Statins: Just Say NO. Part I

By guest contributor Chris Wunsch

All I want, until I draw my last breath, is to undo the wrongs I did as a pharma-parroting RN.

I cannot believe it was 20 Years ago, October 10th, 2002, I was admitted to UW Madison Hospital in an end stage Alzheimer's-like state. I could not walk, could not speak coherently, could not feed myself, nor communicate the need to use the restroom. I wet and soiled myself for the next four weeks. I did not recognize my wife, my 2-year-old son Andrew, my parents, siblings, or friends who came to visit. I had an MRI scan of my brain, showing innumerable scattered lesions throughout the white matter of my brain. I had a brain biopsy revealing holes in my brain which the doctors considered a spongiform encephalopathy—human variant of mad cow disease. Electron microscopy revealed the holes to be neuronal apoptosis (programmed cell death), as well as mitochondrial DNA mutation most closely resembling mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS).

The doctors prepared my wife and family for my death (at 34 years) until I was evaluated by a visiting professor from Johns Hopkins, who started me on a mitochondrial cocktail. Within 24 hours of my first dose, I began to be able to recognize my wife and parents, I could verbalize the need to use the restroom, I was able to answer simple questions, and several days later I was discharged, on November 7th 2002, with a diagnosis of "Viral Encephalitis". I clung on to that diagnosis because I knew I’d be back to work in a few months—or so I thought.

A few weeks after discharge, my wife and I were watching Good Morning America. Diane Sawyer was interviewing Dr. Beatrice Golomb of the UCSD. They were discussing the Statin Effects Study she was doing. My wife grabbed my arm and asked me to enrol. She was met with fierce opposition. I told her it was my job to know everything I could about the drugs I'd given my patients. Thankfully, due to her persistence and power of persuasion, I called the University of California San Diego, enrolled, and had my medical records, including brain and muscle biopsies, MRI scans etc sent to UCSD.

How it started

I was a critical care RN of almost 12 years, when my doctor, after seeing me for several years, discussed a statin for prevention of heart attack. As a "pharma educated" nurse, I "knew" the risks and benefits, from the drug conferences I attended, and the abundant pharma sales reps who frequented our ICU. So I agreed. For 3.5 years, I tolerated the drug well, until out of the blue I began to have unbelievable headaches, the likes of which I'd never known. This occurred over a span of six months or so. During this time, my boss had a couple of discussions with my wife regarding some concerns she was having with my cognition. Later the headaches became accompanied by profound fatigue and somnolence, which would leave me sleeping upwards of 16 hours a day and missing a lot of time at work. One weekend, my wife tells me, I became so confused and disoriented that she took me to the ER for evaluation. We arrived, and apparently I cognitively performed a little better for the doctors. She explained my several weeks of headaches, fatigue and disorientation, and asked for an MRI scan, which they told her was not indicated. (Sorry, 34 year old, previous healthy with no medical problems, does not warrant an MRI.) So I was discharged home with Imitrex (injectable migraine rx) which I could not even figure out how to give to myself.

A few weeks later, my wife woke in the middle of the night to find me in the kitchen, digging in the garbage. She asked what I was doing, and I replied, “I'm looking for some milk". In the morning she took me to the ER again (Sunday), and pleaded for an MRI, which they refused. I was again discharged home.

That afternoon, my wife called my sister in law also an RN, who suggested calling my primary physician at home. When she did, my primary doc agreed an MRI was warranted and was scheduled for the following day. MRI revealed "Innumerable lesions scattered throughout the white matter of the brain including the corpus callosum and the brain stem”. My doctor referred me to a neurologist, who opined I had multiple sclerosis.

Neither I, nor my wife believed that for a minute, so we sought a second opinion from an MS specialist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. When we arrived, he evaluated me, and took another MRI, and a lumbar puncture. He told us that he did not feel I had MS, though he could not determine what was going on, and asked us to come back later for more testing. We went home.

Over the next week or two, my symptoms were progressively worsening in terms of confusion, cognitive function, my ability to walk, and slurring speech. One night, my wife woke to find me not in bed, she searched the house and found the front door open. She walked out to the curb, and saw me walking down the middle of the street, on the next block. When she approached me, she tells me I had no idea who she was. She was very concerned. She ultimately was able to convince me to come home with her, and in the morning she called the MS specialist, who said to bring me down and he would meet me in the ER. We dropped our 2 year old son off at my parents and headed to Madison.

