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 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?

Originally posted here; follow link for original links to articles.

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Mrs. Bremner and I are at the American Psychosomatic Society (APS) Annual Meeting in Chicago this week where the most interesting presentation other than our poster and talk on brain and heart mechanisms mediating the increased risk for mortality in people with heart disease and depression, is this late breaking data showing that statins have a negative effect on orgasms.

In “Statins Reduce Orgasm: Results from the UCSD Statins Study” Dr. Beatrice Golomb and colleagues from the University of California-San Diego reported today on their 1,067 men and women without heart disease with a LDL cholesterol of 119-190 mg/dL who were randomized to either pravastatin (Pravachol), simvastatin (Zocor), or placebo for LDL cholesterol reduction with the purpose of prevention of heart attacks. Orgasm was self rated on a scale of 1 (”much worse”) to 5 (”much better”) with 3 for “no change”. Overall statins had a negative effect on orgasms, with a reduction of 0.63 for men and 0.57 for women, which was statistically significant only for men, and only for Zocor.

Previous studies have shown that the more you reduce LDL cholesterol the more you lower your risk of heart attack. It has also been shown that you increase your risk of cancer more, and now this study shows that the more LDL cholesterol goes down the more it messes up your orgasm. So we have a drug that doesn’t reduce overall mortality in men without heart disease (as in the current study) and has no beneficial effect at all for women without heart disease, and that increases risk of cancer, that not only makes you stupid, but that messes up your orgasm.

Dr. Golomb’s quote to USA Today about the study was that:

It takes a lot of energy to have an orgasm.

Nice quote, Beatrice. She says that statins can interfere with Coenzyme Q and do other things that may impair energy utilization.

Mrs. Bremner’s comment on the study is that they probably thought that statins would improve orgasms through their anti-inflammatory effect.

Today I am listening to presentations (and writing as I listen) from the Study of Women’s Health in the US (SWAN) study on women in mid-life, we learn that Chinese women have less osteoporotic fractures (7 year incidence of 4.8) than black (4.5) and caucasian women (8.1), however mid life women in general feel that they are wiser and have a stronger sense of purpose than they did in their younger life, and that going through menopause is associated with a temporary increase in hot flashes and forgetfullness, but no significant increase in depression. Also the Mid Life in the US (MIDUS) National Study, which was funded by the MacArthur Foundation, asked the question, what is well being? And what effect does it have on people throughout the lifespan. Aristotle defined well being, or ”eudaimonia”, thus:

The highest of all human goods is realization of human potential

In the MIDUS study, autonomy, personal growth, feelings of purpose in life, positive relations with other, environmental mastery, and self acceptance, increased over time for people in mid life or did not change for people 55-74, while they didn’t improve or went down for those younger or older than this group. These qualities were also associated with better health outcomes. They also predicted lower lipid levels, better metabolism, and other goodies.

What is well being?