Memory loss

[Dana]

My husband has been on Lipitor since March 1999. A few years after being on Lipitor he started having memory problems. He would walk out to get a tool off his truck (he is/was a heavy duty equip mech) and forget what he was going to get, loose his glasses, coffee mug, things like this. We just figured it was age related and or stress (he is 54). As time went on it got worse. He would call someone about a part and forget who he called and why he called, he would be working on something and take it apart and forget how it went back together and need help to put it back together. He use to fill out a daily log but had quit doing that because he could not remember what he worked on or what he did to the equipment. He has a big problem writing since his words get mixed up. Numbers are even worse for him. It had gotten so bad that he was loosing sleep stressing out about weather or not he was going to be able to function in his job. He could not sleep one night and woke me up around 3 am, we ended up getting up and having coffee and talking. He got ready for work than asked me "what time is it", I told him it is 4:45, he asked me "what time do I usually leave", I told him 5:15, then he asked "how long before I have to leave". That is when I know there was something wrong that was not age or stress related. This is when he finally told me how he was not functioning at work.
He use to build cars from the ground up and enjoy of restoring them. He now has one torn completely apart in the garage and there it sits as he does not know how to put it back together. He has been doing this for 30 years and now he cant figure it out.
I had taken him to the Dr over a year ago before things got so bad. She had felt it was stress related and put him on antidepressants. After being on them about a year, he quit taking them as he was getting worse and they did not help. I did not realize how bad things had gotten until a few months back. He had lost intrest to do anything on the weekends (that had been going on for at least 2 years), he would just sit and watch TV. I figured it was the depression from the stress. With his long work day (he would not get home until 7 pm) I only saw him for a few hours at night in which he would eat dinner and watch the news. Looking back I wish he would have told me much sooner about his memory problems at work. As soon has he told me he was having problems fixing the equipment I knew it was much worse. I looked up memory loss on the internet and came across Lipitor. I took him off it right away (it has been a month now). I took him to the DR and she sent us to a Nurologist. He sent him for an MRI, EEG and for bloodwork. We are still waiting for the results of the EEG, however everything else has come back normal. He is now on disability as he can no longer function in his job. I wish I had known much eariler about Lipitor as I feel if we had known, he would have stopped it many years ago and things would not have gotten this bad. I am still hopeful that he will improve over time.

[SusieO]

Dana; I am so sorry to read about your hubbys memory loss! I just got Doc Graveline's book yesterday in the mail and feel anyone with problems from Lipitor might want to read the book.

I have memory problems, but nothing like your hubbys. Most of my problems are with leg pain/weakness and some in my arms, too. I have memory problems as far as not getting out the right words - yet I can see them in my head or saying an incorrect word when I know it is not what I wanted to say or I will ask my hubby "did I ask you such and such or did I all ready tell you such and such".

I was on Lipitor two or three years - I don't recall how long (I am awful with dates and how long I have done things with my memory) and it is one year this month I have stopped taking it. I did see a bit of improvement, but not much.

I pray your hubby is able to regain some memory.

Good luck with getting doctors to even admit it is Lipitor that is causing the problems - my Neurologist keeps saying "you don't take that med any longer so your problems are not being caused by it'.

God be with you!
Sue

[Larry]

Dear Dana,

I have recently found this site, and I wanted to also express my support for you and your husband. I too was on Lipitor for aprox. a year and a half. During that time my wife and my daughter saw that my memory and attention span were deteriorating raidly. I felt I was "spacey", could not remember recent conversations, facts, etc. I finally saw a newscast on Lipitor on the Channel 2 news in Los Angeles describing my very symptoms. I immediately stopped taking Lipitor. It took a couple of months for the effects to be noticably less and I did continue to improve. However, it's now a year later and the improvement has pretty much flattened. I still suffer from short term memory loss. People do notice it but do not know what to make of it. I have to try to hide it, especially at work by making notes of everything and I am always fretful that it will cost me my job. I have looked at alot of websites and talked to my doctor, who is not convinced, but I have not read anything that tells me what I can do to help with the memory loss. Good luck to you and your husband.

