Fadetoblack,
I have followed your posts here about your friend. I find it admirable that you continue to support and encourage him to see his Doctor about this when nothing has been changed yet.
Might I ask, does anyone go to his appts with him? Even if 'Yes' could you not pop along for 'support' and take the opportunity to raise concerns?
Another way, which I do with ALL my Drs because of memory/anxiety problems, is write a list of everything he needs to speak to the Dr about, and bury the statin issue at number 3/4.
I hope your friend gets the treatment he needs, and that you are having a good day yourself.

Dave.

I wish I could go with him, but I have never met him truly face to face. Still I have known him for a good part of my life. I guess geography was not in the favor of this friendship...

He goes alone, he has help getting there but meets the doc alone, always. In a way I can understand this, some people like family can be TOO CLOSE to take in with you. And unfortunately he lost all his real life friends due to this "condition".

I might be stubborn but it takes more than this for me to break off a friendship.

The weird thing is when I look back, there are two more episodes of global amnesia. I feel I was blind not seeing them as such, but one happened several years ago, one a few years ago. First time he lived independently still and I hadn't noticed any other mental decline yet. But it still stands that he lost half a day, and moreso he lost his apartment contract due to things he said during the attack. Things he was sure he never said and got in an argument about leading up to his eviction.

Pretty unreal when I think about it.

Statins have a very low marginal effect on HDL's. Not worth it IMO.

Fish oil will help raise these, and also is very good for lowering triglyerides.

Avoiding sugar and fructose also lowers cholesterol.
A small bit of alcohol a day has shown in some studies an HDL raising effect. But I hesitate to recommend alcohol.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/high-c...olesterol.aspx

However.... the research is showing that the HDL issues are not that critical. It all depends on who you read, these days.

Taking a statin to raise HDL IMO is foolhardy. Statins are very toxic to the body, and the tradeoffs for this use are huge and not in your favor. The day is just about here where the "new" non-statin drugs are going to replace the statins. People who have been on these toxic drugs for a long time, are going to be very very angry soon.

I have to say, since I started digging in this, I had several scared moments. I'm a long time member on many forums where health isn't the topic but it usually comes up off-topic many times. On several, use of statins have been discussed and up to now I haven't really understood or cared. But on one forum for example there was a person who's parent was put in a home after they introduced statins to them, because of "Alzheimer's", it was like "OK, lets put this person to die in a home" without even thinking about med side effects. I dunno, I just got a pretty bad feeling from that one.

I mean, they could have had dementia for sure, but it did coincide with starting the statin and it ended that bad. Does that happen a lot? If something reversible is mixed up with something irreversible... it really frightens me.

My husband was concerned I had Alzheimer's.

Fatigue, memory problems, getting lost driving in familiar places, weakness, all of it was due to the statin. A neurophysch told me those in his profession were seeing more and more people who had the same experience as mine and all was connected to statins.

Such care and concern for your friend. You are a true friend.

Dr. Graveline MD (former astronaut) had the lost memory effects...I posted that earlier here in this thread.

Look him up.... he is highly militant about the dangers of statins.

You can Google "statins memory loss" and find quite a bit about it.
I think it is a serious issue...which people should pay attention to.

Thank you, MrsD,
As stated my good (HDL) cholesterol is 0.7, making my combined high - 9ish I think (memory fog). I was on Simvastatin from '08-'13 after a heart attack, and was left with a damaged heart, coronary ischaemia and microvascular disease.
In 2013 I was changed to Atorvastatin (Lipitor), 40mg a DAY, Tildiem Retard and ISMN which I cannot take (Cluster Headache trigger). In '14 I became Brady Hypotensive during an angiogram, then a chemically induced stress test.
My heart is a mess, my brain already has a lesion in the occipital area causing unstable, untreatable double vision. If I have to choose one to protect, it is my brain. My Mother developed Alzheimer's - total life memory loss, hallucinations - and I refuse to suffer like she did.
More and more I am questioning why a Consultant Cardiologist (not GP) has me on statins.
My Annual Review for all my conditions is coming up in a couple of months, that will give me the appointment time to resolve this to MY satisfaction.

Dave.

Dave.... the data here in the US is long and complex. I doubt you will have the energy to go thru it all.

Fact one: It is being suggested here to give as little as possible to those who have heart disease. For example... 5mg of Crestor was found to lower cholesterol in patients at 5mg once a week.

40mg of Lipitor is outrageously high. If you ask your doctor to lower it to 5 or 10mg a day instead and retest, you might find it works well at that dose. Simvastatin for example has had FDA letters to reduce dosing this way as well. Lipitor and Zocor (simvastatin) are lipophilic and enter the brain, and these cause much more problems because of high doses.

Dr. Jay Cohen, MD has written a book on cholesterol treatments and suggests lower doses for those who absolutely require this drug:
http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Altern...en+cholesterol
This book has a chapter on using lower doses of statins to avoid side effects.

http://www.medicationsense.com/artic...holesterol.php

Statins block your natural body's manufacture of CoQ-10.... when this gets low, the heart muscle cannot contract properly and becomes damaged...and people then die of heart failure.
Studies have shown this occurs at about the 5 yr mark of use of statins, but that varies with people...some sooner, some maybe later. If you are not replacing that CoQ-10 with a good quality well absorbed supplement, then you are getting damaged every single day. The newer forms of solubilized CoQ-10 are Qunol and Q-Gel. I don't know if those are available in UK. Other forms do not dissolve well in the GI tract. So at LEAST if you remain even on a lower dose of Lipitor, you should be on the CoQ-10 to minimize some of damage statins do.

MrsD,
So CoQ 10 also seems to be showing promise as a treatment for migraines as both are mitochondrial relevant.
I will speak to my original GP, who is in tune with Natural Remedies, supplements, Alternative Therapies, etc. because of the side effects of gastro-intestinal issues (incontinence due to neuro problems and radiotherapy scarring) and lowering of blood sugar (Diabetic).
The main point is to get off the Atorvastatin completely.
As I stated before, the best thing to happen to my mind for years was finding and engaging in this Forum. My physical and mental problems have not resolved, but I am part of a group of fellow sufferers (which I could not tolerate in the outside World), and my mind is sharper because of it.

Dave.

Mrs. D,
 

I had posted on this thread back in January about my having asked my doctor about going off my Simvastatin for a while in an effort to reduce my PN pain.

I was retested fasting after 4 months off the Simvastatin; my cholesterol did go up quite a bit. I did go back to the Simvastatin; but reduced the 20 mg's I had been on to 10mg's with the testing showing about the same results as I had when I was taking 20mg's. The 10mg's gave me the same results as the 20mg's did. Last month I had a complete lab test, again including Chlosterol which still show the 10mg's doing the same work as the 20 mgs. It appears many doctors are prescribing higher doses than most patients require.

Since I take so many other meds; including Ambien CR which can affect memory; I can't relate to Statins as playing a role in some of my memory issues.



Gerry