When we arrived, my wife tells me I was unable to speak coherently, unable to walk, and failed a mini mental exam. I was admitted, and would spend the next 28 days there, akin to a 95 year old man with end stage Alzheimer's disease .

I had an MRI which was essentially unchanged. My serial labs showed very high lactic acidosis, otherwise they were unremarkable. Days later, I had a muscle biopsy revealing mitochondrial abnormalities. Later a brain biopsy revealed lesions thought to be a new variant Creutzfeld Jakob disease (mad cow disease). Electron microscopy of my brain showed abnormal mitochondria, most consistent with Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy With Lactic Acidosis and Stroke-Like Episodes (MELAS).

The doctors prepared my wife for my imminent demise and prepared me for nursing home placement, pending bed availability. I continued to be unable to feed myself, incontinent of bowel and bladder, disoriented on all planes, unable to walk, nor speak coherently, did not recognize my wife nor my 2 year old son, my siblings, nor my parents.

But not long after, a visiting professor, a mitochondrial disease specialist, was asked to evaluate me. He started me on a mitochondrial cocktail, consisting of CoQ10, L-Carnitine, Vitamins B Complex, C, E, Folate, R Alpha Lipoic Acid, Arginine, Creatine. And the following morning, when my wife walked into my room, she said I called her by name, which I had not done for more than three weeks. I became able to answer simple questions. Rehab therapies were started, helping me to learn to walk, speak coherently and re-learn activities of daily living. Over the next several days I continued to slowly improve, to the point where I could go home with rehab at home. I continued these therapies for several months.

The results of the study

A year after my wife persuaded me to enrol in the UCSD Statin Effects Study, I received a phone call from Dr Golomb, who informed me that I was one of several patients in her study with strikingly similar courses of illness, similar biopsy findings, etc and she proceeded to tell me she had referred our cases to Dr Doug Wallace PhD, of the UC Irvine, whom she referred to as one of the top experts in mitochondrial disease in the nation.

Dr Wallace opined that my use of the statin drug Lipitor was the causal contributor to the holes in my brain, the mitochondrial mutations, the peripheral neuropathy and the profound cognitive deficits.

My heart sank as I thought of the hundreds if not thousands of patients to whom I had given these drugs without knowing they were capable of these effects. I fell into a deep depression, the like of which I would never wish on anyone. And that's when I began to pour every spare moment I had into researching the pathophysiology behind this, only to find out we ALL have been suckered into what has undoubtedly become the biggest scam in the history of the world—the cholesterol theory of heart disease.

My discoveries led to complete shock at the LIES we are continually fed by "pharmaceutical science"—better known as "checkbook science". I told my wife that I need to undo the wrongs I did, by striving to educate everyone I can as to the TRUTH, that cholesterol DOES not, nor ever did cause heart disease.

If you want to know the truth about these wretched drugs and the fallacy behind the cholesterol causation theory of heart disease, I highly recommend a book by Dr. Barbara Roberts MD, a cardiologist of 30+ years who wrote The Truth About Statins: Risks and Alternatives to Cholesterol Lowering Drugs.

One important fact Dr Roberts speaks of is that LDL is a NON issue in women who've never had a diagnosis of heart disease. In fact, when used in primary prevention (trying to prevent a first heart attack) no cholesterol-lowering drug has ever been proven to do that. Only a very small percentage of middle-aged men with established heart disease, MIGHT benefit to the tune of 4%, IF you have already had a heart attack or confirmed heart disease. NEVER in primary prevention.
https://www.thennt.com/nnt/statins-for-heart-disease-prevention-with-known-heart-disease/

Parts II and III of this series will examine what I have researched and collected since I discovered—through the Statin Effects Study I was in, and based on the review of my records, brain biopsy, muscle biopsy, MRI scans, Lumbar punctures, hundreds of lab tests, etc—that the holes in my brain, the mitochondrial DNA mutations seen under electron microscopy of my brain biopsy, as well as the muscle biopsy, were all a direct result of my taking Lipitor. I was a Critical Care RN for 12 years when Lipitor ended life as I knew it, causing my 17+ years of total disability since October 10th, 2002.

Chris Wunsch