment

What sort of water should one use? I've heard horror stories about nasal rising with tap water containing brain-eating bacteria...

Expand full comment

Bottled distilled water. Pure h2o. And it’s cheap.

Expand full comment

I love nasal rinses and have been rinsing for 20 years. I have always used tap water (which I also drink), I don't bother with boiling. I also use coarse/kosher salt (no anti-clumping additives). So far I do not feel any brain eating bacteria inside my head LOL. The advice about making a supply of rinse solution for a few days ...I advise against that...make fresh and use same day. Keeping it for a few days will actually promote bacterial growth.

Expand full comment

You know it may be OK with that new-fangled "electrolyzed water"?! last longer that is?

Expand full comment

I boil bottled water, then let it cool. We have well water, which I would never use.

Expand full comment

I am on a well and use it for ALL drinking uses. You can do a better job of water treating your own than municipal utilities. I don't understand why you would not use your well water?!

What I do:

From well to pressure tank, Tank into a small sand removal filter(called a spin-down), through an iron filter that removes high percentage of the iron(stains toilets, causes nasty smells, etc.), through a 5 micron filter into all drinking faucets. Works just fine, still alive.

Expand full comment

This was in response to nasal rinses. I drink my well water all the time. Just a little leery about shooting possible pathogens that close to my brain.

Expand full comment

Bottled water is ok. Tap water that is safe to drink is OK too -- IF you boil and cool it first. For many years I fill a Pyrex measuring cup (4 cup) full, add my salt, and microwave on "high" for 12:30 until it's been boiling a few minutes. Let cool, pour into storage jug, and it's a couple day's supply.

Expand full comment

thanks, good to know. I Sent this excerpt to wife and kids who have sinus problems!

Expand full comment

Your story is very similar to my own which occurred about 23 years ago.

Expand full comment

In my journey to escape psychiatric drugs (the worst of damage seems to be from lithium) - the statin and PPI went first. When the statin went away - easily 40% of my symptoms lifted, and it took a slow taper off the psych drugs over 3 years to get totally free.

Expand full comment

Man. I hear a story like that and think what a shame these doctors messed up your life recommending crapp like that.

Expand full comment

I'm one of the lucky ones. But I'm involved in caring for others who suffer more, at www.survivingantidepressants.org where we help people taper safely and slowly off these harmful drugs. (well, we don't taper statins or PPI's, but we recommend it)

Expand full comment

Specialist who confirmed hypoxic brain injury told me - "have to stop these drugs now, immediately, more harm, no beneficial affect"...cannot tell you how hard that was to do....but I did it over two days after ~two weeks deeply distressing panic.

Expand full comment

"One of Dr. Malhotra's admissions in the podcast was that despite dedicating his career to fighting industry corruption and his knowledge they had wholly corrupted the evidence base the practice of medicine is founded upon, it had never even occurred to him there might be something wrong with the COVID-19 vaccines."

It is silly at times when you see these takes considering how those with the ridiculous agenda were admitting to misinformation a year before, IT IS LUDICROUS insanity with that so BE CAREFUL with that PEOPLE!

Expand full comment

Anyone who didn't take the (literally) 3 minutes necessary to look into Pfizer's record of unremitting corruption and crimes was and is a fool.

Experimental injections from a serial felon for an imaginary illness. What a wild ride and the show continues.

The short list:

In 2008 Pfizer announced that it was setting aside $894 million to settle the lawsuits that had been filed in connection with Bextra and Celebrex.

In 1996 Pfizer was one of 15 large drug companies that agreed to pay more than $408 million to settle a class action lawsuit charging that they conspired to fix prices charged to independent pharmacies.

In 1999 Pfizer pled guilty to criminal antitrust charges that its former Food Science Group unit took part in two international price-fixing conspiracies—one involving the food preservative sodium erythorbate and the other the flavor enhancer maltol. Pfizer agreed to pay fines totaling $20 million.

In 2002 Pfizer agreed to pay $49 million to settle charges that one of its subsidiaries defrauded the federal Medicaid program by overcharging for its cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor.

In 2016 the Justice Department announced that Pfizer would pay $784 million to settle allegations that Wyeth underpaid rebates to Medicaid on two of its drugs. Later in 2016 the UK's Competition and Markets Authority fined Pfizer the equivalent of $107 million for charging excessive and unfair prices for an epilepsy drug.

In 2000 the FDA warned Pfizer and Pharmacia, co-marketers of the arthritis drug Celebrex, that the consumer ads they were running for the medication were false and misleading.

Two years later, the FDA ordered Pfizer to stop running a series of magazine ads that the agency said misleadingly suggested that its cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor was safer than competing products.

In 2003 Pfizer paid $6 million to settle with 19 states that had accused the company of using misleading ads to promote its Zithromax medication for children’s ear infections.

In 2004 Pfizer’s Warner-Lambert subsidiary agreed to pay $430 million to resolve criminal and civil charges that it paid physicians to prescribe its epilepsy drug Neurontin to patients with ailments for which the medication was not approved.

In 2007 Pfizer subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn agreed to pay $34.7 million to settle federal charges relating to the illegal marketing of its Genotropin human growth hormone.

In 2009, Pfizer was fined $2.3 billion, then the largest healthcare fraud settlement and the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the United States. Pfizer pled guilty to misbranding the painkiller Bextra with "the intent to defraud or mislead,” promoting the drug to treat acute pain at dosages the FDA had previously deemed dangerously high.

John Kopchinski, a former Pfizer sales representative whose complaint helped bring about the federal investigation, told the New York Times: “The whole culture of Pfizer is driven by sales, and if you didn’t sell drugs illegally, you were not seen as a team player.”

In 2010 Pfizer disclosed that during a six-month period the previous year it had paid $20 million to some 4,500 doctors and other medical professionals for consulting and speaking on the

company’s behalf.

In 2011 Pfizer agreed to pay $14.5 million to resolve federal charges that it illegally marketed its bladder drug Detrol.

In 2012 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had reached a $45 million settlement with Pfizer to resolve charges that its subsidiaries had bribed overseas doctors and other healthcare professionals.

In 2012, Pfizer paid $1.2 billion to settle claims by nearly 10,000 women for punitive damages for the drug maker’s actions in withholding information about the risk of breast cancer from Prempro.

In 2013, Pfizer agreed to pay $55 million to settle criminal charges for failing to warn patients and doctors about the risks of kidney disease, kidney injury, kidney failure, and acute interstitial nephritis caused by its proton pump inhibitor, Protonix.

In 2013, Pfizer set aside $288 million to settle claims by 2,700 people that its drug, Chantix, caused suicidal thoughts and severe psychological disorders. The FDA determined that Chantix is probably associated with a higher risk of a heart attack.

