A big thank you!!

[peter s]

I have waited a while to post this to make sure my decision stuck, and now I can say that thanks in large part to the information on this forum (and some private emails from members), I made the choice back in late October to discontinue Lipitor which had been prescribed following my mild (well, I lilke to put a positive spin on it) heart attack on September 6.

I am hopeful that given the short duration of my exposure (6-7 weeks all told), I won't have any permanent damage. Leaving aside my hypochondria I am not aware of any clear-cut symptoms that I can attribute to the drug, and indeed I was not aware of any whilst I was taking it once I went from 80 (which was giving me PVCs) to 20 -- perhaps my muscles hurt more than usual, but the issue was confused for me by exercising for the first time in a decade. I would love to have some absolute reassurance that I did not permanent harm, but I know it is impossible to know. Indeed, I did receive some rather alarmist communications from one or two people indicating that it was too late, the damage may already have been done with the ingestion of the first pill, but I hope they are wrong.

In any event, thank you again, I hope there is some measure of satisfaction, for those of you who were less fortunate than I have been and were on the drugs for years, to have helped others.

[Allen1]

Hi there Peter,

I am pleased you have decided to stay off the Lipitor and although you have had some "rather alarmist communications" as you say, they should have showed you the reality and severity of what this stuff can do.

When I started the statin therapy the top of the range computer was a pentium 75 and the internet was a rich mans toy, it is good to see that information is now so easily found (if you look properly), just a shame it was not that way back then.

In a few years time, you will see all this hype about the wonders of statins being brought to a closure and the real harm that it has and still will be doing finally being exposed. The real shame is that for so many people that will happen far to late to help them.

Take care Peter and please keep reading and posting.

All the very best,

Allen :)

[Brian C.]

Peter, be assured that only a small proportion of people would likely be permanently harmed by such a short exposure to Lipitor, namely those with a genetic propensity for immediate harm. Nobody should be prescribed a statin without prior screening. Perhaps the worse of these drugs is simvastatin (Zocor) which studies have shown to cause a higher rate of mitochondrial DNA damage than others.

I was on Zocor for 7 years followed by 10 years of Lipitor at maximum dose of 80mg.

Brian.