Lipitor

[irene]

In March 2004 I started taking Lipitor. Soon after, I began having trouble at my work. I was an administrative assistant to the VP of a stress-filled company. I attributed my forgetfulness to the stressful atmosphere. In March 2005, I lost my job because I had become an "under performer." I still attributed my fogginess to the stress. After three months at home, I found another job doing accounting work for a small company. It is not a stressful atmosphere. I had been an accountant for many years and was glad to get this type of job. I have always been a detail-oriented individual. The first job they trained me on was invoicing customers. It is simple and anyone should be able to do it, even without an accounting background. My supervisor always checked over my work and invariably found errors and my accuracy did not improve. The errors are just sloppy errors. I finally got online and found your articles. I quit taking the Lipitor 13 days ago. I don't know that I can tell any difference. I told my supervisor what I suspected, and I think they will work with me for several more weeks. However, if my cognitive skills don't improve by then, I think I will probably lose my job. My question is, if Lipitor is the culprit, will I improve now that I am no longer taking it?

Thanks for any answer you give me. I don't know how I am going to earn a living.

[SusieO]

Irene unfortunately for me it has not gotten better and I have been off Lipitor one year now. When I become upset or excited I have problems getting the words out and say the wrong word at times. I hope you improve!

sue

[sos_group_owner]

Hi Irene & Susie,

My husband took Zocor for a couple of years, then Lipitor for 5 years.
The last couple of years on Lipitor his cardio increased the dose from 10mg to 20mg (for no apparent reason). Looking back, that is when the cognitive decline started. He had several bouts of TGA (transient global amnesia) in addition to short term memory problems. He also experienced other side effects but the cognitive decline was devastating.

The good news is, he's much better now, having stopped all statins July 2004. We attribute his improvement to CoQ10. Statins deplete this essential enzyme. He took 400mg of CoQ10 (split dose AM/PM) for several months after stopping Lipitor and now takes 200mg daily for maintenance.

He did take 100mg while taking Lipitor, but it was obviously not enough to replace what was being depleted. BTW, our doctor did not tell us to supplement with CoQ10. We read an article by Dr Julian Whitaker about the importance of taking CoQ10 while taking statins. We cringe at how much additional damage statins might have caused.

The best source of CoQ10 is in liquid/gel form with some vitamin E.

Fran

[SusieO]

Hi Fran!

I am the "Sue" on your SOS yahoo board! ;>

[sos_group_owner]

Hi Susie,

So glad to see SOS members sharing their statin stories. We are so fortunate that Dr Graveline started this forum. Every medium we can use to "spread the word" is a step in the right direction. :wink:

Fran