In 2013 Pfizer reached a $35 million settlement relating to the improper marketing of the kidney transplant drug Rapamune brought by more than 40 state attorneys general.

In 2000 the Washington Post published a major exposé accusing Pfizer of testing a dangerous new antibiotic (in 1996) called Trovan on children in Nigeria without receiving proper consent from their parents. This unapproved clinical trial on 200 Nigerian children with its experimental anti-meningitis drug, Trovafloxacin, caused the death of 11 children from kidney failure and left dozens more disabled.

In 2001 Pfizer was sued in U.S. federal court by thirty Nigerian families, who accused the company of using their children as human guinea pigs.

In 2006 a panel of Nigerian medical experts concluded that Pfizer had violated international law.

In 2009 the company agreed to pay $75 million to settle some of the lawsuits that had been brought in Nigerian courts.The U.S. case was settled in 2011 for an undisclosed amount.

Expand full comment
author

All I can say is most people in the medical field are not aware of this and no one ever tells them to look into it.

Expand full comment

The irony is, dumb ol' mechanics routinely check for manufacturers' recalls on your car, just to cover their arses by doing the job right, so as not to cause an accident&injury...Common sense,eh? Y'all should thank your lucky stars that doctors don't fix cars...you'd either end up walking to work or worse, planted six feet under.

Expand full comment

Yeah, well just wait until the government takes over all the car companies(completely). Your local Chevy dealer / owner(YOUR boss) will make it policy that his mechanics will always inject (software) new chip updates into the ECU whether it needs it or not and "boosts" them twice a year. The dealer will receive $500 from the Dept of Transportation(Mayor Pete B) for each vax injected and you will get a $50 bonus. AND, you will look away when the car coughs on its way through the overhead door.

But you will be richer.

Expand full comment

The problems here are: 1) these fines are mostly just rounding errors, and 2) individuals are seldom if ever held criminally liable. If people served time rather than just passing this up to the company level, then these practices would be greatly curtailed. If a company went bankrupt due to the fines, then that would serve as a warning to other companies to not use similar practices.

Expand full comment

Thing is - if we go after Pfizer for crimes, they'll get fined, pay the fine. Cost of doing business.

If it affects their stock, they will collapse and re-form into a new drug company, without the baggage of Pfizer (in fact, given the lawsuits above, I'm surprised they haven't done it already).

Expand full comment

What a horrifying record, thanks for compiling and presenting.

Expand full comment

You'll like this, from 1960.:

Following the January 1959 disclosure of the misleading Pfizer ad for Sigmamycin, the Federal Trade Commission issued the first unfair practice complaint in its history against an ethical (sic) drug house, with Pfizer as the defendant. An FTC trial examiner subsequently found Pfizer guilty of the practice complained of. But the examiner recommended dismissal of the complaint on the strength of a Pfizer pledge to avoid repetition of the offense, even though at the very moment of the dismissal recommendation a second misleading Pfizer ad—the one which substituted data about one drug to support another drug called Enarax— •was unde r FTC investigation.

Do We Need a Census of Worthless Drugs?

by John Lear

The Saturday Review, May 7, 1960, pp. 53-57

https://www.unz.com/print/SaturdayRev-1960may07-00053/Contents/

The whole series that Lear wrote about the crimes of big pharma60+ years ago is worth a read.

Expand full comment

I used to read the Saturday Review as a child. It is nice to discover what appears to be a convenient archive. Thank you. I do recall the pressure in private practice to give the patient something more than merely and exam, a diagnosis, reassurance he just had a cold. There is some pressure from patients (misplaced) for antibiotics when they feel bad. Now as a hospitalist I don’t have those pressures, but I have learned more and urge patients to start taking vitamin D, C, and zinc to avoid getting sick.

Expand full comment

You sound like a fine doc, and unfortunately, a rare one. I hope you find that archive as interesting as I have. Bless you.

Expand full comment

Thank you for that Geoff. If you have the whole series handy send it over otherwise I'll look it up.

Expand full comment

Unfortuantley I do not have a list, but if you click the link, it'll take you to the site that has tons of "historic" articles archived, and doing an author search there should get you what you need.

The stuff that was written in the popular press 50 - 100 years ago is eye popping. There were a few real journalists back then.

I hope you find it as fruitful as I have.

Expand full comment

Just by the way: In pharmacy, “ethical” means “prescription”. Nothing to do with integrity or honesty (obviously, right?).

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023·edited May 4, 2023

I dunno. I put the (sic) in there because I thought it was an "interesting" choice of words. Nothing associated with big pharma today could be called ethical in any way, I think.

Thank you for pointing that out.

Expand full comment

Or ever- look into the history of Pfizer including their very first product.

They were scammin' from day one.

Expand full comment

True.

The same could be said, I think, about nearly all corporations, churches, "yooniversities", mass media, and governments (even local ones) to name a few other entities as well...

Expand full comment

They must have been drooling over this deal. Zero accountability. Actually ordered to commit fraud by the DOD. Winning!!!

Expand full comment

It was all a set-up. Years in the making and multi-billion dollar deals in both present and future.

All talk about a pandemic and some disease completely miss the mark of what happened.

Expand full comment

I’ve called it a Scamdemic since March 2020. I wasn’t fooled for a nanosecond, or a nanoparticle for that matter.

Expand full comment

Same here.

Still jaw dropping to believe so many fell for this and still aggaravating that so many "in the know" are going on about myriad sideshows that distract people from seeing the reality of what happened.

All the best.

Expand full comment

"...that distract people from seeing the reality of what happened."

And what is still going on in other ways and areas.

Expand full comment

Good for you. I did manage to work it out by 1st June 2020 (I am a bit slow), although the whole thing was odd to me as I knew after the winter in the UK people should be out in the sun for vitamin D, not stuck indoors.

Still, I managed to catch up quickly which was a relief.

Expand full comment

This reads like a list of U.S. war crimes.

Oh. Interesting.

Expand full comment

Most people just look the other way. They are brainwashed and will just say, "Yeah, all big companies have some corruption but our government protects us and would never allow them to harm us. These statins and vaccines save millions of lives."

Expand full comment

"Anyone who didn't take the . . . was and is a fool."

Yeah, well Allen, maybe you are more aware than most and lots of us are fools here, then. I failed to be aware but good for you, man.

Also, most of us have been living our lives and dealing like normal people for the last 50 years or more and had hardly ever seen a reason not to trust others. Most of the world is just trying to figure out life, why we are here and to live in peace and be happy without provoking others or be hurt. Most of the world is not taking the 15 years out of their life which it took you to document every mis-deed Pfizer (and likely 5 or 10 others!) were culpable of.