Larry

[sos_group_owner]

Hi Larry,

Are you taking any CoQ10?
It not only helps with muscle repair, but also helps memory to improve.
Please read Dr Graveline's article:
"Statins and CoQ10 Deficiency"
http://www.spacedoc.net/statins_CoQ10.htm

In "Statin Alternatives", Dr Graveline discusses recommended
supplements and doses:
http://www.spacedoc.net/statin_alternatives.htm

Fran

[harley2ride]

I have been off of statins for two years, and have been taking COQ10, L-Carnatine, Magnesium, and Vitamin E, for almost that long. I am still having memory problems. Just the other day, I was emailing a doctor in San Diego, and could not for the life of me remember the name of my local doctor. After a few hours of trying to figure it out, I started looking through my outlook calendar at my dr. appointments so I could find the name. I have done 10key and computer keyboarding for 25 years. Off and on over the past few months, I find myself reversing the order of the numeric keys. I have even written numbers reverse imposed. I still have the muscle pains/cramps, and occassional spasms like I did when I was taking Crestor. Hopefully someday, somebody will figure out what to do to fix all this. Went on a trip awhile back, and forgot my medications, and I won't do that again. It only took about a day for the pain and cramping to worsen, and after getting back on all my meds, it took a few days to get back to my normal daily cramping and pain.

[paco]

Add me to list.
Feb06 as I finally was getting strength back after open heart and valve repalcement . I believe exercise which I was unable to do for 10 mo triggered statin meltbdown. I had been on all taht 10 mo but was in terrible state of walking dead.

I had the full suit symptoms and was told you are just a little overtraining. Then I had 3 day of severe mental problems where I thouhgt I'd had a stroke. All this at Age 41.

Hindsight: 30% less strength as clearly measured in cardiac rehab. Calf and back pains. joint pain in knees. flu like crash, likely dark urine day, but hard to say with big vit B dose.

Well needless to say I stopped P statin and blood test showed no CK problem. Doc thought I was full o crap. CK test tells all and said I should start zetia retry lower dose Z-statin 60 days later.

By that time, I was riding my bike 10+ mi and having energy troubles but serious rock and roll happy.

<7 days later I'd given up all exercise. 10 days I was sure but willing to wait and 14 I had dropped that crap from my life. Card now admits to 8% people have problems. I was on 450mg co-Q10, magnesium carnatine etc the whole time for above energy troubles on bike.

75 days later I've still got knee problems going down stairs. Never before. I had skied 30 days/yr and cycled 100mi/wk durring summers. Muscles were pretty good 60 days later.

Brain is still fried. My ability to think logically was smashed. An engineer who has to draw a diagram to hook up not trivial VCR at mom's house. If distracted for even few seconds in converation, I cant get back to original train of thought. Can't remember names dozens of times per week. Vocabulary problems. Logic is back but I could always out think most. Muscles still locked up in AM and after sitting too long and especially when I crouch like when tying shoes.

I can't read complex content in emails at work and get confused. My frustation and emotion levels are way out of ballence some days and I've learned to just go passive and let crap fall on floor.

thanks for letting me vent.

[Dana]

It has been a year now since my husband has been off Lipitor. He has been on disability for a year and can no longer work. He had gotten a little better the first few months after stopping the Lipitor, but is still unable to do many things he use to. He still looses words when talking, has trouble writing and remembering things. He still cannot work on cars as he still does not know how they go back together. Some days are better than others. He says he can tell if it is going to be a good day or a bad day. He says that his head feel like it is in a fog on bad days. He can function doing basic things around the house, but still needs guidance. We were reseeding the back yard yesterday and I asked him to go get 2 more bags of top soil out of the back of the truck (we had bought 12 bags), he started walking to the truck and I told him to take the wheelbarrow and put 2 more bags in it. After we were done with the 2 bags, I asked him to go get 2 more. He started walking to the truck again. I told him to use the wheelbarrow. This happened every time he went to get more bags from the truck. Things like this happen daily.
It is so sad to see him in good physical condition, but not be able to carry on a conversation without forgetting what he was going to say. I doubt he will ever get better, but at least he is not getting worse anymore. I only wish I had known that Lipitor could do this. He had been on it for years. We figure he started having problems 4 to 5 years ago, but when it started it was a slow process that we did not think anyting of it. We figured it was a part of getting a bit older (he is only 55), but it was forgetting where he put his glasses, coffee cup and keys. Things many people do forget now and then. As it got worse, we were told it was stress, then it was so bad he could not function at work. The last year on Lipitor was the worst as his memory started going fast. Had we known and taken him off the Lipitor back when he started haveing memory problems, I really believe he would have been fine. Now we just take it one day at a time, count the blessiengs we do have and hope for the best.
I am grateful that we did find out about Lipitor and memory loss when we did or I am sure it would have gotten even worse, and I just cant imagine that.
Dana

[sos_group_owner]

Hi Dana,

My husband was on Zocor, then Lipitor... all total 8 years on statins. It's so hard for regular (unaffected) people to understand how statins affect our daily lives. My husband is 62 now, off all statins for over 2 years. His memory problems sound just like your husband's, especially the "repetative" instructions when working on a project.

