A collection of research abstracts supporting the adverse effects of statins on arterial calcification and other adverse effects of major prescription drug combinations leading to kidney failure and death of patient.

1. A Selection of Research Abstracts and
Patient Prescription Receipts Delineating A
Drug Prescription Sequence Whereby the
Use of One Drug Causes a Condition That
Creates A Demand For Yet Another Drug,
which then Causes Yet Another Condition
which Requires Further Drugs; The
Deleterious Effects on the Patient
[click each page to advance]
Assembled by The Widow
1

2. 4. Statins Cause Diabetes, Creating a Demand for Metformin
5. Inhibition of Cholesterol Impairs Insulin Secretion
6. Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients with Diabetes
7. Simvistatin Blocks Glucose Mediated Uptake; Metformin is
Prescribed.
8. More Kidney Disease with Long Term Statins Prescribed; Losartan
is Prescribed
9. Use of Statins Increases Calcified Plaque in Coronary Arteries,
Leading to Higher Prevalence of Coronary Artery Disease
10. Statins(HMG CoA Reductase Inhibitors) Block The Production Of
Coenzyme Q Which Is Needed For Heart Muscle Function
11. Oral Supplementation of CoQ10 in Diabetic Patients Increased
Serum Coenzyme Q10 Levels Without Affecting Cholesterol
Levels
12. After Heart Failure, Patient Gets Prescribed Spironolactone,
Incurring a Major Adverse Interaction with Previously Prescribed
Losartan Which Could Lead to Kidney Failure
13. Arterial Calcification is Common in Patients With End Stage
Renal Disease
2

3. 3
Table of Contents (cont.)
14. Vascular Calcification in End Stage Renal Disease
15. As an Additional Response to Congestive Heart Failure, Patient Gets
Prescribed Warfarin, Which Also Causes Arterial Calcification
16. Progression of Vascular Calcification Use is Increased with Statin Use in
the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT)
17. List of Drugs Prescribed Three Months Prior to Patient’s Death
18. Cephalexin and Furosemide - Drug Interaction Bad for Kidneys
19. Lasix and Furosemide, Another Drug Combo Bad for Kidneys
20. List of Adverse Drug Interactions
21. Misdiagnoses of Arterial Calcification
22. Narcotics Further Stressing Kidneys are Prescribed to Patient
23. Final Hospital Stay
24. Flowers on the Water

4. Statins Cause Diabetes
Statins slow the output of the thyroid to the pancreas.
The pancreas then slows the production of insulin,
causing diabetes. Type II diabetes is first treated with metformin.
Then as the diabetes gets worse, the patient is switched to insulin.
4

5. 5

6. 6

7. Simvistatin was also
discovered to inhibit
glucose uptake after
insulin stimulation
Metformin is
prescribed to reduce
blood glucose and
insulin resistance
7

8. 8

9. Losartan is then prescribed to slow long-term
kidney damage in people with type 2 diabetes
who also have high blood pressure. 9

10. Use of Statins Increases Calcified Plaque in Coronary
Arteries, Leading to Higher Prevalence of
Coronary Artery Disease
10

11. Coenzyme Q10 is essential for all cellular ATP production and is of
particular importance in heart muscle function given that tissue's extreme
energy requirements. A deficiency of CoQ10 in the blood and the heart
muscle has been documented in congestive heart failure (Kitamura 1984,
Folkers 1985). An Australian group of cardiovascular surgeons has recently
documented impairment in myocardial function secondary to age-related
CoQlo deficiency in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery
(CABG). That impairment was completely eliminated with incubation of
the atrial myocardium with CoQ10 (Rosenfeldt 1999).
It is well established that the mevalonate pathway is involved not only in
the biosynthesis of cholesterol but also in the biosynthesis of the essential
co-factor required for energy production, coenzyme Q1o (CoQ10,
ubiquinone). As such, HMG CoA reductase inhibitors block the cellular
production of cholesterol and of coenzyme Q10 (Rudney 1981, Goldstein
1990). This drug nutrient interaction has been reviewed (Bliznakov 1998,
Bliznakov 2002).
Statins(HMG CoA Reductase Inhibitors) Block The Production
Of Coenzyme Q Which Is Needed For Heart Muscle Function
11

