My good friend Tom Monahan (also the composer for Fat Head) just returned from visiting his family on the east coast and was dismayed to learn that his mother is still taking statins. She has of course seen the film, and Tom has sent her quite a bit of information explaining why statins are worthless for women, but apparently she wasn’t convinced. Or, since Tom has also noticed her memory is fading, perhaps she just forgot everything he told her.
Statins are the most profitable drugs in history. They’re also some of the worst.
Let’s get the big question out of the way first: do statins work? That is, do they prevent heart disease? Yes … but not by much and not for any significant share of the population taking them. They were engineered to reduce cholesterol, and they do. But the small benefit they provide is likely due to the fact that they also reduce inflammation — and you can do that by giving up sugar and processed vegetable oils.
The only people shown to benefit from statins in clinical research are men under the age of 65 who have several risk factors for heart disease. That’s it. And even for them, the benefit isn’t exactly impressive. If you watch prime-time TV for more than 10 minutes, you’ll no doubt see a commercial telling you that Lipitor reduces the risk of heart attacks by 33%. Wow! That’s a huge reduction in risk, right?
Hardly. First off, if you can manage to read the fine print during the millisecond it appears on your screen, you’ll learn that the reduction is among the group I just mentioned: relatively younger men with existing heart disease. Millions of prescriptions for Lipitor are written for suckers — sorry, I mean patients — who aren’t 1) men, 2) known to have several risk factors for heart disease, or 3) under age 65. In other words, people who don’t fall into the group that actually benefits.
And about that 33% reduction … I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: you have to understand how that figure was calculated. Among the relatively young men with known risk factors for heart disease who took Lipitor in a clinical trial, two of every 100 had a heart attack. Among the relatively young men with known risk factors for heart disease who took a placebo, three of every 100 had a heart attack. Yes, that’s a 33% reduction, but it also means that for every 100 high-risk men who take Lipitor, we may at best be preventing one heart attack.
Notice I didn’t say we may be preventing one extra death. That’s because we don’t have the figures to analyze. The pharmaceutical companies are quick to release figures showing reductions in heart attacks, but haven’t always released the total death figures. If that doesn’t make you suspicious, then you should expect to receive some emails from Nigerians who want to borrow your bank account to transfer a few million dollars out of Africa.
For the millions of statin-takers who aren’t men under 65 with several known risk factors for heart disease, lord only knows how many heart attacks — if any — are being prevented. The number has to be miniscule. And yet doctors keep prescribing statins because it makes them feel better when a patient’s “high” cholesterol level comes down.
While the doctors may feel better, the patients often feel worse. Even mainstream magazines like TIME are starting to figure it out. Here are some quotes from a TIME article published a few weeks ago:
Doctors say the majority of current statin users are healthy people who don’t have heart disease but who, like Segal, simply have high cholesterol. Use among this group, known as the primary prevention population, has made these drugs one of the world’s best-selling classes.
But Segal’s statin ended up preventing her from living a heart-healthy lifestyle. A month after she started taking the drug, she suffered muscle pain so severe, she had to stop all physical activity and was unable to sleep at night. Although her husband, who was worried about her risk of heart attack, pleaded with her to stay on the drug, she discontinued using it. The muscle pain receded. “My husband was scared for me. Doctors scare you. But I was in so much pain, I told him I would have rather died than stay on them,” says Segal.
That grim situation could have been avoided, researchers say. An estimated 12 million American women are routinely prescribed statins, which carry a risk of serious side effects. Yet there is little evidence that they prevent heart disease in women. In past research, statin therapy has been shown to prolong the lives of people with heart disease. It has also been shown to stave off the onset of heart disease in healthy at-risk adults. But researchers who have broken out and analyzed the data on healthy female patients in these trials found that the lifesaving benefit, which extends to men, does not cross the gender divide. What’s more, there’s evidence that women are more likely than men to suffer some of the drugs’ serious side effects, which can include memory loss, muscle pain and diabetes.
My mom had serious muscle pain when she was taking a statin. Her doctor never connected the pain to the statin. I did, after doing research for the film. Convincing her to give up the statin was one of my prouder moments. She not only gave up the statin, she gave up the painkiller she was taking to mask the effects.
So how common are the side effects? That depends on who you ask. According to the pharmaceutical companies, only about 2% of patients experience side effects. But Dr. Beatrice Golomb, a researcher at the University of California who’s been tracking statin side effects for years, says the rate could be as high as 30%.
