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Dr Larry Creswell

Dr. Larry Creswell on athletes and heart health.
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Athletes and Statin Medications

May 8, 2012 By Larry Creswell, MD 7 Comments

 

Check out my column this month at Endurance Corner.  I talk about the pros and cons of the lipid-lowering agents, the so-called statin medications, particularly for otherwise healthy athletes.  There are special considerations for athletes and non-athletes, alike, who might take these medications for primary prevention–preventing the first problem with heart or vascular disease.

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Filed Under: Endurance Corner articles, Medications & the athlete Tagged With: athlete, heart disease prevention, medication, side effect

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Comments

  1. Margaret says

    May 16, 2012 at 10:06 am

    I just read your article and for someone athletic like me, I won’t consider taking statins. I’ll just look for alternative ways or anything that is organic. I will not take anything with side effects or anything I know can harm my health.

    Reply
  2. Kevin Morgan says

    May 19, 2012 at 2:33 am

    Hi Lawrence,
    I just cannot get myself to take statins since seeing directly the muscle toxicity they induce in rats, which resembled rhabdomyolysis. I have found that my hyperlipidemia is better treated by Ironman training (which saved my life from AAA, but that is another story), than atorvastatin. Every cardiologist I meet says, “take Lipitor,” but they seem unable to listen to my story – I am hyperlipidemic (resting TAG >2000, HDL <20, fasted plasma like milk), which I found myself by chance in the lab about 30 years ago whilst running a Sephadex protein binding assay, but I'm not dead yet http://goo.gl/6iAuJ! The only thing that really brings my lipid profile into the ‘normal’ range is intense exercise, and that really works. Atorvastatin brought the levels towards normal, but only temporarily. I also have an AAA, which is clearly linked to lipid metabolism (but probably not mechanistically) if the LRP1 data is to be believed. So, my advice is avoid statins at all costs if you are an athlete. I really appreciate your thoughtful blog posts, btw. -k aka FitOldDog

    Reply
  3. Rob Fritz says

    July 20, 2017 at 8:37 am

    Your article is no longer at Endurance Corner.

    If your 2012 article is still germane in 2017, I’d be interested in reading it. My whole family is on statins. And my PCP has started lecturing me about my HDL/LDL ratio which, in spite of my triathlon training regimen, hasn’t really improved.

    Just looking for more info.

    Thanks!

    Rob Fritz

    Reply
    • Larry Creswell, MD says

      July 20, 2017 at 5:47 pm

      JHU contact info is still correct. Best email is lcreswell@jhu.edu.

      The article is still available online at:

      http://ec.o2dev.net/Larry_Creswell/statins_cholesterol

      Reply
  4. Rob Fritz says

    July 20, 2017 at 8:39 am

    Oh, and your JHU contact information is likely out of date …

    Reply
  5. Zach Norton says

    August 11, 2018 at 8:53 am

    Dear Dr. Creswell,

    I was just started on Atorvastatin and am finding that it makes my exercising significantly more difficult. I am interested to read your article but it is not a website that can be visited either by the original link or the link that you replied to the other Rob Fritz : http://ec.o2dev.net/Larry_Creswell/statins_cholesterol

    Can you please send me another link so I can read what you have to say?

    V/R-

    Reply
    • Larry Creswell, MD says

      August 14, 2018 at 11:04 am

      Sadly, Endurance Corner went out of business and the content is not readily available. Let me see what I can do.

      Reply

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