My Thoughts About Statins Prescribed to Prevent Heart Attacks – by Gary Smolker

Struggle

I’ve struggled for more that three years trying to decide whether I should take the “recommended” dosage of a statin medicine to prevent having a heart attack.

Various of my friends have struggled with the same question.

Below is a copy of a string of emails between me (Gary Smolker) and my good friend Paul Cook about whether he or I should take a statin prescribed by our physicians.

I have struggled with that questions for years because I never received a satisfactory answer to my question why should I take a statin, even though I’ve asked many physicians for their answer and have read more than ten books on diet, exercise, life style/healthy living in terms of what to do to prevent heart attacks/heart disease/diabetes, etc. etc.

The Unanswered Questions

I would like to know how much longer I would live if I took the recommended dosage.

I would also like to know what harmful/distasteful side effects would I experience if I took the recommended dosage.

What would be my quality of life over time if I took the recommended dosage vs. if I don’t take the recommended dosage?

My Personal Belief About Longevity

The principle which I used to make my decision about what dosage of statin, if any, to take was based on the following personal belief and principle.

“Its not the years in your life that counts its the life in your years.”  – Abraham Lincoln

My Personal Belief About Diet

Your diet consists of more than the food you eat.  It’s also the books you read, the shows you watch, the people you associate with, the people you are surrounded by, the people you meet, the places you see, the things you do, what you think about, your total environment.  Your “diet” also consists of what you drink and the air you breathe (i.e. second hand smoke from tobacco products, etc.), and especially including the water you drink.

My people believe the water they drink is poisoned (Flint, Michigan), the air they breathe is poisoned (Beijing) and food we all eat causes medical problems, including deformed babies, drug addicted babies, and miscarriages.

According to a recently published WHO (World Health Organization) Report, exposure to polluted environments is associated with more than one in four deaths among children under the age of five.  Research finds that some 1.7 million children’s death across the globe are attributable to environmental hazards such as exposure to contaminated water, air pollution, and other unsanitary conditions.

Exposure to hazardous chemicals through air, food and products used in every day life is also associated with hindered brain development in children.

Wellness

In my opinion:

• The poorest man is not the man without a penny.  It’s the man without a dream, a man without a purpose.
• Work without passion is slavery.
• There are seven days a week and “someday” isn’t one of them.
• An ambitious person working  9 to 5 their entire life is like a lion choosing to be caged at the zoo.
• HEALTHY LIVING is a giant multidimensional topic.

Drinking And Wellbeing

I’ve read that there are thirteen minerals that are essential for human life and all of them can be found in wine.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Is that true?  I don’t know. I would like to think so.

Hard driving stressed-out men, imagine this situation: It’s overcast today,  You chill by the fire with a pair of cocktails for yourself and your lady.  You each each have the following drink in your hand:  Anejo tequila, washed in browned butter, in a cup of coffee, garnished with Netflix and a warm blanket.

Recipe:

• 1 oz browned butter washed Gran Centenario Anejo
• .75 oz Borghetti coffee liqueur
• .25 oz Cynar 70
• Barspoon 2:1 demerara – 3 oz hot coffee
• Top with hand-whipped cinnamon cream

Don’t Just Exist.  Glow.

Does the woman in the picture below look like she is having a good time?

She is totally focused on her work.

Does the woman in the photo below look like she is going to have a good time?

Have A Good Time.

Make sure you have a good time.

Laugh a lot.

Laughter is good medicine.

My Personal Belief About Mistakes

Creative people don’t make mistakes.  They make discoveries.

Creativity is contagious.  Pass it along.

Personal Correspondence

Below is a copy of recent personal correspondence between myself (Gary Smolker) and one of my friends (Paul Cook) about taking stains to prevent heart attacks/heart disease.

The last [most recent] piece of correspondence is at the top, the first piece of correspondence is at the bottom of the string of email correspondence below.

Neither Paul Cook not I are/is a physician.

Neither one of us has any medical training.

Both of us have declined to take a dosage of a statin drug that we have been told/advised that we should take in order to prevent having a heart attack.

Thoughts for the Day

Consider the following before reading the correspondence below between Paul and me.

