Quote:
Originally Posted by alwann
Isn't Plavix a brand name? I'm surprised Coumadin/Wafarin don't rank higher.
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Plavix is a brand name for Clopidogrel. It actually isn't a blood thinner. What it does is prevent the platelets from sticking together. In other words, it makes you blood cells slippery. Most people are under the mistaken impression that it is a blood thinner. Like 2BNTV says, aspirin can be just as effective in most cases as coumadin or warfarin if you need a blood thinner which is probably why they're not prescribed as often as clopidogrel. Clopidogrel is most often prescribed for people who have stents placed in their coronary arteries. It prevent the blood from clotting around the stents which the body tends to sense as an injury.
I stopped taking a statin a while ago. My cardiologist didn't appear that upset when I discussed the reasons why, but my PVP didn't like the idea.
Studies that I've read show that there was no difference in deaths resulting from heart issues between people on statins and not on statins. The side effects include things like muscle atrophy, diabetes and early onset dementia. I'm not sure I'd rather die from those things.
The other issue with me, and I am not giving out medical advice here, only relating what I decided for myself, is that my cholesterol is extremely high. Taking a statin was reducing it to a very high level. It was dropping my cholesterol level by about four or five percent. I felt that even if high cholesterol does cause heart disease, and there are studies that say it doesn't, reducing my cholesterol a few percentage point wasn't going to do anything for me. For me, the risks outweighed the benefits by a huge amount.