JUST THE SAME: Thanks for the compendium of hard facts for the eventual legal case against this juggernaut of hatred called Pfizer.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

My new doctor (we moved a few years ago and lost our old family physician who knew me well) keeps pushing me to get on statins. I keep saying no. She keeps saying we will “need to revisit” this. It’s quite frustrating. Eventually I suspect doctors will be told/encouraged to drop patients who are non-compliant as to taking pushed pharmaceuticals. I can feel this coming in my bones.

Expand full comment
author

Well they are financially penalized if not enough of their patients are on medicine, as this is interpreted as them giving poor medical care to their patients.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023·edited May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

I’ve read some of the articles on that. It appears practices are being incentivized into one path of care, to the exclusion of all others. Which is of course tied into these corporatized models. But is it really about a concern over “poor care” or is it tied to the greenbacks? I would say the financial incentives at a corporate level outweigh genuine concern.

I’ve read articles that talk about how medical schools are not training doctors like they used to, and that Big Pharma has corrupted those educational institutions, much like how other harmful ideologies have corrupted the other universities and colleges.

I do feel bad for many who may be good in their profession and genuinely want to help their patients, but are caught in the pincers between do what’s right or lose your job. I’ve read a lot of doctors are retiring or moving to escape from the trap. It’s why I don’t get personally angry at our new caregiver who keeps banging the drum of the statins. But I remain frustrated that my wishes are being constantly challenged. Whatever happened to a patient’s right to choose?

Expand full comment

My doctor explicitly informed me she receives a bonus from insurance for every "guideline" I follow. So when I refused Fosamax for osteopenia in favor of increasing my vitamin D intake/increasing my weight-bearing exercise, her bonus for that guideline was withheld.

Expand full comment

That is definitely not a good thing. It’s way of stripping us of our humanity and making us into walking dollar signs instead. Which is of course how the globocorp leadership views all of us.

Expand full comment

Absolutely. My doctor and I are friends and colleagues, so I appreciated her honesty. However, since I have never been in private practice, I had no idea this was happening with the bonus reimbursements.

Expand full comment

Or, you could be in a single payer (socialised medicine) country, where - the government determines how you practise. Failure to adhere = suspension. Persistence = delicensed.

There are some advantages to socialised medicine. It's not a crisis to have to go to a doc. But if you argue with the doc, you are also arguing with all the bureaucrats who pay his salary.

Which one is more honest, more true? The taking of payments for levels of use of system protocols? Or - being forced to follow them, or else?

Expand full comment

I do believe this is the same situation in the UK. My family are worthless as we do not take any form of regular medication. Now my children are grown up with their own children, it is the same picture. I moved to another borough ergo new surgery, same story. It is as if we are victimised for being healthy, what a ridiculous state of affairs. I have found just asking “why” really puts the cat amongst the pigeons……

Expand full comment

If the medical system is getting as corrupt as I fear it is: If you otherwise like your doctor, or perhaps you are stuck with him for some reason, perhaps a compromise can be reached. If your doctor feels pressured to prescribe certain medications, perhapss you could have a conversation with him off the record. To the best of my knowledge, no law actually requires a patient take the drug he is prescribed. There are downsides, of course: this plan only "works" for the patient if he's not paying out of pocket for the drug. And lab tests etc. would reveal the drug not "working." Major point: the medical industrial complex is at least partially based upon illusions (e.g. lies). As such, you should feel no qualms about being deceptive when it suits your own purposes. I draw the line at outright fraud; what I outline here wouldn't be at least in my mind. When forced to exist in a twisted world, is it really a sin for both doctor and patient to work together (after all, isn't that the goal?) and work within -- or game -- the system. If somebody else is picking up the tab, my above scenario is win-win. Doc makes his quotas, and patient isn't actually taking drugs he thinks are unsafe.

Expand full comment

Always a thought: keep your mouth shut, take the script and throw it away. How often would a doctor check that you filled the script? Much less took the pills?

(this is why they put tracking devices in neuroleptics, er, "anti-psychotics," to ensure compliance)

Expand full comment

I went in to my neurosurgeon to have my back checked and he prescribed 6 medications. I didn't fill any of them. Exercise, stretches and herbs worked beautifully once I knew nothing structural was wrong. Final visit he asked why I did not fill the prescriptions - my answer was I didn't want them and my way worked just fine. He called me a weird greeny and I left laughing. I haven't been back either.

Expand full comment

All of our system's reimbursement mechanisms incentivize over-prescribing. The recent advent of "pain management" as a specialty is illustrative and highlights how regulatory bodies mandate certain actions leading to bad outcomes. E.g. you must record pain scores and treat them accordingly in order to be paid. Same with depression scores. There's a reason they constantly do those assessments at every primary care visit.

Expand full comment

Well that explains a lot. Every single time I visit the GP I have to do a depression assessment. I couldn’t understand why this is constantly being done.

Expand full comment
Jul 6, 2023·edited Jul 6, 2023

A screening? EVERY time? That's intrusive, and I would say so.

My mood is not my doctor's business. It has nothing to do with medicine.

Expand full comment

Dr. Jennifer Daniels claims that she was driven out of US medicine because she didn't prescribe enough. And her patients were - coming off of prescriptions. IIRC she was called before boards 2-3 times before she left the US (for Costa Rica?). Her story seems plausible.

Expand full comment

That is sad and disturbing.

Expand full comment

but good for Costa Rica!

Expand full comment

Mine kept pushing the poison on me till I gave her a copy of one of Kendrick's articles. SInce then she has quit giving me the sales pitch and that goes for the hypertension garbage as well.

I'm taking my chances with mother nature and, being a big boy, I am prepared for what she has in store. Thanks to covidiocy, my trust level in the medicine show and big pharma is now in negative territory.

Expand full comment

Good idea! I was actually thinking of printing this article that A Midwestern Doctor wrote and suggesting she read it to know why I am taking the position I do.

Expand full comment

Kendrick's was somewhat shorter so probably more likely to be read by a "busy" "health care" practitioner, I think.

Expand full comment

I’d be interested in seeing the shorter article you mention if you’d post a link to it.

Expand full comment

Thank you so much! I will read it and print out a few copies tomorrow.

Expand full comment

Thank you!

Expand full comment

I'll try to find it.

Expand full comment

Plus, Kendrick's article doesn't have COVID baggage in it.

I thought of forwarding it on - but confronting statins is a diff ballgame to confronting COVID.

Expand full comment

can you give me some info on the hypertension garbage? I've been on meds for 'essential' hyptertension since I was thirty, and I now suspect I've just had severe anxiety. It's up and down. And my naturopath said that lisinopril blocks nutrients, to my detriment. No idea what number is REALLY dangerous, my doc just wants it LOW. Thanks!

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

Many pediatricians drop patients whose parents decline routine shots.

