Since my heart attack in 2004, my cardiologist has had me on a drug called simvastatin. He prescribed it to me on the basis that it was meant to keep my cholesterol level under control — I did not have high cholesterol, he just wanted to make sure that it didn’t get out of control. After my recent “scare”, I’ve found out that this medication has actually been working to reduce the size of blockages in my coronary arteries — successfully!
It was a mystery to me, when talking to my cardiologist after the angiogram the other week, that he said it was “normal”. I had a small but measurable blockage in 2004; surely we don’t consider such blockages normal now…?
It was only in talking to my GP last week that I found out about the “other” purpose of the simvastatin I’ve been on. He said that research had shown that in some patients who took simvastatin that the plaque and blockages in their coronary arteries were reduced. However, the exact details are not known because the only way to verify the state of blockages in the coronary arteries is with an angiogram — and because angiograms are a fairly invasive procedure with a significant recovery time, doctors will not do one “just to see if the tablets worked”. It’s only when someone like me comes through the system, someone who had a blockage, was taking simvastatin, and for some other reason later on has an angiogram, that they get a chance to see if it worked.
And on me, it did!
I also read somewhere that simvastatin has been linked to benefits in the prevention of stroke; apparently some attributes of coronary artery disease and some of the conditions that lead to stroke are similar, so the effects that simvastatin has in fighting coronary artery disease are effective in reducing the risk of stroke as well.
Wonder-drug is too strong a word, but I’m glad I’m on it!
Crossed Wires 