Lipitor side effects

[dogteacher]

I am astounded by the number of posts that mimic my experience. In 1988, after having been on Mevacor for approx. 5 years, I ended up in bed for a week with what I first thought was the flu. But it couldn't have been the flu, it was July. A blood test confirmed Mevacor as the culprit. I was then put on various other meds, most causing stomach upset, until in 1998, I was put on 20 mg Lipitor. In July '05 it was raised to 40 mg and 10 mg Zetia was added. On Oct. 12, '05 blood work confirmed that after 22 years my 'numbers' were at last 'normal'. Then the hammer fell. From Oct. 22 I started noticing a generalized weakness and the constant feeling that I was floating. Something about the weakness started me wondering. I started searching the internet. I landed here. I spent the weekend of Nov. 5/6, reading this entire site. I then became aware that many of my symptoms (sore legs and arms, foot cramps, missing pieces of short term memory, fatigue, poor balance) had been developing over the summer but I hadn't yet connected the dots. I stopped the pills on the 5th, saw my GP on the 7th. She confirmed my suspicion. In just 3 days, most of my symptoms are gone. I AM DONE WITH STATINS! My GP agrees. I will have another blood test in about 8 weeks, to determine where I stand. We will then explore the use of 'alternatives'. Thankfully my GP is open minded, my Cardiologist will probably have a coronary. So be it. Maybe now I will be able to return to what I love, dog training. I thought the reason I couldn't run around the dog show ring was because I was 'getting old' (62!) I lost count of the times I ended up on the floor. Got my fingers crossed. Thank you, Dr. Graveline. You have given back my life.

[sos_group_owner]

Hi Dog Teacher,

It took a long time for many of us to connect the dots... us included.
Dr Graveline's 1st statin book, "Lipitor, Thief of Memory" was the
1st I'd ever heard of statins causing memory loss. And his description
of TGA (transient global amnesia) was exactly what my husband
was experiencing.

You are very fortunate to recover after being bombarded with
statins for 22 years. My husband is much improved after stopping
statins for one 1/2 years, but still has some short term memory
issues. Thank goodness TGA episodes are gone.

Inflammation is really the issue when it comes to heart disease.
Ask your doctor to check your homocysteine (toxic amino acid,
a by-product of protein metabolism).

Elevated homocysteine (optimal should be less than <6.2) is what
causes all the trouble. And if your homocysteine is elevated, the fix ?
Folic acid, B6 & B12. Some need TMG (Betaine) and zinc to work with
the B's to lower homocysteine.

Dr Graveline's article about homocysteine:
http://www.spacedoc.net/homocysteine_heart_disease.htm

Fran

[dogteacher]

Hi Fran,

My apologies for taking so long to acknowledge your reply, I've been on vacation since the date of your post. Now, 4 weeks after stopping Lipitor, it looks like my symptoms have all disappeared. In retrospect, I believe I had a few 'mini' TGA's over the summer, after the dosage was increased. What scares me is that they occurred while driving. I would suddenly find myself on a road I knew, but had no idea how I got there or where I was going. Very scarey! I also no longer stumble or walk into things. My memory is improving, my muscles no longer ache.

I am scheduled for a blood test in early Jan. My GP is willing to consider alternatives to drugs, thank heaven. My Cardiologist, on the other hand, will have a bird. He once told me his nickname is 'Dr. Chemical' (his nurse concurred)! "If a pill can fix it, why not take it?" If he wasn't Chief of Cardiology, and so good otherwise, I would look for another doc. But now that I am 'hip', as it were, I will have the final say as to what treatment I recieve.

It's a shame we don't have a medical system where the MD makes the diagnosis and the Pharmicist determines the drug. MD's just don't know enough about pharmacology, and the drug companies love it that way.

I greatly appreciate all of the info here and on your web site. I reccommend both to all of my 'statin taking friends'.

[sos_group_owner]

Welcome back from vacation Dog Teacher.

Dealing with our doctors is very challenging.
We thought our cardiologist was going to be the most difficult one to convince that statins were causing muscle atrophy/damage and memory loss. He seems to have changed over the past couple of years, not so authoritative (like it was his way or the highway).

We were amazed that it was our PCP that stone-walled everything we said. He must be more influenced by the drug companies. So we did find a new PCP and are staying with our Cardio. Like yours, he is tops in his field and it's taken years for us to get him to smile (very serious).

Fran