• Science is not decided by vote.  There is no consensus, there is only our best current understanding.
• If the “experts” had it right we would be living on a “flat Earth” around which the Universe revolves praying to Zeus for our lives.
• The practice of medicine today is better than it was fifty years ago and in fifty years from now the practice of medicine will be better than it is today.
• TODAY: More people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals combined.
• TODAY: The average human is far more likely to die from binging at McDonald’s than from drought, Ebola, or an aL-Qaeda attack.
• With respect to taking steps to have a high quality life, prevent heart attacks, etc we are dealing with (a) lots of uncertainty, (b) incomplete information, (c) a very complex situation, and (d) lack of significant and/or meaningful understanding of physical, biological, biochemical, and physiological processes and in particular we have an almost complete lack understanding of brain function brain health brain chemistry and cognitive processes.
• Risk changes as we get older.
• Much to my astonishment I read that taking statins can lower testosterone (in effect eliminate/lower sex drive and sex function), destroy cognitive function (make it more difficult to process information and to think, destroy short term memory, destroy long term memory), increase the chance of having Alzheimer’s disease, increase the chance of having diabetes, and speed up the aging process.  I don’t know if any of that is true (i.e., if there is any correlation between taking a statin and losing sex drive, or getting Alzheimer’s disease or if any of those dreadful potential side effects would happen to me if I took the recommended dosage of statin, now or when I became older (later)).

 

---

 

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Paul,

Thank you for the vote of approval and confidence in my point of view.

According to David B. Augus, M.D., a pioneering cancer doctor and researcher  [he is a professor of medicine and engineering at the University of Southern California and heads USC’s Westside Cancer Center and the Center for Applied Molecular Medicine), the top ten causes of death in the United States for the 2010 calendar year according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expressed as deaths in the United States for the 2010 calendar year were:

1. Heart disease: 597,689 deaths
2. Cancer: 574,4743
3. Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 138,080
4. Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 129,476 deaths
5. Accidents (unintentional injuries): 120,859 deaths
6. Alzheimer’s disease: 83,494 deaths
7. Diabetes: 69,071 deaths
8. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,476 deaths
9. Influenza and pneumonia: 50,097 deaths
10. Intentional self-harm (suicide): 38,364 deaths

Assuming you are going to eventually die, if you had a choice of cause of death which cause of death would/do you prefer?

For example: Do you prefer to die of heart disease or cancer?

In general, chances are if you don’t die from heart disease, you most likely will die from (1) cancer, or (2) chronic lower respiratory disease, or (3) stroke or (4) an accident/unintentional injury, or (5) Alzheimer’s disease, or (6) diabetes, or something else listed above.

Do you have any idea what it would be like to die from a heart attack or from cancer?

By the way, statistics are valuable  for understanding a population as a whole, but much less valuable for predicting an individual.

Gary

—–Original Message—–
From: Paul Cook
To: Gary Smoker <gsmolker@aol.com>
Cc: Many
Sent: Sat, Mar 4, 2017 6:18 am
Subject: Re: Context: The Missing Ingredient

Gary,

You are Exactly right!

Paul

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

——– Original message ——–

From: Gary Smoker <gsmolker@aol.com>

Date: 3/4/17 2:51 AM (GMT-08:00)

To: Paul Cook

Cc: Many

Subject: Re: Context: The Missing Ingredient

Paul

What meaningless garbage.

What is the “risk?”  How does (percentage) risk change over time?

What is the probability you personally would lower the “risk”?

How much longer can you personally expect to live without having a heart attack or strike if you take one dosage vs another dose or none whatsoever?

The problem with living longer is that you live longer at the end of your life at a time you might be in a dreadful physical and/or mental state.

You might be extending your life while you are an immobile deaf and blind person who can barely breath, and at a time on your life when you pee and shit in your pants all the time and are on dialysis and your body is in constant pain

It would be much better to extend your life when you are young, fully functional and at the top of your physical and mental game.

Gary

Sent from my iPhone

Gary S. Smolker

On Mar 3, 2017, at 4:09 PM, Paul Cook  wrote:

Thanks Gary,

I appreciate your input! I was told that if I took x mg of Statin I would lower the risk of stroke and or heart attack some exact %…. not necessarily so. But that’s what his computer said!

Paul

On March 3, 2017 at 3:50 PM Gary Smolker <gsmolker@aol.com> wrote:

FYI—–Original Message—–
From: Gary Smolker <gsmolker@aol.com>
To: Mayer
Cc: Many
Sent: Fri, Mar 3, 2017 3:48 pm
Subject: Context: The Missing Ingredient

Mayer,My criticism of advice regarding what to eat and do to accomplish the goal of preventing heart attacks and other physical, mental and medical disasters is that RAW DATA is only useful when we put it in context.

