Flu ***

SammyQ · 27 Oct 2020

Terry - Somerset said:
Sometimes useful to actually check the facts....

As a statin-free mid-sixties individual? "HEAR! HEAR!"

Now, WHY could this reply not have been heeded for all those disinfomative posts earlier in this thread? We could have avoided so much wasted energy and pointless bickering.

Sam

alex_heney · 27 Oct 2020

Trainee neophyte said:
From the BMJ: NICE guidelines could put 12 million UK adults on statins

Almost all men over 60 and all women over 75 in England qualify for statin prescriptions under guidelines adopted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in 2014, a new analysis shows.1

Some 11.8 million people in England—37% of adults aged 30 to 84—exceed the threshold set by NICE for prescribing statins, the authors found. They said that most of these patients (9.8 million) are healthy, with no history of cardiovascular events, and are eligible for treatment simply because they exceed the risk threshold set by NICE: a 10% risk of experiencing such an event in the next 10 years.

Free with the cornflakes.

As for the rest of it - I'm picking olives now, now so much less time for all of this, you will be delighted to know. Best talk about flu jabs again - it's less contentious.

Incidentally, I'm watching the Amazon version of Utopia, which is apparently a remake of the BBC version, also called Utopia, which I haven't seen. The plot is a worldwide pandemic, which needs a vaccine, but the vaccine is actually an evil scheme by evil elites to sterilise the world population, so saving the planet for a select few. Perhaps this is where the current vaccine fears come from? Or it is the elite ironically telling us exactly what they are going to do? Who knows.

PS I like what you guys did with the termites - very ironic.

The fact that almost all men over 60 qualify for statins does not mean that "just about every man over 50" takes them.

It doesn't even mean that just about every man over 60 does. It means that if we went to our doctors for something, those guidelines say they could prescribe statins.

That doesn't mean they will, and nor does it mean that every man over 60 is rushing to their GP to get those prescriptions.

I'm 61, and have never taken a statin in my life, nor do I see any real likelihood of doing so. Last time I had a checkup including blood tests (about 3 years ago), everything (including cholesterol level) was "Good". And I have got fitter and lost two stone in weight since then.

I don't think I am all that unusual, so there must be huge numbers of men over 60 who have never taken statins.

John Brown · 27 Oct 2020

I take statins. A few years ago, after reading scare stories about side effects, I ceased taking them. This showed up the next time I had the 6 monthly blood test, so I don't see how they can be called ineffectual. Anyhow, after stopping statins for six months, none of the "side effects" I'd attributed to the statins subsided, so after a chat with my GP at the time, who always reminded me slightly of the doc in Reginald Perrin, I resumed taking them. I also take meds for hypertension. OK, I could lose two stone and exercise more and eat less crap, and stop drinking 4 pints of beer a night, but I probably won't, and I don't subscribe to the notion that big pharma is out to kill me.

Phil Pascoe · 27 Oct 2020

I take statins, aspirin, metformin, dapagliflozin, gliclazide, linagliptin, allopurinol, lisinopril, tamsulosin, levothyroxine and amlodipine. I've long given up worrying about side effects.

AES · 27 Oct 2020

THANK GOODNESS!!! AT LAST, this thread has dredged up a "normal" person (viz: John Brown) who "admits" he lives a normal life without any undue cares in the world. THANK YOU John Brown - in fact I'd give you 2 x "Thanks" if the software allowed!

I too have various complaints, some of which are no doubt self-induced, some definitely not. I take a load of tablets several times a day, all of which were prescribed by my GP - a VERY caring lady I must say, who not only seems to keep up with all the latest tech info, but also discusses with both my wife and I VERY fully BEFORE she prescribes ANYTHING at all for me - AND the GP keeps a 6-monthly detailed check on me which includes "full blood" samples.

I have no idea whether or not I take statins (I'd never even heard of them before this thread appeared) but if I do then I'm quite content to be doing so because it's on the BEST available advice - NOT based on the internet or the - IMO - half-baked advice of "idiots" like those who admit that they enjoy conspiracy theories "because it's fun". WHAT a poor outlook! WHAT a way to live a life!!!

And P.S: OF COURSE big pharma isn't trying to kill me - not even kill our Greek-resident neophyte - big pharma (and not so big) all want to keep "the golden goose" alive for as long as possible! Only that way can they ensure their profits, AND, by no means "by the way", ensure that "damaged bodies" like mine can continue to enjoy as normal a life as possible for as long as possible.

I said long ago that I wasn't looking in on this thread any more, and frankly I'm surprised that I did visit again - particularly because of all the tripe that I've read here from some people.

BUT thanks to member John Brown my faith in the sanity of at least one member posting above - and there ARE a couple of others' posts too - has been restored.

Rant over!!!!!!