One thing you might want to try is "pantethine" (Coenzyme A Precursor - highly active form of pantothenic acid, Vitamin B5), a supplement that helps raise HDL levels. Pantethine, an antioxidant, also plays a key role in the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and amino acids; helps increase blood flow and stimulate brain function (helps with mental fogginess). Not as easy to find as some of the other supplements. We order NOW Foods brand Pantethine online from TheCatalog.com. We both take 2 capsules daily.

Fran

[CatMom]

Dana, I was not that far away from not functioning well enough to be able to do my job. I KNEW that at the rate I was going with the memory loss thing, that I would not be able to work another year. I THANK GOD for that TV commercial that alerted me that it could be the Lipitor.

Since getting off of it, my head fog cleared and my memory is SO much better but I am realizing I am still not 100% back and I have been off of them since July, but I am forgetting the small stuff and just now and then.

The change in me off of the Lipitor is so noticable that I am still getting comments at work about how drastic the change is and I am always being asked what I am on. I hate to think what would have happened if I had not seen that commercial. I love working and being on disability was not what I wanted and I was scared to death. I can only imagine what your poor husband has been through. A medicine that is suppose to help you leaves you unable to work and steals your life from you a piece at a time.

[harley2ride]

I've been off the statins for 2 1/2 years, and I still have problems occasionally. I'll spell words incorrectly, type words that aren't even words, and I don't even notice them until I go back and proof read it. Some days I can't even remember the names of the pills I'm taking, and have to go look in my pill back to remember the name. I've even forgotten my doctors name a couple of times.

On another note, I was wondering if anyone else has had any problems with lowered body temp, since taking statins. Over the past 2 1/2 years, mine has dropped from 98.6, to 98, then to 97.6, and then to 97. I had the chills really bad a couple of nights ago, and got up and took my temp. It was 96.3. The only thing besides the statins tha may have contributed to that, was that I got the anthrax vaccine, and smallpox booster from the Military, right before all this started happening.

[Rose Crawford]

Dana:

When I first read your e-mail of last year (I just read it a month ago), I called my husband and read it to him. He actually thought I wrote it to explain to his doctor what was going on with his memory. I called his doctor and made an appointment. His doctor took him off Altoprev immediately.

I, too, wish we would have known about this sooner. His memory loss was very slow. He is 63 and is not able to work at all.

I just read your e-mail of October 2006 and feel very discouraged. I was hoping that you would have good news about your husband.

I'm still looking for something that will help. I will post it immediately if I find it. Thanks so much for sharing...I'm so sorry for your husband, but it helps to know we're not alone.

Rose[/list]

[Ray Holder]

Rose

Have you tried Q10, it is amazing what problems that its deficiency due to statin use can cause anywhere in the body, I would certainly give it a go.

Ray

[SusieQ10]

I'm new to this site but not to memory loss. In 1990 I had a job-physical which revealed an elevated cholesterol level and I was required to lower my cholesterol in order to keep my job. When diet and exercise did not do the trick, I was put on some statin and eventually Zocor 40mg. Several years later I started having memory loss and difficulty with my words. I was scared that I had Alzheimer's as my dad had just died from complications of it, so I faked as much as I could and talked to no one about either my losses or concerns. As time progressed, I became irritable, easily aggitated and had more confusion and memory problems and headaches all the time. One time the HA was so bad, I had skull films and was told I had a sinus polyp. Another time I was told I had temporal arteritis and should have a biopsy done. I finally quit work in 1996 and became almost a recluse - not wanting anyone to tell me I needed help which seemed only to add to my confusion because each doctor I saw had a different diagnosis.

On Nov. 1, 2005, at 7 a.m., my husband tells me that I told him everything was leaving my brain, and for the next few hours I asked him the same questions over and over until he finally took me to a psychiatric clinic. They took my blood pressure and called the EMS to take me to the ER thinking I was having a stroke. At the ER I had a CAT Scan, MRI, all kinds of blood work and finally a psychiatric evaluation. All the tests were negative and the shrink told my husband I had "dissociative amnesia" requiring outpatient follow-up. I have no memory of that day until 7pm that night. The preceding day is also now lost to my memory but my husband tells me I functioned just fine that day doing the grocery shopping and cooking.