The advice given is usually too general or too wrong headed or on mere speculation.

ALWAYS medical advice given to me regarding taking statins has never been a full disclosure of what is known of practical significance.

Compounding the problem the public on the whole would be like swine being fed pearls if anyone would attempt to provide HONEST FULL DISCLOSURE of the plus and minus and percent chance of achieving various results.

Too little is known for any MD to be able to say with a high degree of certainty if you take a statin of any particular dose you will live a specific amount of time longer.

Best regards,

Gary

—–Original Message—–
From: Mayer
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Sent: Mon, Feb 20, 2017 6:19 pm
Subject: Fwd: Home Remedies That Work (and Some That Don’t)

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: WebMD <health@messages.webmd.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 8:38 AM
Subject: Home Remedies That Work (and Some That Don’t)
To: Mayerblah blah

Copyright © 2017 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved

An Ode to Books by Gary S. Smolker

INTRODUCTION

When someone reads something (a book, a news report, an email, a letter, etc. etc.)  at the right time in life it can have a profound impact.

When someone learns about something – either through reading a book, publicity, watching a movie. looking/listening to a news report or looking at something someone sent over the Internet or otherwise) it can have a profound effect.

Reading a book and/or a newspaper or the post on a blog or an email or seeing an image on a screen (i.e., on your smart phone or on your computer or your TV screen ) can change your life and the “life” of other people, the life of Polar Bears, the life of “products”, “places”, rivers, forests, mountains, beaches, cities, countries, historical sites, museums, art objects, famous places, famous buildings, politicians, political candidates, celebrities, etc.

The fact that we can now transmit information (text and pictures) anywhere at any time via smart phones is the biggest most impactful technological advance in human history.

The smart phone has had more impact on mankind then the invention of the Gutenberg Printing Press, the invention of the steam engine or the impact of any other invention in human history.

Before the invention and widespread use of the smart phone it took relatively speaking “forever” for information to be transmitted long distances to anyone compared to how long it takes to transmit that information to someone else today.

For example, it took a long time for the general public to know of the existence of the Mona Lisa. 

The theft of the Mona Lisa from the most important museum in Paris was of great interest to the public.

What launched the Mona Lisa to worldwide fame was it becoming front page news after it was stolen.

The theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre created an international uproar over its theft in 1911 – pictures of the actual painting were published in the largest circulation newspapers in Paris as well as in leading newspapers all over the world.

This was followed by constant reporting on the investigation of the theft and on the worldwide search for the stolen painting.

People lined up in front of the now blank wall in the Louvre on which it had hung before it was stolen to look at where it had been.

The Mona Lisa had hitherto been known only to the most cultured of audiences, mostly for its prestigious backstory of swapping from one royal collection to another.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa did not inspire crowds to line up in front of the Louvre until after it was stolen in 1911.

Today, thanks to modern communications, and marketing, it is one of the most popular and famous paintings in the world.

It is universally recognized and even worshiped as an object of pilgrimage and long lines at museums.

Reading, Seeing and Thinking Changes Your Brain

You don’t just learn things by reading and/or by seeing life changing images.

Your brain actually grows and becomes better able to process and use information.

• You also become more well-rounded, more refined, more thoughtful, more knowledgeable and more skeptical.
• You acquire new knowledge, new information, new things to admire and love, as well as new things to be horrified about, new things to doubt and new things to be skeptical about.
• You acquire a deeper understanding of all aspects of your own life and the life of other people.
• As you become better “educated” your ability to understand other people’s feelings and motivations increases and you become better able to understand what another person is feeling and thinking.

COMMUNICATION GAME CHANGERS

There is a a clear continuity between word, thought, thinking, comprehending, hearing and listening.

They are each part of the long history of steps enabling man to better communicate, to better express himself, to more fully comprehend what he sees hears tastes and smells, and to become more articulate more persuasive and more able to influence, persuade, lead and control other people.

Its a testament to the extraordinary world we live in that the smart phone, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Google, Uber and the Internet have penetrated deeply into our lives and redefined both how we communicate and how we live.

As a result of Facebook, Google, YouTube, Instagram, Uber and the spread of use of the Internet there has been more change in the last five years than in the previous 55.  For example, if you Google the word health you will instantly see about 2 billion results.  If you call Uber you will quickly get a “low cost ride.”

