Statins And Slowed Reaction Times?

[lars999]

Hello!!

Now that I have been off Lipitor since 10 June 2010 I have been noticing various improvements in my physical and mental abilities. The latest one is faster reaction times. For some months I have been noticing faster reaction times but, these were never very quantitative. While still taking Lipitor my reaction times slowed quite noticably for nearly everything, in some cases causing me to stop doing the activity -- I was just too slow. It is nice to see this reversing back toward previous abilities.

Has anyone else noticed this adverse side effect of any statin drug, as well as reversal of this once stopped taking the drug?

Specifically, in last few days I have observed a reaction time that is strikingly faster than during the last year or so that I was talking Lipitor. The specific observations is my ability to properly play paired 16-notes on a bowed muscial instrument (nyckelharpa -- see *www.nyckelharpa.org). There is an old Swedish dance tune that I really like but could never play at suitable dance speed because the numerous paired 16-th notes required faster bow strokes than I could master, even after months of attempts. These require a down bow stroke, followed by an up bow stroke, or the opposite. Recently, I decided to attempt this dance tune again because I really like it -- it has upper and lower octaves versions, as well as a harmonic version -- really nice for two nyckelharpas, where each is playing a different varient and independently switching among the three varients. Happily, I was able to quicky play this tune on the lower edge of proper dance speed. With a little practice, this should speed up nicely.

This is second time that my post-Lipitor ability to properly play this musical instrument is distinctly better than during the latter years of taking Lipitor. Things had gotten so bad that I stopped playing for months. Now I have some objective-based hopes of attaining at least a minimally acceptable ability.

Lars

[David Staup]

Lars,

what you describe sounds like a lack of coordination and that is most definately a symptom of the neuropathy caused by statins (actually neuropathy in general. see here:

'http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000593.htm

an excerpt:

Inability to determine joint position, which causes lack of coordination

or here:

"http://www.ehow.com/about_5398597_earliest-symptoms-peripheral-neuropathy.html


an excerpt:


If motor nerves are affected by neuropathy, early symptoms may be a lack of coordination or muscle weakness and fatigue in the arms and legs.


when I was at my worst neuropathy wise I had major problems with coordination to the point that while walking and turning I would trip over my own feet. chuckle it was imbarassing to say the least!

[David Staup]

Lars,

reaction times are also affected so it could be either (reaction times or coordination) or maybe both at the same time!

see here:

"http://www.ehow.com/about_5434191_peripheral-neuropathy-definition-symptoms.html

an excerpt:


The condition of peripheral neuropathy is normally treated as more of a symptom than a condition. In most cases, there is some underlying cause that must be addressed before the peripheral neuropathy can be cured. Diagnosing peripheral neuropathy normally involves a blood test and then a test to check the reaction time of the nerves.


in any case peripheral neuropathy is the cause. usually statin neuropathy is small fiber neuropathy which is very hard to test for as the signs on the test are very subtle. my test results came back as "essentially normal" which I took to mean that the doctor didn't know what the f*** he was looking for! see the threads on statins and neuropathy in the forum.

David

[lars999]

David,

Some of my slowed reaction times while on Lipitor were for more complex muscle movements where coordination of different muscle groups, as well as hand-eye, two hands, etc. is an important component.

The specific Lipitor-slowed reaction times with paired 16th notes on nyckelharpa are for very simple movements, with no coordination component, simply speed of a simple, direction-reversal movement.

There are some fairly complex coordinations involved in playing nyckelharpa but, those are not where the post-Lipitor improvement is, only with speed with which I can now play the paired 16th notes correctly. I could play all three versions of this dance tune quite percisely while still on Lipitor, just not nearly fast enough for dancing AND with the paired 16th notes in proper relationship to 8th and 4th notes. By time I played tune fast enough for dancing, when still taking Lipitor, the paired 16th notes had become paired 8th notes, ruining the tune. It is that factor of 2 in reaction time that is so striking to Stina and me.

In other dance tunes, some even faster tempo, single 16th notes are not problem to play correctly, and were not while still on Lipitor. Lipitor-caused memory problems were a serious issue, now extensively gone, because I only play tunes from memory, not from sheet music. Lipitor did nasty things to the complex, long string of muscle-memory actions needed to play even shorter tunes, not to mention ability to play 10 or so longish tunes, one after the other.

In other regards, I still have residual balance problems with right leg, in part very likely from Lipitor. While skiing is improving my balance overall, right leg balance remains worse than left leg balance -- pre-Lipitor it was the opposite. When doing linked turns while downhill skiing, turns with balance and weight primarily on left leg are more balanced, stable, in control and nuanced than turns primarily on right leg. This difference remains so no matter what kind of turn I do. There is lots of complex coordination in these turns, but the basic difference twixt right and left legs remains.

Frankly, I am happy that I did not spend lots of insurance and private money on "nerve tests". I have yet to read that they were of much value to sorting out statin-caused neuropathy issues. Such tests seem to have generally been just another means of medical community wasting our money. And, of course, claiming "no problem found", so it cannot be statin.

Thank you for the links.

Lars

[David Staup]

Lars,

you wrote:

"Frankly, I am happy that I did not spend lots of insurance and private money on "nerve tests". I have yet to read that they were of much value to sorting out statin-caused neuropathy issues. Such tests seem to have generally been just another means of medical community wasting our money. And, of course, claiming "no problem found", so it cannot be statin. "


bingo! you hit the nail right on the head...i hope you understand the saying

that virtually all the normal tests have very high false negatives for mitochondrial dysfunctions give every doctor an "out" and us very little hope!

David

[lars999]

There is another perspective, one that I personally like better ...

"Medical tests are primarily to protect the doctor and enrich the medical community." And, of course, "The patient is just the money source."

Early in adult life I had a very educational experience with a doctor order medical test. Part way through the test the lead doctor for the test came in and very pointedly asked "Who sent you in here for this test and why?" He cursed my answer, which was .."Dr.Greedy for XYZ." Dr. Greedy was one of the principal investors in the medical clinic where test was being performed. The test showed everything normal and I still have no real symptoms supporting the reason for the test, 40 years later.

Educate yourself and save your money and your health!!

Lars