Statin Rage

For people with diabetes the lesson of the JUPITER Trial isn't to swallow statins. It is to know our CRP level so we can control inflammation.

Diabetes has a direct link to inflammation. The better we control inflammation the better we can control our diabetes.

That's why it is especially important for those of us with diabetes to prevent gum disease, which is chronic inflammation of the tissues surrounding and supporting our teeth. Inflammation also plays a central role in another complication of diabetes, peripheral arterial disease.

The test known as highly-sensitive C-reactive protein may not be a good guide for us to take a statin drug. But it is a good guide to the general level of inflammation in our body.

Do you known your CRP level off-hand? I didn't and had to look mine up. It's 0.4 mg per liter. I will skip the statins.

The great poet Dylan Thomas would have us, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light." Certainly. But we must also rage against what's not right.

Related posts:

Be sure to check out Bill Quick's commentary, "Statins for Everyone?" and Gretchen's post, "The JUPITER Trial"