And how many stories did we hear of patients whose drs refused to see them because they refused the vid injection? A friend who is Type 1 diabetic said her endocrinologist told her she couldn't be a patient anymore if she didn't get the shot! My poor friend didn't want the shot but didn't want to be without her dr. She felt very torn, and got the shot. 😡.

Expand full comment

Your poor friend. I’m furious at the supposed doctors who play along with this medical tyranny. And as for the pediatricians…anything in this whole sorry state of affairs that impacts innocent children makes my blood boil.

Praying for us all.

Expand full comment

These stories infuriate me. And now the mendacious gaslighters have the the gall to say, "no one was forced. We just incentivized people to make the right choice and protect themselves."

Expand full comment

It’s not a bad outcome not taking your child to “well child” visits if you ask me!

Expand full comment

Drop the doctors first, they don't have your best interest at heart, only their bank accounts.

Expand full comment

100% agree with that.

Expand full comment

I hope you won't mind my adding that you gain the high ground by dropping them before they drop you. A letter to them with simple reasons with a copy for your own file will back up your stance, and puts them on the back foot when others like yourself do the same.

Expand full comment

Good advice, thank you.

For now I’m going to see how things progress. In all fairness to her, she did recommend a couple of supplements that might work for another condition of mine after I reminded her I’m more inclined to a less is more take on Pharmaceuticals. And at my next visit I will politely request that she stop trying to convince me to get on the statins, as this is a matter I will not budge on.

It may come to finding another practice. We preferred the first doctor we saw out here, but of course our insurance changed and he is not in our network anymore.

I shudder to think that Medicare looms large in the next year or two for myself and my hubby. If “Private” practices are turning into medical nudge units, I can only imagine what the Medicare scenario will be like.

Expand full comment
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

That’s good to hear, from someone already in the trenches so to speak.

May your good health and fortitude continue.

Expand full comment

It seems their egos are even more important than their bank accounts.

Expand full comment

Me too. My cardiologists office calls me once a week about getting on statins because I refused.

Expand full comment

If the drugs are covered by insurance and really cheap, you could get them and store them away in the basement.

And tell tour doctor,” golly, they don’t seem to be working.”

Expand full comment

. . . or just leave them at the pharmacy and NEVER pick them up,

. . . OR, tell your doc you want a written prescription instead of them phoning it in. . . . and trash the little piece of paper! Simple.

Expand full comment
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

I basically have done that. We moved a few years ago and my doc changed. The new one is a glad-handing happy fellow with all the expected vax, big-Pharma lines and policy reflections, including on statins. I just stopped going to see the doc. I got a big laceration 2 weeks ago and went to emergency for 10 stitches, no meds; pulled them out myself after 10 days. Screw them. (Wife thinks I go overboard.)

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

My belief system was well equipped for this hoax before it started; I didn't have to adjust it like Dr. Malhotra apparently needed to do. Basically, as a classic libertarian, I believed that any civil servant or politician (from the lowly janitor or receptionist all the way to the Prime Minister) is an incompetent rogue and fraud out for power over civilians. Secondly, that any medical intervention that has not been widely tested for over 50 years is not going anywhere near my body, particularly if it involves novel technology or came from companies with long histories of fraud and medical malfeasance. Thirdly, that most so-called national or international crises declared by politicians are in reality fabrications aimed at giving the State more powers over civilians. It is people who are too trusting of their fellow man (or the State or the medical profession) who always need to adjust their views after something awful happens. A real skeptic usually has his belief confirmed on a daily basis.

Expand full comment

I had been using a similar heuristic but I had always mentally set the timeframe that I needed to see a med or therapy on the market for at least 10 years.

I guess I need to step up my game. :)))

Expand full comment
May 6, 2023·edited May 6, 2023

I can identify strongly with your comment. To a sceptic the whole thing was an obvious fraud from the get-go and for the reasons you stated.

"A real skeptic usually has his belief confirmed on a daily basis." Amen.

Many thanks.

Expand full comment

I copied that same sentence ( quoted ) down for myself as a reminder - before the Sars Cov2 debacle I was not a skeptic about medical advice from the so- called experts - I am now………

Expand full comment

What I often find amusing is that people think that sceptics are necessarily gloomy and cynical. 'Taint so!

Thanks!

Expand full comment

Very well put. Layman here; until recently as a patient I used a milder form of the prescription distrust metric: I placed greater trust in generic medications since they usually have been on the market for decades. Well, turns out that list for me included baby aspirin, hypertension medication and...of course....statins. Now I no longer trust a doctor as far as I can throw him. Unless I'm in dire condition, anything other than a diagnostic test will have me doing my own research before anything goes into my body.

Expand full comment

Question the diagnostics, too. Use them to research what you are doing. Simple tip: when you get labs, take home copies, and learn about your labs. Keep in mind that the 'normal ranges' are also another way things are skewed.

Expand full comment

I'd like to know how the "normal" range has shifted for both cholesterol and the measures for diabetes.

Expand full comment

Kendrick writes about that, and I believe Maryann Demasi writes about it too. I don't have the exact dates that it started sliding.

My question for you LovinTexas is - I have kin (cousins) named Lovin in TX that I have never met. Did you recently celebrate a 40-something anniversary? Or do you just love TX?

Expand full comment

I just love Texas! Thanks for the hints on my question.

Expand full comment

Thanks - I'd love to "meet" my cousins, and be even MORE thrilled if they are reading AMW.

If I were still in the US, I'd be lovin Texas, too!

Expand full comment

That is the point - there is no normal range - please scope DR Zoe Harcombe, a UK expert in Nutrition and ace debunker of bullshit about many related issues.

Expand full comment

You missed my point. I wanted to know how the so-called normal range has changed over the years. That's why I put the word "normal" in quotes. The medical/government/pharma monolith lowered the range so that more people would be on statins. I was just trying to find out the specifics. I will look up the expert you mentioned.

Expand full comment

Thank you for your honest response. Can I urge you to move on and not trust more people than just doctors....the (legacy) media, the political class, the judicial system, the police, the bureaucratic class (the swamp), academia, the educational establishment, the military and the national security folks, the intelligence agencies.....and so on?

Expand full comment

YES. Lucky for me, being red-pilled as a result of the Covidiocy, repeatedly red-pilled me for the rest! It was a catalyst!

Expand full comment

You are not alone about statins, of course. My story is simple and a bit of luck:

20 some years ago my doc bent my arm and after a couple years I started taking them. However, I got constipation and stopped, never to restart. . . because of constipation. Dodged that bullet.

Expand full comment

Amen to it all.

Expand full comment

That 50 year thing...that's fantastic!

Expand full comment

Well Frankenheimer, the trusting lot of us are relying on the skeptics to be our canaries. Please keep it up.