12. In 1999, Miyake et a1 studied 97 non-insulin-dependent diabetic
patients treated with simvastatin and observed a significant
decrease in serum CoQ10 concentrations along with the decrease
in serum cholesterol (Miyake 1999). Oral CoQ10 supplementation
in diabetic patients receiving simvastatin significantly increased
serum coenzyme Q 10 levels without affecting cholesterol levels.
Furthermore, the supplemental coenzyme Q 10 significantly
decreased cardiothoracic ratios from 51.4 +/- 5.1 to 49.2 +/- 4.7%
(pC0.03). The authors concluded that serum coenzyme Q10 levels
in diabetic patients are decreased by statin therapy and may be
associated with subclinical diabetic cardiomyopathy, reversible by
coenzyme Q10 upplementation.
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/02/May02/052902/02p-0244-cp00001-02-Exhibit_A-vol1.pdf
Oral Supplementation of CoQ10 in Diabetic Patients
Increased Serum Coenzyme Q10 Levels Without Affecting
Cholesterol Levels
12

13. After the patient’s first heart attack, fluids don’t get
pumped out of the system rapidly enough.
So patient gets prescribed spironolactone to relieve edema (fluid
retention) from various conditions including congestive heart
failure, kidney disease, and cirrhosis (liver scarring).
Unfortunately, the combination OF LOSARTAN &
SPRONOLACTONE is contraindicated for diabetics and heart
failure patients because it causes hyperkalemia, or excess
potassium, putting stress on the kidneys , which could lead to
kidney failure.
After Heart Failure, Patient Gets Prescribed Spironolactone,
Incurring a Major Adverse Interaction with Previously Prescribed
Losartan Which Could Lead To Kidney Failure
13

14. 14

15. 15
As an Additional Response to Congestive Heart Failure, Patient Gets
Prescribed Warfarin, Which Also Causes Arterial Calcification

16. 16

17. 17
As the diabetes progresses, patient gets switched from metformin to humulin. As
vascular calcification progresses, leg wounds start to appear and get treated
topically, and with antibiotics for a presumed infection. Hydocodone gets
prescribed for increasing leg pain.

18. 18
Interactions between your selected drugs
Moderate: furosemide cephalexin
Applies to: furosemide, cephalexin
Cephalosporin antibiotics like cephalexin can occasionally
cause kidney problems, and using it with furosemide may
increase that risk. The interaction is more likely to occur
when the cephalosporin is given at high dosages by
injection into the vein or when it is given to the elderly or
individuals with preexisting kidney function impairment
Another hit on
the kidneys.

19. 19

20. 20
A month after receipt of
these drug combinations,
patient lost the ability to
walk. He would get up
and fall to the floor.
Paramedics had to be
called to pick him up and
bring him to clinics or the
hospital. We thought it
was the painkillers.

21. 21
Misdiagnoses of Arterial Calcification.

22. 22
As pain from the arterial calcification built up, patient was prescribed
narcotic combinations which further stressed the kidneys.

23. 23
It was only after an attempt at debridement was made on the patient, (during
which he bled so profusely they had to postpone the operation for a few days until
the combination of drugs that led to excessive bleeding wore off), and he was
admitted to the hospital for his final stay, that other conditions were identified.
They started putting him on dialysis because his kidneys were failing. He had
arrhythmias but they postponed putting a pacemaker in him because of the
perceived infection in his leg.
It was not until two weeks before he died that the brightest doctor at the HMO
popped into the hospital room and informed us the patient had calciphylaxis-aka
calcification of the arteries.
Calciphylaxis? Or calcification from statins and warfarin?
Patient coded 4 times on a dialysis machine two weeks later, two days after he was
given Zoloft (which shouldn’t have been given due to renal insufficiency).
While in the hospital, patient requested that his case history be used for teaching,
as he had been an anatomy and physiology lecturer. So be it. R.I.P.
Final Hospital Stay

24. 24