Does this mean the pharmaceutical companies are lying? Not exactly. Once again, it’s a matter of how the research is conducted. When a company like Pfizer is selecting subjects for a study, they exclude the people who have reported side effects when taking other drugs. Sometimes researchers even give prospective patients a big, fat dose of something to see how they react. If the reaction is something like, “Man, that made me feel like @#$%,” the prospective patient is no longer a prospective patient.
So go figure … after cherry-picking a population that’s resistant to side effects, the researchers report a low rate of negative reactions during the clinical trials. That’s why Pfizer can refer to “rare but serious” side effects in their commercials. I’m guessing the side effects are only rare in their clinical trials. But they’re definitely serious, as this article in the UK Daily Mail recently pointed out:
For the first time, the level of harm posed by the cholesterol-lowering drugs has been quantified by researchers. They found some users are much more likely to suffer liver dysfunction, acute kidney failure, cataracts and muscle damage known as myopathy.
For some patients, the risk is eight times higher than among those not taking statins. Overall, the risk of myopathy – which may be irreversible – is six times higher for men on statins and three times higher for women.
So taking a drug that does a chemical beat-down on your liver’s cholesterol-making functions can end up causing liver damage? Well, I am shocked. Researchers have also linked statins to diabetes, and diabetes is a huge risk factor for future heart disease. (You have a risk factor for heart disease? Better take this statin.)
Myopathy is medical term for weak muscles. Statins cause myopathy because they deplete the muscles of CoQ10, and the mitochondria — the little power plants in the muscles — depend on the stuff. Not surprisingly, after being robbed of an essential nutrient, the muscles can ache and become weak. If it were just a matter of giving up the statins, maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal. But according to Dr. Golomb’s research, more than 2/3 of the patients who suffer statin-induced myopathy never regain the full use of their muscles. The damaged mitochondria don’t recover.
Then, of course, there are the memory problems. Dr. Duane Graveline, a former NASA flight surgeon whose muscles were permanently damaged by statins, also experienced day-long episodes of transient amnesia until he traced them to his daily dose of Lipitor and stopped taking it. As I’ve written about before, my dad also suffered day-long episodes of profound confusion in his mid-60s, a few years before his Alzheimer’s became apparent. I don’t know if Lipitor caused the Alzheimer’s, but I’m convinced it at least accelerated his decline.
Dr. Golomb believes cognitive and memory problems are far more common than reported, but since most statin-takers are elderly (once again, a group not shown to benefit from taking them), their doctors assume they’re just having “senior moments.” The side effects are never reported.
Add it all up, roll it over, press it flat and give it one more analysis, and you’re looking at drugs that produce a relatively small benefit among one small slice of the male population that isn’t likely to suffer negative reactions in the first place. Meanwhile, people outside that group receive no measurable benefit (aside from making their doctors happy with their cholesterol scores) and can suffer memory problems, liver damage, kidney failure, diabetes, permanent muscle weakness, and — forgot to mention this earlier — impotence.
These are the some of the worst drugs ever. I only wish Tom could convince his mother while she still remembers who he is.
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Sigh. I was really pleased when both my dad and his wife stopped taking their statins. This is under the guidance of a doctor who agreed on the grounds that if their cholesterol rose they would go back on them. She is back on Lipitor because her test went up. I imagine my dad’s test will go up too and he will go back on them. I feel sad. My dad is really intelligent too. Of course the doc knew that would happen and he now has them hooked for the rest of their lives. How do stop yourself getting down about all this stuff?
The doctor knew exactly what he was doing; if you go off a cholesterol-lowering drug, of course your cholesterol goes up. He’s treating a lab score. All I can suggest is printing the articles about statins I’ve linked in various posts and hope that does the tricks, but lots of people think the doctor always knows best.
Sigh. I was really pleased when both my dad and his wife stopped taking their statins. This is under the guidance of a doctor who agreed on the grounds that if their cholesterol rose they would go back on them. She is back on Lipitor because her test went up. I imagine my dad’s test will go up too and he will go back on them. I feel sad. My dad is really intelligent too. Of course the doc knew that would happen and he now has them hooked for the rest of their lives. How do stop yourself getting down about all this stuff?
The doctor knew exactly what he was doing; if you go off a cholesterol-lowering drug, of course your cholesterol goes up. He’s treating a lab score. All I can suggest is printing the articles about statins I’ve linked in various posts and hope that does the tricks, but lots of people think the doctor always knows best.