I have turned skeptic, now after 2 jabs and seeing behind the curtain on Substack, but it took ALL of that to wake me up.

Most others, it IS sad, still sleep.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

Spot on! Meet two widowers who lost their husbands to flank pain (liver necrosis) which was caused by statin drugs. Reputable hospitals including Mayo didn't connect the dots! Kept them on statins as they explored for cause! Bottom line: Every cell in the body needs cholesterol. Stopping the inflammatory source is key! Dr. Martin nails the development of Covid which was a preplanned Bio Weapon exercise with Fauci having full knowledge! Dr. Martin spoke at the euroepean parliment as the key note speaker which was a all day session with many truth tellers on the truth about the covid con! https://thomasabraunrph.substack.com/p/do-not-ignore-this TIME WE TAKE BIG PHARMA DOWN TO THE STUDS AND REBUILD IT!

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

Today, I listened to Dr. Malone summarize what transpired in the all day meeting about the Covid con. You can listen to the truth here! Time to fix our medical system for the benefit of the patient!

https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/ics-at-the-eu-parliament-summary?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#play

Expand full comment

Never been on a statin! Have refused them more than once. My HDL is 85, my triglycerides and LDL below 80. It's all about diet, taking fish oil and vitamin D and rejecting factory processed foods with trace toxins that cause inflammation! For more information, google "Life Style medicine: A brief review" ! It explains why in the US we have over 50% of the population with inflammatory diseases and spend more per cspita on healthcare with lousy results!

Expand full comment

My lipids have always been "out of whack." It makes no difference what I do. I've long said that I could eat cradboard and the lipid levels would stay the same. Took statins for a few months and had shortness of breath. Only subborness got me to the top of a hill that I used to scamper up, so I quit the durn statins and now I'm back to normal.

I started distrusting docterz when they started pushing the flu shots for everyone. I never could understand how they thought they could predict which strain would be causing next season's flu. The more I read, the more obvious it became that most of them were totally clueless. If 15% of them are not quacks, albeit well meaning in a few cases, I'd be surprised.

Expand full comment

The problem is that 95%+ of physicians have not received the education they should about Rx drugs. Most physicians want to do the right thing.

Expand full comment

That's surely part of the problem but I also think what a lot of them want to do is prance around acting like demigods while basking in the glow of a high social status with more bucks than they could have made doing something else where they'd have to perform instead of people assuming they were doing something beneficial. My opinion is based on dealing with more than a few ignorant, though insistent, punks, and it's typical of the fact that mediocrities tend to rise high in bureaucratic systems, especially corrupt ones.

Expand full comment

It just takes a few bad apples to make vinegar!

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023·edited May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

"Because vaccines were never questioned in his training, it never even occurred to him to question the COVID-19 vaccines." This is still astonishing to me that a doctor who spent a lot of time researching and questioning the efficacy of statins would just accept A BRAND NEW NEVER-BEFORE-USED-ON-HUMANS vaccine technology. I am not saying I don't believe him. What I'm saying is it's remarkable how effective the brain washing about vaccines has been to medical professionals. I am not a medical professional, but it was obvious to me from the get-go that an injection that causes my own cells to create trillions of toxic foreign proteins would not be a good idea. At the very least, wouldn't it spur the development of autoimmune diseases? Add to that the horrific numbers that were already in VAERS by March or April of 2021, and it was obvious beyond a doubt that the experimental injections were poison. So if I could see this by April of 2021, why couldn't all these medical professionals see it? The only answer I can come up with is that the brain washing regarding "vaccines" (which the covid experimental injections are NOT!) is so effective that they don't even consider looking at what these injections are really doing.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

The “all vaccines are absolute magic and not to be questioned” dogma is quite prolific and powerful. Bravo to the Dr for waking up. Millions will literally die before they awake. My mom’s rationale for having no reservations about Moderna jabs- “ What about Polio and Mumps!!!!” Phenomenonal comparison mom, thanks for setting me straight. We no longer speak because she is STILL all in on the cult and she called me a science denier and suggested that “people like us” need to find somewhere else to live. Pfuck off momma.

Expand full comment

You and Mom should read Turtles All The Way Down, if you haven’t already.

Expand full comment

it is a remarkable exposes and education.

Expand full comment

She wouldn’t read it if she was chained down and full of sodium pentathol. She’s a LIBERAL and VERY WELL INFORMED!!!!!!!! WaPo KNOWS ALL!!!!!! Even sadder is my sister, the “science” teacher. Getting paid to indoctrinate…..

Expand full comment

it's at times like this, that make you wish you were an orphan, eh, C?

Expand full comment

Ha yeah. I was basically raised by wolves so it’s all good. I like the look of my balance sheet. I don’t owe anyone a darn thing 👍

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

I have friend who had her first flu shot 6 years ago. Within minutes she collapsed. This set her on a path of Gillium-Barr Syndrome. For about two years after she was in ICU, rehab and therapy. She can never take another flu shot because it will kill her.

There a was lawsuit which they paid in full without going to trial. She had to submit all of her medical records. The payment was HUGH. The drug company does not fight the suits. They have a fund that pays for these lawsuits. Still, they produce and push the flu shots.

Expand full comment

that is so sad. The damage we're doing from vaccines is horrible.

Expand full comment

The first year my daughter worked in a nursing home they had to take the flu shote. From the first day she felt sickly, nauseous, achy, tired. She never did feel well. 6 months later everyone who had a flu shot was given a hype-B shot. 24 hours later she felt great. Why would a hype shot off set the flu shot? This is two different health issues.

Expand full comment

This strikes me as a "quiet way to deal with it," and keep selling.

Expand full comment

I am glad to hear your friend received monetary compensation. It's a small consolation but better than most receive.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

For some reason, I can no longer post original comments on my device... the comment box overlaps with the first posted comment.

Anyway, what I was going to post, although I haven't yet read the article, is to say that it was the statin fraud that alerted my husband and me to the serious possibility of poke fraud. Or at least, overstated benefit and understated risks. Of course we had zero notion that the fraud would be so bad and the harms so grievous.

This also was what surprised us about Dr Mulhotra's complete falling for the poke. After we learned about the statin fraud, we began wondering f we hand been lied to about the childhood jabs, although we never really looked into it because it wasn't relevant at the time. We have followed Dr Mulhotra for some time and knew he was outspoken about the fraud that is the Food Pyramid/My Plate and statins. So it was truly astonishing that he had so easily accepted the pharma propaganda.

That said, I am glad he is willing to speak now against the injections, and that he has been humble and courageous enough to admit he was wrong.

Expand full comment
author

All I can say is that unless you deal with this on a daily basis, it's really difficult to ever appreciate how deep the religious faith in vaccines is within medicine.

Expand full comment

Indeed. It really truly is.

