Taking Statins - Can't Take Echinacea?

Question

I am taking Simvastatin for high cholesterol. I currently have the most awful cold - normally, I would take echinacea, which I discovered a couple of years ago, and which worked wonders. Since childhood, any cold I caught lasted for ages and I suffered from catarrh for weeks; echinacea tablets helped tremendously; the colds I had were less severe and no catarrhal symptoms afterward.

Apparently, though, I can't take echinacea if I am taking statins.

Why? What are the effects if I do?

Next time I am on the point of developing a cold, I am considering stopping the statins in order to take the echinacea.

Comments?

Additional Details

Thanks for all the info saying that echinacea doesn't work; all I can say is that it works very well for me - I only have this awful cold because I've been unable to take it.

Quackery? well, possibly you may call it that. All I know is that it has worked for me (a total sceptic) and for my husband (who is a microbiologist) for several years - and we are both willing to swear that it makes a difference.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

No, don't stop taking your statins.

Echinacea does not work and has been proven not to work in numerous clinical trials. It is quackery and a sheer waste of money. Colds are self limiting and will resolve spontaneously. NOTHING will make it go away any faster.

http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab000…

The reason you had less catarrh with the last virus was nothing to do with echinacea. Every virus is different and the body can respond differently.

This whole 'boost immune system' is quackery

Edit
Can I be completely honest? I am struggling with your rationale. Let me get this straight, you'd rather come off the statins (which keep your cholesterol levels low and prevent heart attacks/stroke, thus increasing your risks of these two events), and take a quack remedy that has been proven not to work for your cough?

And your Microbiologist husband doesn't see anything wrong with this?

Well as I was told in year 1 of my Nursing, 'You can't help/save them all'

Source(s):

Registered Nurse

Answer 2

Got to agree, 100% with both Rihanna and Dr Frank, The best way to relive the symptoms is cheap and free, simple boil a kettle and inhale the steam, If catarrh is a problem try using sterimar which is basically salt water in a nasal spray, works for me every time.

Answer 3

I trawled the medical Iiterature but was personally unable to find and evidence of interaction between echinacea and the statins. In fact I found a specific reference to there being no interaction. (http://www.drugs.com/drug-interactions/e…

Rhianna did find this article by Julie Rehmeyer,a freelance math and science writer and the math columnist for Science News.

'Echinacea also may well interact negatively with many common prescription drugs, like statins, antidepressants, and protease inhibitors for HIV.'

(http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/20…

After much effort she found the origin of her comment. (http://www.healthline.com/interactions/s…

'simvastatin + echinacea » Moderate

MONITOR: Concomitant use of echinacea with other agents known to induce hepatotoxicity may increase the risk of liver injury. Use of echinacea beyond eight weeks may have adverse effects on the liver, although the magnitude of its hepatotoxic potential is unclear.'

In fact this was based on the double jeopardy theory, indicating a worst scenario theoretical risk, without any evidence that the risk was in fact real.

I would say therefore that, in answer to your question there is really no actual evidence of interaction risk, rather a theoretical suggestion that risk may exist.

Whether this is the case or not I must strongly back up her comments that there is no case at all for stopping your statin.

I do worry about the illogical use of preparations such as echinacea, not only as Rhianna points out, is it worthless as a viral treatment and prophylactic, but Echinacea should not be taken for more than 8 weeks without a break because daily use for a long time may suppress the immune system. (Merck manual).

Because of immune system effects, echinacea should be avoided in patients with active infections or wounds, recent or impending surgery, tuberculosis, autoimmune disorders including systemic lupus or multiple sclerosis, immunosuppressive disorders such as HIV, and in patients who are transplant recipients. Ironically it is recomended for use as a long term cold preventative despite the fact that the largest and best controlled study of its use indicated it to be worthless. (http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/b… and if anything there are serious concerns that chonic ingestion actually supresses the immune system! (http://mediwire.sma.org/main/Default.asp…

With regard to your comment that 'it works for me', unfortunately an individual's assessment that a particular remedy is sucessful, is statistically irrelevent, as am sure that your husband, as a microbiologist, can confirm. Not only can an individual not link cause and effect, but also the placebo effect with regard to medication, depending on the condition, can reach rates of as much as 70%!

Source(s):

GP for more years than I care to remember