My husband had panic attacks, couldn’t walk to end of the street due to muscle weakness, coudn’t sleep. Had been on statins for year we tended to dismiss bad temper putting it down to stress. We read an article in the UK Daily Mail. and the puzzle started to unravel. He came off them but Doc insisted he take another type that “had no side effects”. So without telling me he took them. His personailty changed immediately. Thankfully just in those three weeks I recognised the change in him for the worse. it wa sso bad it became a choice of me or them. He now has low cholestrol drinks, yoghurts and butter and a healthy diet. Friends and customers have come off statins too. 4 months ago he was diagnosed with Bcell leukaemia which begs the question could there be a connection?
I wouldn’t want to speculate about the lukemia, but those are some nasty side effects. I wonder how many people have gotten divorced without ever making the connection.
My husbands cholestrol shot up when he stopped the statins took 3 months for it to adjust. Doc was very insistent but my husband was having none of it. Doc was surprised he had lowered it by diet alone and kept it low.. Having had heart problems he knows the risks but to go back to that aggressive , unable to walk person never you could say it nearly split a 25year marriage. It can be done by diet..
I congratulate your husband on sticking to his guns.
My husband had panic attacks, couldn’t walk to end of the street due to muscle weakness, coudn’t sleep. Had been on statins for year we tended to dismiss bad temper putting it down to stress. We read an article in the UK Daily Mail. and the puzzle started to unravel. He came off them but Doc insisted he take another type that “had no side effects”. So without telling me he took them. His personailty changed immediately. Thankfully just in those three weeks I recognised the change in him for the worse. it wa sso bad it became a choice of me or them. He now has low cholestrol drinks, yoghurts and butter and a healthy diet. Friends and customers have come off statins too. 4 months ago he was diagnosed with Bcell leukaemia which begs the question could there be a connection?
I wouldn’t want to speculate about the lukemia, but those are some nasty side effects. I wonder how many people have gotten divorced without ever making the connection.
My husbands cholestrol shot up when he stopped the statins took 3 months for it to adjust. Doc was very insistent but my husband was having none of it. Doc was surprised he had lowered it by diet alone and kept it low.. Having had heart problems he knows the risks but to go back to that aggressive , unable to walk person never you could say it nearly split a 25year marriage. It can be done by diet..
I congratulate your husband on sticking to his guns.
An Appeal for Support and Conformation of Adverse Effects
My daughter has lived with ALS like symptoms for almost 3 years. The worst of the symptoms began when her simvastatin was increased to 80mg in 2008.
Her MRI’s show LESIONS in the brain stem, specifically in the PONS area of her brain.
Of course, her 4 physicians refuse to believe that statin is involved. They are all satisfied with the diagnosis of “Ataxia”.
My Appeal is to all those who have similar brain lesions as shown and documented in MRIs. Please reply.
An Appeal for Support and Conformation of Adverse Effects
My daughter has lived with ALS like symptoms for almost 3 years. The worst of the symptoms began when her simvastatin was increased to 80mg in 2008.
Her MRI’s show LESIONS in the brain stem, specifically in the PONS area of her brain.
Of course, her 4 physicians refuse to believe that statin is involved. They are all satisfied with the diagnosis of “Ataxia”.
My Appeal is to all those who have similar brain lesions as shown and documented in MRIs. Please reply.
“The only people shown to benefit from statins in clinical research are men under the age of 65 who have several risk factors for heart disease. That’s it.”
–why do you trivialize the apparent benefits just because it’s limited to this group of people? Perhaps just because they’re young MEN you don’t think it’s still valuable that this group benefits at all. You wouldn’t say “The only people shown to benefit from statins in clinical research are women under the age of 65 who have several risk factors for heart disease. That’s it.” if it was true.
I trivialize the benefits because:
1) They don’t show up consistently from study to study
2) Some researchers have gotten creative with their data, such as stopping studies early and choosing their own end-points, to show a benefit
3) Statins are pushed on people who don’t fall into that group simply to achieve a lower cholesterol score and make the doctor feel good
4) The studies that show a minor benefit for the group I described don’t show an improvement in ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY, which is all that really matters
5) The small benefit statins provide is likely due to lowering inflammation, which can be achieved in other ways that don’t do a smackdown on your liver
6) Given all the above, the side-effects aren’t worth it.
