I'm just starting to look into statin drugs. I have a friend whom I try to diagnose because he is "happy" with the help he gets from his doctor which is... lots of pills.

I know my friend might be affected by his poor diet and the sedation of his other meds, but something strikes me as odd. His worst and almost abrupt decline started when started on simvastatin. I'm begging him to talk to the doctor about it.

He used to be quite bright and socially active. He used to know how to do things. These days he doesn't remember anything, he has no real interest in anything, also he is developing strange systems like foot drop. Doc is OK with his memory loss and foot drop. My friend is too. That is the scary part. He is fine like this.

I'm not fine, I miss my friend. I know the doc does not suspect dementia. But I wonder if it could be the statin since the perfect timing of the memory issues. He is very impaired now, been on the med for about 8 years. He never remembers what we talked about the day before, someone else has to control his meds or he will forget or overdose, we used to have a lot of friends in common, he doesn't remember any of them. He used to be good at computers, now he is wrecking them one by one because he doesn't know what he is doing and manhandling them.

I've been told by others it can't be the statin. But can it? Muscle weakness I would not know as he uses a wheelchair and only walks short stretches.

It's so sad to hear him speak, he says the exact things every day, day after day, and now for years and always thinks it's the first time he said it. I'm very upset the doctor is OK with this and refuses to see something is wrong. According to doctor my friend only has normal aging, he is in his 50s...