And honestly, it is more a cultish faith than a religious faith. My faith in God as King and Creator of the universe, who sent his Son to restore the path from God to man by giving his own life and rising from the dead has more evidence in support of it than the childhood vaccines have.

Unfortunately I used to believe in the childhood vaccines. Also unfortunately I did not research them as critically as I have my religious faith. And so I gave them to my child. And now I cannot help but assume my child’s learning issues and gut issues are because of those vaccines. No young person should have to take the amount of supplements and be on the diet we follow (rather restrictive at the moment) or work so hard to rebuild the gut micro biome. I’m glad we are finding some answers, but it should never have had to be this hard.

Expand full comment

Amen. I wish I had researched earlier but I had no particular reason to in the UK as my wife and I have no children and I never chose to have them myself. last vaccine was 1990-ish I think.

Expand full comment

" . . . and I never chose to have them myself."

Good ONE!

Expand full comment

And, if I understand correctly, the reverence for vaccines that apaprently is the norm among everyone in the medical guild is all the more puzzling because vaccines do not have to meet the same rigorous proofs of safety and efficacy that "normal" pharmaceuticals are required to.

Add to that the liability shield since 1988 (?) which to my knowledge is unique in United States law (excepting the case of the Covid-19 products, which are without exception liability-free under emergency declarations.)

Executive summary if this layman is generally correct: vaccines aren't very well tested, there is little to no proof that they work as advertised, nor of adverse effects. And if anything goes wrong, go pound dirt.

Expand full comment

It was the opioid crisis that had me skeptical. I hadn't thought too much about the statin debate except to know that those in my family who took them had all the well-known side effects. Now I am adamant about NO statins for me or my husband. I try to gently plant seeds with extended family members, but there are none as deaf as those without ears to hear.

Expand full comment

My high cholesterol is borderline high. I have tried three statin drugs to bring the level down. All three I had the same serious side effect. So statins for me.

Expand full comment

Cholesterol is not a problem. We've been lied to.

Check out work by Ivor Cummins aka Fat Emperor, Dr Malcolm Kendrick, Dr William Davis and others.

Ivor is fun to listen to, as he is Irish.

Look at triglyceride/HDL ratio which should be 2 or less. Triglycerides can be lowered with a diet void of veg oils and with a reduction in carbohydrates. HDL can be raised with natural dietary fat.

50% of people who show up to ED with heart attack have a normal cholesterol level. So how is it that cholesterol is the problem?

Expand full comment

Statin fraud + psych drugs fraud + what the heck are PPI's really good for? + then I read Gotzsche's "Deadly Medicines and Organized Crime" to see the studies. Ben Goldacre's "Bad Medicine" helped, as did Whitaker's "Anatomy of an Epidemic." I began to see the "cures" as making problems more chronic, worse, and with effects (they are not "side") that cause the need for more drugging. By the time 2020 rolled around - Oh yar, it was easy to see.

I too, was surprised that Malhotra could see through the statins, but still trust ANY pharma. (Pfizer is not the only fraudster, if you read Gotzsche's book).

Expand full comment

You and Mom should read Turtles All The Way Down, if you haven’t already.

Expand full comment

Dang it! Once again I replied to the wrong comment! 😑

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

I’m a retired pharmacist, but I am in the same group as Dr Malhotra-- allopathically trained, never doubted the efficacy of vaccines nor most of the drugs I dispensed. We simply are not taught, and have no time to look into, the horrendous damage done by the medications we push. I will never take another vaccine for anything (have you had a look at the data for the RSV vaccine? It’s laughable) and have discontinued most of the drugs my wife and I take. I don’t know if my fatigue and cognitive loss will heal, but at least I’m not making them worse.

Expand full comment

I was prescribed statins as I was quite overweight. I immediately was wracked with pain throughout my body. That experiment lasted three days. I’ve dropped about 25 pounds and now I’m mountain bilking every day while fasted as I attempt to lose more. I cleaned up my diet and I use the Healthy Cell AM/PM supplement. I believe that supplement to have had a dramatic effect on my health. My BP and PSA went way down.Urologist was dumbfounded. Every male in my family tree has had testicular cancer. My PSA went from 4.4 to 2.5. I sweat far less than I have my entire life. My heart rate while biking is lower. I ride further and faster. There is absolutely nothing within Pharma’s portfolio that would have provided any of those benefits. Salads, Vitamin D, tons of fresh air, and a great supplement full of proven life enhancing ingredients. I’ll stick with that formula. I may never see a traditional doctor again. And hospitals are practically death camps. Not interested thanks.

Expand full comment
author

I am sorry that happened to you. Thank you for sharing your story and your kind words.

Expand full comment

Glad to hear you cycle, my wife and I do to here in the UK.

Expand full comment

Fasting is great. For weight loss and other cleansing of the body/mind.

Expand full comment

Great story...thanks for sharing it.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

It is nice to know I am in good company with this instinctive fear

'Since I have been a child, for reasons I still do not understand, I have had a visceral fear and mistrust of pharmaceuticals. Because of this, from a very young age, I talked back to doctors who tried to push drugs on me (which, now that I know what I know, I am profoundly grateful for), I sought out information in the alternative literature about the dangers of many commonly used drugs, and I connected with many who pharmaceuticals had injured'

Expand full comment

I’ve always been the same. When is a root cause ever addressed? Basically never. Therefore, like Seacrest, I’m out.

Expand full comment

Truly outstanding article. The errant Cholesterol theory and statins are what started my extreme distrust of the medical industry and why I greatly feared the Covid vaccine before it was even released. 23 years ago when I was diagnosed with “high” cholesterol and given a Lipitor prescription I thought it was my ticket to heart disease. But, something didn’t sit right with me about a 40 year old perfectly healthy male being put on a lifelong drug. When my doctor said don’t worry I have to take it too I got more suspicious than ever. That’s when I decided to do some research and discovered Dr. Uffe Ravnskov and his excellent book, The Cholesterol Myths. From there, I stopped trusting a lot of things I was told. I stopped getting flu shots and soon after began questioning all vaccines. Today I am fully against all vaccines and just about any prescription drug. I also pay little attention to mainstream doctors advice on what constitutes a healthy diet and am extremely suspicious about the way diabetics are treated as far as recommended diets. Low fat is the scourge of our modern civilization.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you for your kind words and sharing your experiences.

Expand full comment

That scares me when the doc says you'll be on this drug for life...I've been told that a few times and got to wondering if any of these drugs actually fix your problems. Nope!

Expand full comment

I am so pleased that you have mentioned Dr Malcolm Kendrick's contribution to uncovering the statins racket. He also asked questions about the covid jab strategy (despite being coerced into having them) - and I believe he has paid the price in more ways than one.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023·edited May 4, 2023

Great article Dr.

