Bezafibrate is not a statin - which is why I agreed to give it a try to keep my misguided doctor from yammering on like a stuck record about cholesterol and the like. I stopped taking statins in Jan 08 after realising the damage they had been doing to me over the previous five years.
What I found to my dismay is that the psychological side effects of the Bezafibrate were absolutely identical to those of the statins - depresssion, mood swings, brain fog, anxiety, stress and so on. I recognise these effects afgter a short while and stopped taking the drug. And the side effects went away.
I'm certainly not a pharmacist, but it's my understanding that the mechanisms of action of the statins and bezafibrate are different. If this is so then the likelihood that they both cause me identical side effects must surely be due to the end result of their action. In other words, my brain needs the level of cholesterol it manufactures for itself and this should not be tampered with.
I've long been a disciple of Dr Malcolm Kendrick (book: The great Cholesterol Con) inasmuch as I believe that cholesterol levels are not relevant to heart disease. My own case in particular is just another example of this - for all the years I was on statins my GP delightedly observed I had the lowest cholesterol in his whole practice, but still the heart problems they kept a-coming.
So now I say to all the misguided inquisitors of the Holy Cholesterol Church: hands-off my cholesterol - it's 6 on the European scale and I need it all!