“The only people shown to benefit from statins in clinical research are men under the age of 65 who have several risk factors for heart disease. That’s it.”
–why do you trivialize the apparent benefits just because it’s limited to this group of people? Perhaps just because they’re young MEN you don’t think it’s still valuable that this group benefits at all. You wouldn’t say “The only people shown to benefit from statins in clinical research are women under the age of 65 who have several risk factors for heart disease. That’s it.” if it was true.
I trivialize the benefits because:
1) They don’t show up consistently from study to study
2) Some researchers have gotten creative with their data, such as stopping studies early and choosing their own end-points, to show a benefit
3) Statins are pushed on people who don’t fall into that group simply to achieve a lower cholesterol score and make the doctor feel good
4) The studies that show a minor benefit for the group I described don’t show an improvement in ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY, which is all that really matters
5) The small benefit statins provide is likely due to lowering inflammation, which can be achieved in other ways that don’t do a smackdown on your liver
6) Given all the above, the side-effects aren’t worth it.
The sole way Americans can reclaim their power and their health is to stop taking all pharmaceutical products. Until then, side effects will be reported as new illnesses and more drugs will be prescribed for these symptoms and before long 70% of America will be so foggy and screwed up by the pharmaceutical industry there will no longer be any recourse. Thus the pharmaceutical industry will perpetuate it’s own greedly, unethical cycle. Just say no to drugs, particularly the pharmaceutical industries crippling poisin.
The sole way Americans can reclaim their power and their health is to stop taking all pharmaceutical products. Until then, side effects will be reported as new illnesses and more drugs will be prescribed for these symptoms and before long 70% of America will be so foggy and screwed up by the pharmaceutical industry there will no longer be any recourse. Thus the pharmaceutical industry will perpetuate it’s own greedly, unethical cycle. Just say no to drugs, particularly the pharmaceutical industries crippling poisin.
Where to start?? My husband has been taking a statin since 2007. He was diagnosed with CHF this past February and was hospitalized to get the fluid out of his body. He also suffers from depression and was taking lithium at the time. The Cardiologist put him on a water pill along with several other meds. In April he became very disoriented and fell out while alone; I thought he may have suffered a mini-stroke and finally convinced him to go to the hospital. The diagnosis was dehydration with acute renal failure. One doctor commented that she didn’t think he had heart failure. I am hoping she is right and am hoping that the CHF is linked to the stain use and is reversible with the discontinued use of the drug. Thankfully he recovered from the dehydration and went off the lithium. The following months my husband became very tired with muscle aches and cognitive problems. He would forget what he was talking about midway through a sentence and became very agitated easily. His muscle weakness became worse and after several months decided to go back to the hospital in October. The attending physician said that he didn’t think there was anything further that they could do and suggested he see a Neurologist. The Neurologist attributed his symptoms to the multitude of medication he was on. Along with Morphine for his back pain from an accident in 2006 he was taking the heart medication his depression meds and the statin drug that had just been changed to Lipitor three months prior because his triglyserides we over 1000. he wants to do a nerve conduction study. My husband has been so week he doesn’t feel like going to the appointment. He had further blood work recently and was diagnosed with Anemia (not related to iron) and a UTI. I have been doing some research on the drugs he takes and have concluded that the statin drug has been the culprit of his health problems for some time. I feel like when he had the dehydration the statin drug backed up and really started to reek havoc to his system. He has stopped taking the statin. It has been only a week now and he is much more mobile in his movements and isn’t afraid of falling down. I know he has a long way to go to getting his health back to normal. I am hoping that users of these statin drugs will stop and the drug companies pay for the lives they have nearly ruined. He was not the same loving person that he had been. His mind had always been sharp and he loved to read. He had no interest in anything; I mean anything but laying around and that just caused him to be weaker. He has shown a big improvement already in his thinking and doesn’t get agrivated easily any more. What can we do as caregivers to patients who we love to make sure that others to do not suffer the same pitfalls because of this drug? The companies that make these drugs need to pay and pay dearly for the pain and suffering that they have caused. What can we do? Who out there is willing to take them on and put a stop to the unnecessary health problems that are caused by these drugs? It has to STOP and quickly. We don’t know what other problems lie in wait in the future because of the use of these drugs.
Cindy Turner
I wish you and your husband the best. Sorry to hear about his condition.