I am a nurse and have noticed a trend that macular degeneration appears to be on the upswing for the past 25 years. So many patients losing their vision very quickly . Anecdotally, it appears most patients are on statins. Of course this would be true, due to the ever-changing "guideline" which results in most people being on statins so causation is difficult to prove. However, it could make sense that a great reduction in needed fatty "glue" to hold the macula in place could be the result of long-term statin use. Do you have thoughts on this?

Expand full comment
author

It's very possible and it makes sense, however I frequently find things I logically expect to be true don't actually hold up empirically in medicine.

That said, I had never come across this idea before, so I will try to keep an eye out for it.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

Thank you Doctor. Yes, it has just been an anecdotal observation--and as such, one could also say since most people drink coffee in the morning, is the coffee causing the AMD.

Expand full comment

"...so I will try to keep an...eye... out for it."

Oh, you will will you?? Heheheh! : )

Expand full comment

As an ophthalmologist I have been wary of statins for more than 15 years since a patient I was involved in caring for nearly died.

Lasocki A, Vote B, Fassett R, Zamir E. Simvastatin-induced rhabdomyolysis following cyclosporine treatment for uveitis. Ocul Immunol Inflamm. 2007 Jul-Aug;15(4):345-6. doi: 10.1080/09273940701375147. PMID: 17763133.

On the Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) front the extraordinary (sickeningly laughable) thing is high-dose statins have regularly been presented at retinal conferences I have attended for some years. We are talking very high doses. With 1 in 6 people likely to develop AMD they are actively looking for the next indication.

few papers below. The Number needed to treat (NNT) vs NNH (harm) calculation does not give a good answer.

Vavvas DG, Daniels AB, Kapsala ZG, Goldfarb JW, Ganotakis E, Loewenstein JI, Young LH, Gragoudas ES, Eliott D, Kim IK, Tsilimbaris MK, Miller JW. Regression of Some High-risk Features of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) in Patients Receiving Intensive Statin Treatment. EBioMedicine. 2016 Feb 4;5:198-203. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.01.033. PMID: 27077128; PMCID: PMC4816836.

Roizenblatt M, Naranjit N, Maia M, Gehlbach PL. The Question of a Role for Statins in Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Nov 21;19(11):3688. doi: 10.3390/ijms19113688. PMID: 30469381; PMCID: PMC6274767.

Ludwig CA, Vail D, Rajeshuni NA, Al-Moujahed A, Rosenblatt T, Callaway NF, Veerappan Pasricha M, Ji MH, Moshfeghi DM. Statins and the progression of age-related macular degeneration in the United States. PLoS One. 2021 Aug 4;16(8):e0252878. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252878. PMID: 34347799; PMCID: PMC8336881.

Expand full comment

I believe macular degeneration also is related to the ingestion of high amounts of the so-called vegetable oils with their highly inflammatory fatty acids. Veg oils become rancid at body temperature, so having a lot of them as the major component of our cell walls is a bad idea.

Skin cancer, macular degeneration both related to these rancid oils.

Since moving to a natural fat diet, my husband who used to go from white to red now is able to mow the grass shirtless without sunscreen without any problem. His cells are stronger.

I'm sure the statins do not help the macula either. So, a double whammy for those following the Dietary Advice and Statin Advice.

Expand full comment

Excellent points and of course, we were told by the FDA years ago we were not to eat natural fats (I remember when they removed coconut oil from the market and it was replaced with the "healthier" hydrogenated vegetable oils).

Expand full comment

Amen.. and all types of seed oils instead of healthy fats like butter, tallow, lard....

Expand full comment

Is olive oil a seed oil? I use a lot of olive oil when I’m not using butter. :)

Expand full comment

Veg oils = seed oils in most common parlance, I think. 😉

Expand full comment

BS

Expand full comment

What specifically in this conversation is BS if I might ask?

Expand full comment

The synthetic statins as opposed to the naturally occurring fermentation derived types are neuro-toxic. They act as neuro-cutters to separate things, like a form of detergent.

Expand full comment

Interesting, so it may be that statins are not only blocking natural and needed fat in the cells, but also dissolving it.

Expand full comment

I think that is a good way of putting it. You might be interested in this, inspired by the MWD's article to make me look closer. All thoughts welcome.

https://baldmichael.substack.com/p/statins-are-they-really-good-for

Expand full comment

Thank you! Very well researched and informative stack on statins. Recommended reading.

Expand full comment

Thank you, much appreciated.

Expand full comment

Excellent theory. That's what makes science.

Expand full comment

Macular degeneration is nothing else but cholesterol accumulation in the retina, the same way it happens in arteries. A natural plant-based diet can cure that.

Expand full comment

"noching but"? You seem to cling to outdated ideas, to stick to your cherished view of things.

Inflammation seems to be a contributing factor (like in every degeneration - including clogged arteries, btw), so eating a not pro-inflammatori diet, like with lots of grains and omega-6 fatty acids, would seem to be called for, not a blanket "plants"

https://www.ijbs.com/v16p2989.htm

Expand full comment

Grains and omega-6 fatty acids are NOT inflammatory.

Inflammations cytokines increase the rate of LDL transcytosis. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022282814000625, but LDL is still the culprit.

Expand full comment

Can you elaborate? Have you found in your medical practice curing degeneration with diet change?

Expand full comment

Search for “macular degeneration cholesterol drusen”. There are scientific publications about the role of cholesterol in the disease development. Drusen are cholesterol deposits under the retina in the Bruch's membrane.

Also this: https://www.veganlifestylecoach.com/heart-macular-degeneration

Expand full comment

Thank you for following up, I will check this out.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

I have read Dr Malhotra's book on living without statins. I liked it a lot. And I have read several other related books including the esteemed Dr Kendrick and his book "The Clot Thickens". Even though I have heart issues at age 73, I would never take any statins or other heart drugs. I don't even like taking a baby aspirin. I am not on any drugs but I am sure if I let the doctors have their way, I would be on 5-7 prescriptions or more.

The cardiologist I saw wanted to get me into surgery for a catheterization and stents right away after having a stress test, with a mask on no less. That to me was totally nutzo. I told him I would have to do research before going that far. I did and decided against it. Using both statins and stents do not prolong your life unless you happen to be that one in a thousand who might get a few extra months of life.

That was about 20 months ago and I am using herbs and supplements to manage these heart issues. Sure, I could have a heart attack and die tomorrow but there is no way to know if taking a handful of drugs would extend my life either and there is no solid scientific evidence that it would.

I feel sorry for you docs, but you guys have been sold a bill of goods as you spend years of schooling and tons of money and another small fortune on other requirements just to become professional drug salesmen. Nothing wrong with that. But you know so little about getting down to the root of the problem and treating it or healing it.