Since that initial episode, I've seen many doctor's and had numerous tests. I've also had several more amnesic episodes; one lasting about four hours and several lasting 15 to 20 minutes. All my tests are negative and the psychiatrist I'm seeing says I have "Transcient Global Amnesia." When I looked TGA up on the internet, I found Dr. Graveline's website and e-mailed him. He was kind enough to write back and my husband ordered his new book on "Statin Drug Side Effects." The moment I read about the statins, I stopped taking my Zocor and started taking CQ10, Omega 3, Folic Acid, 81 mg. of Aspirin, and the B's.

I've been off the Zocor now for about 5 weeks (my memory is too short for remembering many exact dates), but I was on that terrible drug for over 15 years so only time will tell if I improve. And if not, hopefully, I'll not continue to deteriorate mentally as I have for the past 13 years.

I appreciate each of your postings - not because you've got the same problems, but because it's so good to find out I'm not alone anymore. Thank you each so much for your interesting posts and please pardon the length of this one. In the future they won't be this long. [/u]

[trish]

My partner was on Lipitor 8 years and finally stopped over a year ago, but still has some memory problems.

It was difficult building a relationship in the first place with someone who could not remember vital conversations or basic details, and who would lose control and fly off the handle. I thought I was going crazy at times....

When I finally got information about Lipitor he became enraged, and continued taking it for some time. Spurred on by his sister, a nurse, who has had a serious eating disorder and takes it herself (extra weight loss perhaps through fats being zapped? who knows....)

Anyway the brainwashing over "genetic pre-disposition" was done by the doctor, and very hard to undo.

Now he has stopped taking the drug he is much better but still does not retain things in his head. I am thinking of getting him to try COQ10 and vitamins. Hopefully this will help..

It's all been exhausting, damaging to the relationship, defeating and difficult for me to cope with.......

Anyone else had these issues?

[sos_group_owner]

Hi Trish,

Definitely... similar scenario with my husband. He's been off statins for over 2 years. Memory is getting better (no more TGA - transient global amnesia), but short term memory is still an issue. I know what you mean about the anger. I think it all stems from depression due to statins. Statins cause low levels of CoQ10 which causes depression... depression can be expressed as anger, irritability, insomnia, anxiousness, pessimism, difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions... sound familiar?

CoQ10 does help with both memory and muscle repair. Pantethine also seems to help 'brain fog'.

Fran

[trish]

I think there might be a biochemical reaction going on in the brain with the depression too - suppression of dopamine or whatever is the feel-good stuff that goes on after exercise/chocolate :D etc.
Great to here other people have had the same "observer" experience on statins. Duane Graveline talked about "anguished family members" in the original article of his that I read. We are not alone...

Spacedoc, this site, the internet, have saved my sanity.......

Thank you........

[NurseJudy]

Dear Friend, I know cholesterol is involved with hormone production. Perhaps this drug has interfered with your thyroid function? People are often hypothermic with low thyroid. I would see a good endocrinologist who knows how to test and uses natural Armor Thyroid. There are Doctors who go by body temperature to assess status. God bless, Judy

[danao]

Well, it has been a little over 2 years since I last posted. My husband is declining. I was told after he finally had a PET scan that he has Alzheimers. I had contacted UCSD (who was doing a study) to see if the Lipitor could have caused this. They told me yes, it very well could have. Well, it sure has changed our lives. He is now in stage 6 out of 7. We moved last May since we had property and it was just too much for me to keep up with and work full time too. My daughter has moved home to help with him and that has been a blessing. It is such a shame that they (the durg co.) do not tell you all that these meds can do to a person. We have to wait and find out the hard way. You cannot reverse this and it is taking my best friend/husband away from me. I do tell everyone I run into that I find that is taking statins, just what it can do.
Still taking it a day at a time and counting the blessings we do have.
Dana

[Allen1]

Hi there Dana,

I have read your posts with a great understanding of what your husband has gone through, a great deal of which for me, gradually improved a little since I stopped taking statins 22 months ago.

I really am so sorry to hear that he has now been diagnosed with Alzheimers and that it has progressed as far as it has. I wish you, your daughter and your husband the strength to face each day as they come and thank you for sharing you and your husbands experiences, they have helped me and probably hundreds more to realise what statins have done to us.

All the very best,

Allen :(

[Brian C.]

Our hearts go out to you and your family Dana.
One day people will look back in horror at 20th Century medical practices as we do when contemplating the barbarities of Medieval times.

Brian.