 

• During the past five years the value of communications has dramatically gone up, the cost of communication has dramatically gone down and the number of communications (i.e., Google the word health) has exploded.
• As the cost of obtaining information continues to decline sharply and the cost of communicating information continues to decline, more and more of us are being given a glimpse of the ideas, forces, and trends that are now shaping our future.
• However, in many cases, information we randomly access on the Internet has not been edited or peer reviewed by unbiased experts.
• Sometimes reading such material can be as useful as reading unsolicited (junk) mail.
• We should ask ourselves: How valuable, how reliable is the information we are receiving, is the “information” that we have obtained beneficial?

It is no accident that the demand for instant information has gone up dramatically as the price of obtaining that information has gone down.

That is why you can get about 2 billion results if you Google the word health and why you can shop for almost anything on line.

We are all swimming in an ocean of information.

Those of us who own a smart phone have become an integral part of a multitude of interconnected systems of information.

We are now suffering from electronically transmitted information overload.

Most of us have at least 50 unread emails in our computers or on our smart phones at all times.

Some of us have over 100 unread emails on our computers and smart phones.

DOWNSIZING

I recently downsized by moving from a house I was living in (a 4,000 plus square foot two-story four bedroom three bath single family home with beautifully landscaped front and backyards in a prosperous section of Los Angeles) with an ornate designer swimming pool to a 1,100 square foot two bedroom two bath one story condo without a swimming pool in what has been called the armpit of the San Fernando Valley.

TRAUMA

I spent the months of February, March, April and May, 2015 looking for a new place to live.

Every aspect of looking for a new place to live was a traumatic experience, including looking at places offered for rent and looking at places offered for sale which were posted on the Internet.

One of the issues I had to resolve  during my search for a new place to live was the human need issue in my life of how important to me are my books.

All the places I looked at, except one, did not have enough room or the right kind of room for my bookcases and/or for my books or the right floor plan or the right ambiance/”feeling.”

My love of reading had created in me a need to find a house where I could have all the books in my home library at my fingertips.

When I finally saw a place for rent that had enough room for my books as well as an agreeable floor plan that would allow me to feel comfortable bringing my books and bookcases there, I immediately knew that it was the place for me.

Coincidentally, after I moved in, I discovered this place has beautiful views from eight of it’s ten windows and that it has three balconies.

I didn’t notice the windows or balconies when I first personally inspected place where I now live with my real estate agent because I was blown away by what happened on my one and only viewing before I made an offer to rent this place.

THERE ARE NO EMOTIONLESS ENVIRONMENTS

My real estate broker fired me while he and I were looking at this place because he couldn’t stomach the fact that I told the owner I loved this place while the owner was showing this place to me and to my real estate broker.

The minute I told the owner I love this place, my real estate broker immediately went outside while I was still telling the owner how much I loved this place.  As he left, my real estate broker told me to come to his car when I was done talking to the owner.

A MIRACLE

I surrendered to the inexplicable power of needing to find a home for my books without counting the cost.

Why did I do that?

Rabbi Jechezkel Landau, the eighteen century Chief Rabbi of Prague, said “G-d performs miracles to make a statement.”

If that is the case, I believe G-d made it take me four months for me to find the place where I now live to compel/provoke/stimulate me to write the “Ode to Books” below, to present my feelings to you about how important I feel books through which we exchange and transmit ideas and information are to everyone in this computerized information age.

AN ODE TO BOOKS

How odd it must be to go through life believing that a book is a book. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some are to be chewed and digested in full or in part. Books inspire a man to embrace the world or to flee it. The literary man can never have enough books. The eyes of a reader are eyes, that do not just take words in, but confront and challenge their worthiness. For me, books are not just words on a page.

The pages of a book can influence me and you in ways we never comprehend.

Reading can change you and me; they can make us do things without realizing it.

Books bring things, ideas and people to life and open our eyes.

What we read can be more real to us than events in our own lifes.

When reading I sense that the various words on the page are fighting for control,
for control of me.

Now, I never read a page without sensing that various people and forces are fighting for control of the words, for control of me.

HOW I THINK

It is interesting to me to note what I remember and what I soon forget, what I see and/or hear and what I comprehended.

ATTRIBUTION

All the thoughts about books expressed in the ode above are discussed in “The Last Bookaneer”, a recently published book, written by Matthew Pearl.

In “The Last Bookaneer”, Matthew Pearl has one of his fictional characters say, “A man’s library opens up his character to the world.”  A man’s books disclose what is (and/or has been) of importance to him.

