To subscribe to this blog email info@beforeyoutakethatpill.com with subject line "subscribe"
and add this email address to your address book.
February 17, 2008.
Do Statins Make You Stupid??
If you have been reading this blog you might have come to the conclusion as I have that only stupid women
take statins to prevent heart attacks or death
and that only stupid men think that it will save their lives if they don't have a prior history of heart disease. But now
there is increasing attention to the fact that statins may also make you... well... stupid.
Some statins cross the blood-brain barrier (see below) and therefore potentially can affect brain function. They reduce
cholesterol concentrations and cholesterol is an essential component of cell membranes, including neurons in the brain.
There are a large number of individuals
reporting memory problems in reply to articles this week in the
WSJ, in which a doctor was quoted as saying "Lipitor makes women stupid," followed by an article in the
NY Times . In 2003 an
article cited 60 reported cases of memory impairment, most commonly with Zocor, less
with Lipitor and only one case with Pravachol. Since Zocor is the most lipophilic (meaning most likely to get into the
brain) and Pravachol is not lipophilic, this pattern is consistent with a relationship between statins and memory problems.
Half had the onset of memory problems within two months of starting statins.
Most (56%) patients improved when they went off the drug, and there
were four patients who had memory problems return when they went back on the drug.
Muldoon and colleagues writing in 2000 reported on 209
healthy adults treated with Mevacor (lovastatin) or placebo for cholesterol reduction. Mevacor treated patients
had significant reductions in attention and psychomotor speed compared to placebo treated patients.
These problems are the inevitable result of a push to give statins to people with normal cholesterol concentrations.
This is in my opinion a cause for concern. For one thing, we are introducing medications with potentially dangerous
side effects to people who do not have a disease. Secondly, cholesterol is a normal part of the body and is required
for a number of processes, like the construction of cell membranes. Very low cholesterol concentrations have been
linked to depression and suicide.
Statins also may increase the risk for depression. Cholesterol is the essential building block of neurotransmitters
and hormones, changes in which have been associated with the development of depression. This may explain why many
patients feel so much worse when their cholesterol is lowered. Statins increase the risk of a return of depression
in patients previously treated for depression; if you take a statin after being treated with an antidepressant,
your risk of having the depression come back is 61% compared to 40% if you didn’t take a statin (Steffens et al 2003).
Steffens DC, McQuoid DR, Krishnan KRR (2003): Cholesterol-lowering medication and relapse of depression. Psychopharmacology Bulletin 37:92-98.
A doctor developed such severe problems with memory that he wrote a book about his experiences called Lipitor Thief of Memory
As usual the medical establishment is rushing to say that there is no association between statins and memory problems. The medical
consultant to abcnews.com said he had to set the record straight and say that the "benefits outweigh the risks".
A doctor who said "Statins make women stupid" was said to have made "inflammatory" comments. "Inflammatory" to who? Pfizer's business plan?
To subscribe to this blog email
info@beforeyoutakethatpill.com with subject line "subscribe"
and add this email address to your
address book (otherwise it will get spammed).
to unsubscribe do the same with subject line "unsubscribe".