Where to start?? My husband has been taking a statin since 2007. He was diagnosed with CHF this past February and was hospitalized to get the fluid out of his body. He also suffers from depression and was taking lithium at the time. The Cardiologist put him on a water pill along with several other meds. In April he became very disoriented and fell out while alone; I thought he may have suffered a mini-stroke and finally convinced him to go to the hospital. The diagnosis was dehydration with acute renal failure. One doctor commented that she didn’t think he had heart failure. I am hoping she is right and am hoping that the CHF is linked to the stain use and is reversible with the discontinued use of the drug. Thankfully he recovered from the dehydration and went off the lithium. The following months my husband became very tired with muscle aches and cognitive problems. He would forget what he was talking about midway through a sentence and became very agitated easily. His muscle weakness became worse and after several months decided to go back to the hospital in October. The attending physician said that he didn’t think there was anything further that they could do and suggested he see a Neurologist. The Neurologist attributed his symptoms to the multitude of medication he was on. Along with Morphine for his back pain from an accident in 2006 he was taking the heart medication his depression meds and the statin drug that had just been changed to Lipitor three months prior because his triglyserides we over 1000. he wants to do a nerve conduction study. My husband has been so week he doesn’t feel like going to the appointment. He had further blood work recently and was diagnosed with Anemia (not related to iron) and a UTI. I have been doing some research on the drugs he takes and have concluded that the statin drug has been the culprit of his health problems for some time. I feel like when he had the dehydration the statin drug backed up and really started to reek havoc to his system. He has stopped taking the statin. It has been only a week now and he is much more mobile in his movements and isn’t afraid of falling down. I know he has a long way to go to getting his health back to normal. I am hoping that users of these statin drugs will stop and the drug companies pay for the lives they have nearly ruined. He was not the same loving person that he had been. His mind had always been sharp and he loved to read. He had no interest in anything; I mean anything but laying around and that just caused him to be weaker. He has shown a big improvement already in his thinking and doesn’t get agrivated easily any more. What can we do as caregivers to patients who we love to make sure that others to do not suffer the same pitfalls because of this drug? The companies that make these drugs need to pay and pay dearly for the pain and suffering that they have caused. What can we do? Who out there is willing to take them on and put a stop to the unnecessary health problems that are caused by these drugs? It has to STOP and quickly. We don’t know what other problems lie in wait in the future because of the use of these drugs.
Cindy Turner
I wish you and your husband the best. Sorry to hear about his condition.
I started taking what i call hateastatin a few years ago cause my blood work came back a dangerous 200! Gradually started having really strange side effects which I first did not connect to the drug.
My balance was off,my memory was pathetic, i could not concentrate,I suffered severe leg cramps and I would have episodes of disorientation.
I took myself off and all of the above went away…I made a list of all the crap that went on and gave it to god, i mean the Dr.
She asked to keep the hand out I had made. I included info on the hflc diet and the dangers of statins for her to read.
I get another blood test and am told over the phone it’s a little high and god,I mean the Dr. had me s script for Chestor waiting…I write another letter and it goes to Dr. A few days ago I get a very threatening call on the answering machine where her nurse says:”Do NOT stop taking the Chestor” in a loud voice,she then repeats herself…
I have not even started taking it. On a scale of one to ten, just how stupid do they think I am?
You know,I really resent being bullied like this.
Who do Dr’s think they are anyway?
Needless to say, no WAY am I ever taking that $^!? again..it’s not happening.
I don’t know how to deal with this Dr. and not sure I could fine one who will not try to ram the statin agenda down my throat.
Still to your guns.
I started taking what i call hateastatin a few years ago cause my blood work came back a dangerous 200! Gradually started having really strange side effects which I first did not connect to the drug.
My balance was off,my memory was pathetic, i could not concentrate,I suffered severe leg cramps and I would have episodes of disorientation.
I took myself off and all of the above went away…I made a list of all the crap that went on and gave it to god, i mean the Dr.
She asked to keep the hand out I had made. I included info on the hflc diet and the dangers of statins for her to read.
I get another blood test and am told over the phone it’s a little high and god,I mean the Dr. had me s script for Chestor waiting…I write another letter and it goes to Dr. A few days ago I get a very threatening call on the answering machine where her nurse says:”Do NOT stop taking the Chestor” in a loud voice,she then repeats herself…
I have not even started taking it. On a scale of one to ten, just how stupid do they think I am?
You know,I really resent being bullied like this.
Who do Dr’s think they are anyway?