It is more than obvious that if a person is experiencing heart troubles, there are specific causes. You never consider those unless it may be a physical heart malfunction. But if a body is in distress, there is something causing it and no pill or drug is gonna change that. You have to discover the root cause of the distress and change what is causing those problems. That for sure is not what big pharma has in mind.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

Doctors promoting “Better health through chemistry” are completely missing the boat and shouldn’t even practice medicine. Shouldn’t a first line of attack always be based upon achieving optimal health through a diet of fresh foods, daily exercise and movement, mental

stimulation (turning off the boob tube).

If a doctor pushed drugs over personal responsibility and lifestyle change they need to be avoided. Period.

Expand full comment
author

There is so much I can say about that marketing slogan...

Expand full comment

as I recall it came from DuPont's campaigns about 30 years ago. . . "Better living through Chemistry." ?

Expand full comment

Even a conventionally trained now learning functional medicine doc good friend of mine says this "better health through chemistry" and it drives me nuts. And she is awake to the fraud of statins, vid, etc. She keeps encouraging me to use bio identical hormones, and I keep saying that if they aren't made by my body, they aren't bio identical to me. I mean, God created our hormonal ebbs and flows for a reason, and I already screwed mine up with several years of artificial hormones. Why would I want to add more?

Or the functional med docs who push low dose naltrexone for fatigue. This is not a true answer to the problem. Not saying it won't help. But how about we fix whatever is actually broken please?

Expand full comment

That’s funny…my GP is an allopath with functional medicine training, also. She has mentioned bio-identical hormones to me as well as LDN! What the heck? Do they all get the same training and are persuaded to push those two treatments? Of course, she also wants me to take statins. I refused all of them. It’s a wonder she doesn’t fire me as her patient. LOL

Expand full comment

When my natural doc wanted me on LDN, I looked into it. Even Mercola says it's a good medicine. That it actually heals things - works on inflammation without being anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs), hits the opiate receptors without being an opiate. It's an interesting one, and I would not hold it against a doc who suggested it.

What I find with the natural docs is each of them have "pet protocols," whether it's keto, or bio-identical hormones, or mould remediation, or infrared saunas. And sometimes it's "protocol-of-the-month." We've got this new machine / device . . . .

Expand full comment

Copernicus, I actually have questions about bio-identical hormones and the use of them. I would love to know what honest research says about them.

Expand full comment

Common sense says that if you are putting hormones in your body, bio identical or not, your body recognises that these hormones are in circulation and therefore perceives (it's own biofeedback mechanisms) that it doesn't have to make them and so you will never start to produce them yourself

Expand full comment

I find it interesting that the medical-pharmaceutical complex now pushes things like checking for and, if needed, replacing testosterone in aging men, yet women received the message long ago that HRT = cancer (and if I remember correctly, that conclusion was based on one study). Why the difference? I am talking about using BIH for HRT in post-menopausal women in an attempt to, primarily, confer heart protection and prevent massive osteoporosis. I would like to read an honest assessment about this approach.

Expand full comment

Should be a better Frankenstein's monster through chemistry. Now they are telling us better food through chemistry. No thanks.

Expand full comment

Come now…what harm can a little mRNA in your beef do to you??!!

Expand full comment

In doctors' defense: Probably most patients would refuse to take personal responsibility. If that is the case then the best a Doctor can do is suggest lifestyle or behavior changes (e.g. better diet, lose weight, exercise, drop bad habits). Rarely will the patient comply. I speak from personal experience (as one such patient.) Should doctors refuse to treat such patients? Or should the do they best they probably can -- treat the inevitable illnesses as best they can?

Now don't get me wrong: There is plenty wrong with medicine, like blanket advocacy of useless or even dangerous treatments, like we've discussed here.

Expand full comment

I wholeheartedly agree with you. Most patients are completely non-compliant. However, my doctor knows me well and has told me before that she loves having patients who are involved and active keeping/improving their health. So…she should know I’d never take statins and that I’d be very involved in dealing with any issues holistically. Doctors Dem to just have a “one-size-fits-all” attitude lately because it’s easier and they’re lazy.

Expand full comment
May 4, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

Thank you so much for your work in this area. As someone who has two parents who were on statins for many years and subsequently died from Alzheimer's, this topic greatly interests me, and it is one of many reasons that I learned long ago to not trust our "sick care" system that constantly feeds us misinformation for fun and profit. It's rather absurd that on the one hand, we have all this great technology and surgical solutions to issues that would have proved deadly a century ago, but on the other hand, we seem to have gone backwards in raising successive generations to be healthy. It's gone to such an extreme that now, on actual medical forms, they use absurd terms like "birthing people" to describe child-bearing age WOMEN, and ask dumbass (a technically accurate term in this case) questions of people when going in for medical procedures along the same lines (i.e. "how do you identify yourself?"). We are in very dark territory, and I sincerely hope that we have a chance of snapping out of it.

Expand full comment

"We are in very dark territory, and I sincerely hope that we have a chance of snapping out of it."

Quackery goes waaaay back.

Indeed, nearly 2,000 years ago, Lucian of Samosata wrote that although he may not cleanse the Augean stable completely, he would do his best in his expose of the quack Alexander of Abonoteichos who became rich, famous and highly respected via impudent, audacious, and astonishing medical fraud.

Lucian’s comments on the ancient medical con man are both entertaining and instructive and can be found at this link. It's short, too.:

http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:essays:alexander

Expand full comment

LOL I suppose that there really is nothing new under the sun. This sort of belief in quackery could almost be excused because of the lack of scientific knowledge and superstitions at that time, but there is a reasonable expectation that with all of our accumulated scientific knowledge and advancements, we would see a diminishing amount of it. Alas, we still have "witch trials" for heretics who demand more rigid standards of evidence and performance, instead of some well financed "consensus" like that for which the popular court jester Neil DeGrasse Tyson has argued.

Expand full comment

"...some well financed "consensus" like that for which the popular court jester Neil DeGrasse Tyson has argued."

Thank you. Is that one a joke, or what? And the audacity of something like that being celebrated as a "scientist." It shows that the media can make or break anyone or anything at will, and people will swallow it.

Have you seen this? https://thehighwire.com/ark-videos/when-two-universes-collide/

Just another fraud; nothing new under the sun or even the furthest stars...!

Expand full comment

Yes, I've seen it. That joke was in my graduating class in high school, and my fellow alumni drool all over this fool constantly. The cult of personality infects even supposedly otherwise intelligent people, thus proving once again that intelligence does not necessarily lead to wisdom.

Expand full comment

"...thus proving once again that intelligence does not necessarily lead to wisdom."

Amen to that!

Expand full comment
author

Thank you

Expand full comment