QUERY:  How many people do you know who have a copy of the Compact Edition of the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language in their home?  I do because I “love” words and what to know what they really “mean.”

 

Without My Books I Would Be A Body

Deprived of Its Soul

I have spent the last three weeks arranging and rearranging all the books in my new home on bookshelves.

Each of my books represents a topic or subject I was interested in at the time I purchased it and at the time I read it.

Some times it has taken me ten or twenty years to get around to reading one of my books.

I don’t just read books; I write in them; I underline words and phrases and ideas in them; I highlight things of interest to me in them; I use a multitude of colors for underlining and for highlighting.

I tag pages with different colored and different sized tags.

I take (copy) statements that interest me that I have read in a book and put those statements in notebooks.

I use those statements when I talk to people, when I write to people, and when I think about things.

I have many such notebooks.

Those statements (ideas, thoughts, theories, arguments, bits of information) have become part of me.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS

During the process of moving out of my four thousand plus square foot home and looking for a new place to live, I lived in a hotel for a little over a month.

During the month I was living in that hotel, people urged me to quit looking for a new place to live and to “just rent someplace.”

They didn’t/don’t understand how important my books are to me.

Those people did not understand that books are a part of me.

Figuratively speaking, I am part book, part man.

UTOPIA

To have what you have written read by the right people – to modern writers – is positively utopia.

To have a film seen and understood is positively utopia to a filmmaker.

Today, for some people, films have replaced reading books and for other people watching films has stimulated their curiosity which in turn has increased the amount of reading and writing they do.

It is basic human nature that to love to be understood and appreciated.  That is utopia.

THE POWER OF A COMPLIMENT

For example, I read an article on miracles (why G-d creates miracles) written by Rabbi Lazer Gurkow and sent him an email after reading that article in which I complimented Rabbi Gurkow.

Rabbi Gurkow wrote back: “Wow.  Thank you for that.  A true compliment inspires greater effort and deeper power.”

Copy of email exchange below:

“Wow. Thank you for that. A true compliment inspires greater effort and deeper powers.”
R Lazer

On 2015-06-28 7:52 AM, “Gary Smoker” < gsmolker@aol.com> wrote:  In my post I made reference to your reference and “thought” about miracles which I thought was a wonderful statement.

You write fascinating articles.

As a writer you build suspense and then present one surprise twist and turn that open and then further opens people’s minds.

As a Rabbi you fulfill the vision that a Rabbi is a spokesman for G-d.

Of course, G-d isn’t boring and neither are you.

I mimic what you write because

you are a fascinating and exciting teacher.

Prometheus brought mankind fire.  

You bring mankind light by answering the question, WHY?

Sincerely

Gary

Sent from my iPhone

Gary S. Smolker

On Jun 27, 2015, at 7:57 PM, Rabbi Lazer Gurkow wrote:

I am flattered.

Thanks for reading my work.

R Lazer

On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 4:47 PM, Gary Smolker <gsmolker@aol.com> wrote:Rabbi,Thank you for contributing to my “Ode to Books” which was posted on my blog www.garysmolker.wordpress.com a few minutes ago. Gary

I AM WHAT I READ

Books are a part of me.

I would no more “voluntarily” live where I would not have my favorite books at my fingertips than I would voluntarily cut off one of my arms or voluntarily shrink out of existence.

If it is true that you become what you love, shocking as it sounds to me, I am part book and part man.

We have recently learned that almost half of the world’s population has access to the Internet: 3.2 billion people.

In the year 2000, this figure was somewhere around 400 million.

Try to imagine what would have happened in the past 15 years if technologically speaking we were still where we were in the year 2000.  That would be a world without Google, without Facebook, without YouTube, without Instagram, without Netflix, without Uber.

I agree with Alvin Toffler’s statement, “In the future illiteracy will not be defined by those who cannot read and write, but by those who cannot learn and relearn.” but would modify it as follows,” In the future illiteracy will not be defined by those who cannot read and write, but by those who do not use smart phones, computerized research and read books and those who do.”

As access to information and learning become more and more widespread information and learning becomes more relevant each day.

• In such a world, information needs to be read seen and listened to attentively, needs to be discussed thoroughly, needs to be studied carefully and needs to be evaluated critically.
• For those purposes books are more relevant today then ever before.

Each information processing and information transmission revolution that has taken place since the 1995 introduction of the graphics user interface Web browser for the Internet has made the truths and facts found only in books more important and more relevant.

Copyright © 2015 Gary S. Smolker