Needless to say, no WAY am I ever taking that $^!? again..it’s not happening.
I don’t know how to deal with this Dr. and not sure I could fine one who will not try to ram the statin agenda down my throat.
Still to your guns.
Hello
I know this is an older thread – is it still active ?
If so, I got a question and would apreciate your answer very much.
I was taking CRESTOR 16mg for about 3 years. I always had some muscle and jointa and back pain and I stopped taking it for a while beginning of Jan. 2013 in accordance with a physician. But I also got told that I am a kind of anemic…
The next check up I got told that my cholesterol level is high and I should continue taking CRESTOR. I refused to go back to statins so this doctor gave me a prescription for GEMFIBROZIL an older medication that has given to patients before the statins came in to the market – as I understood.
Now the muscle pain is gone I was fine with this – but…
I still got told more presicely that I am anmic: The blood cells are too big…
Since I am back home I had another check up and my doctor told me, that the Cholesterol is fine but – I have anemia and – that the blood cells are MUCH too big.
Vitamin B12, iron, liver and kidney are ok.
After having read the patient information sheet: Both of this medications can cause anemia, but my doctor told me, he never heard about that – so it seems he does not now about the sideffects at all.
Now he sends me to a hematologist for a bone marrow aspiration. I am so afraid having some serious blood disease…
Does anybody know if anemia caused from Statins / fibrates is reversible and how ?
Thank you so mucht for your answer – I am really scared…
Esther
I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that. Personally, I’d never take a medication to artificially beat down my cholesterol. Among women especially, those with higher cholesterol have longer average lifespans.
.
Hello
I know this is an older thread – is it still active ?
If so, I got a question and would apreciate your answer very much.
I was taking CRESTOR 16mg for about 3 years. I always had some muscle and jointa and back pain and I stopped taking it for a while beginning of Jan. 2013 in accordance with a physician. But I also got told that I am a kind of anemic…
The next check up I got told that my cholesterol level is high and I should continue taking CRESTOR. I refused to go back to statins so this doctor gave me a prescription for GEMFIBROZIL an older medication that has given to patients before the statins came in to the market – as I understood.
Now the muscle pain is gone I was fine with this – but…
I still got told more presicely that I am anmic: The blood cells are too big…
Since I am back home I had another check up and my doctor told me, that the Cholesterol is fine but – I have anemia and – that the blood cells are MUCH too big.
Vitamin B12, iron, liver and kidney are ok.
After having read the patient information sheet: Both of this medications can cause anemia, but my doctor told me, he never heard about that – so it seems he does not now about the sideffects at all.
Now he sends me to a hematologist for a bone marrow aspiration. I am so afraid having some serious blood disease…
Does anybody know if anemia caused from Statins / fibrates is reversible and how ?
Thank you so mucht for your answer – I am really scared…
Esther
I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that. Personally, I’d never take a medication to artificially beat down my cholesterol. Among women especially, those with higher cholesterol have longer average lifespans.
.
Last year I took Simavastatin for quite a period of tim, about a year and suffered about 5 panic attacks (the first ever) so I stopped taking the pills (against the doctors advice), I was also taking Ibuprofen for plantar faschiitus, but I’ve realised I must get my cholesterol down (current reading is 7) and was prescribed 5mg Atorvastatin and have only been taking it for a month. last night after being asleep for hours, at 23:50 I had my first sort of panic attack but i would describe it more as a surreal mind bending experience….. it was horrible. It passed after about 15 minutes and after I had taken fresh air from outside and a glass of water I went back to bed and was able to sleep normally. Is there any reference to any statins causing problems with thought please?
Go to spacedoc.net and you can read all kinds of articles about statins affecting the brain.
Last year I took Simavastatin for quite a period of tim, about a year and suffered about 5 panic attacks (the first ever) so I stopped taking the pills (against the doctors advice), I was also taking Ibuprofen for plantar faschiitus, but I’ve realised I must get my cholesterol down (current reading is 7) and was prescribed 5mg Atorvastatin and have only been taking it for a month. last night after being asleep for hours, at 23:50 I had my first sort of panic attack but i would describe it more as a surreal mind bending experience….. it was horrible. It passed after about 15 minutes and after I had taken fresh air from outside and a glass of water I went back to bed and was able to sleep normally. Is there any reference to any statins causing problems with thought please?
Go to spacedoc.net and you can read all kinds of articles about statins affecting the brain.