At Stillman & Friedland, clients know that we understand that a recovery process is more than just a financial settlement. Clients need to maximize their physical recovery and health, and that’s why we take the time to research key medical issues.
Here are the very latest developments in an area important to anyone injured in car or truck accidents:
Under recent guidelines, up to 70 million Americans may now be prescribed statins — and in a previous blog entry, we warned that these cholesterol-lowering drugs may cause dangerous side effects. If you are recovering from an injury, you should be aware that muscle weakness is a side effect experienced by some statin users. We strongly suggest that if you are recovering from the trauma of an accident and you are taking statin drugs, you should discuss this issue with your physician.
In addition, there is new information that makes this issue even more important.
Last week, a New York Times article pointed out that wide-scale prescriptions of statin drugs are of particular concern to women. Women have a different risk profile and may develop heart disease 10 years later than men. However, the statin drug studies have focused mostly on male patients. Even worse, women have an increased risk of developing diabetes as a result of taking statins, and Type II diabetes increases your risk of heart disease.
Another article came out last week in the Wall Street Journal, which challenged the linkage of blood cholesterol to heart disease in general. The article notes that “cutting back on saturated fat has had especially harmful consequences for women, who, due to hormonal differences, contract heart disease later in life and in a way that is distinct from men. If anything, high total cholesterol levels in women over 50 were…associated with longer life.”
The bottom line is that quality meats, fatty fish, eggs and butterfat are all good for you and keep you happy! This applies to both men and women.
Remember, it’s your right to ask your doctor about risks-versus-benefits for any prescription and he or she should be open to talking to you.
Keep in mind that avoiding drugs which offer more harm than benefit will speed up your recovery process, and we know that’s important to you.
Jay Stillman
Stillman and Friedland
* For further information call me at 1-800-967-2246 or email me at jay@jstillman.com
