Serious Lipitor Side Effects: Memory Loss, Heart Attack and More

Lipitor has been hailed by many physicians as something of a miracle drug due to its ability to significantly lower cholesterol levels.

I have had high cholesterol since 1998, and have, until recently, taken several different statin drugs to lower it, including Lipitor.

Because high cholesterol levels are associated with heart attacks in many patients, doctors have been rushing to prescribe statin drugs such as Lipitor in hopes of preventing cardiac incidents. But at what cost?

Some of the more serious side effects of Lipitor and other statin drugs include:

A breakdown in muscle tissue, leading to muscle aches and weakness. (Remember that the heart is a muscle!)

Dizziness, neuropathy (nerve damage), depression, and yes, heart failure. A drug that is supposed to help prevent heart failure is, in fact, associated with an increased risk of the very condition it is meant to prevent. There is no research showing WHY the hearts are failing, but a good guess might be that statin drugs cause muscle breakdown.

Erectile dysfunction in men.

Liver damage and failure.

Perhaps the most alarming side effect of all is serious memory loss. So serious in some patients that they are at first misdiagnosed with early to advanced stages of Alzheimer's Disease. For me, this was the primary reason that I stopped taking all statin drugs. I began noticing that I was forgetting phone numbers that I dialed daily for years (such as my aunt's number, which has not changed in over forty years).

Some patients suffering memory loss as a result of Lipitor and other statin drugs even forget their own names, or the faces of loved ones. Their behavior can become erratic, even hostile, and they have been found wandering around their neighborhoods, unsure of who they are or where they are.

The memory loss issue is a major one, as not all of it can always be reversed. It depends very much on how long the medication has been a part of the patient's daily regimen, and the size of the dose.

Why do statin drugs such as Lipitor affect the memory adversely? So far there have been no major studies, but doctors and scientists are beginning to believe that it is because cholesterol is actually a very important building block for the brain. Without cholesterol, our brains begin to suffer a form of malnutrition, if you will. In order for our brains to function properly, they REQUIRE cholesterol. And artificially lowering our body's cholesterol also lowers that of our brains.

Because I value my brain, I am no longer taking Lipitor or any statin drug. I am, instead, seeking to lower my cholesterol levels to normal levels with a combination of healthier diet and exercise.

If you are taking Lipitor or any statin drug for high cholesterol, I urge you to do some online research, print out as much information as you can, and bring this information to your doctor to discuss the best option for you.

SOURCES:
http://www.hugesettlements.com/articles/lipitor-lawyer.htm
http://www.spacedoc.net/lipitor.htm