Liptor And Statin Drugs Are Stealing Users Memory

Lipitor is the best-selling drug in the United States. The Physicians’ Desk Reference includes mentions of the potential for liver toxicity, muscle aches, and weakness. However, nowhere does it touch on Lipitor’s cognitive side effects other than a one-word mention of amnesia in a long list of things purported to have occurred in patients. In the clinical studies on the drugs, all of which are funded by drug companies, benefits are emphasized while adverse effects are downplayed. To make matters worse, government and cardiology opinion leaders are so conflicted by drug money that they ignore red flags. This means that physicians and patients alike are much more likely to attribute declining memory or blackout spells to old age, dementia, stroke, or something other than to cholesterol-lowering drugs. In fact, if a patient complains about memory problems related to the drugs, the doctor will generally discount it.

It’s obvious that these drugs would adversely affect cognition if you think about it. Your brain contains an abundance of cholesterol and must have it to function properly. It serves to insulate the neurons and speed up nerve conduction. Recent research reveals that cholesterol is also required for the formation of synapses, the areas between neurons where nerve impulses are transmitted and received. In fact, cholesterol is so important that it is manufactured by the glial cells in the supportive tissues of the brain. Curbing the synthesis of a crucial compound has an inevitable downside effect. For example, both suicide and violent behavior have long been linked to very low cholesterol levels. Data from the ongoing Framingham Heart Study demonstrates that older people with low total cholesterol below 200 are much more likely to perform poorly on tests of mental function than those with cholesterol over 240.

These drugs harm the brain in other ways as well. The enzyme pathway that statins disrupt in order to suppress cholesterol production is also involved in the synthesis of coenzyme Q10, which is required for energy production in the mitochondria of the cells. When you block that enzyme, cholesterol goes down, but so does CoQ10, often by as much as 50 percent in some patients. Low CoQ10 are bad news as we have discussed before. The brain, heart, and skeletal muscles are the body’s most voracious consumers of energy, and it’s only natural that these are the systems most acutely affected by inadequate stores of CoQ10. Deficiencies in this essential compound are known to underlie the muscle problems and heart failure so often linked with statins. We all need to recognize that CoQ10 depletion is also a factor in cognitive dysfunction and other neurological consequences of these drugs. Statins also appear to adversely affect tau, a protein made by brain cells that helps maintain their structure. Abnormal tau proteins promote the formation of the neurofibrillary tangles that appear in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Abnormalities in tau proteins are also linked to other neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Many authorities now believe the link with cholesterol-lowering drugs is clear and unequivocal. Besides their serious side effects like cognitive problems, muscle pain and weakness, fatigue, liver damage, and even heart failure these drugs are just not all that helpful. While they lower cholesterol this should not be an end in itself but simply a means of reducing risk of heart attack and death from heart disease. In this regard, statins fail miserably. Not a single study shows that statins are beneficial for women at all. The largest randomized clinical trial of statins in women found that those who took Lipitor actually had 10 percent more heart attacks than women taking a placebo. Neither is there any research suggesting that these drugs prevent heart attacks or extend life for anyone over age 70. This includs both men and women at high risk of heart disease. The same goes for younger men who have a high cholesterol level but no other significant risk factors for heart disease. Satins just don’t help and the potential cardiovascular benefits are counterbalanced by equivalent increases in death and debility from other causes. All the same time millions of low-risk men, older men, and women of all ages take these drugs daily. The only people ever shown in clinical studies to benefit at all from these drugs are middle-aged men at high risk of heart attack. This high risk category is defined as having existing coronary artery disease, diabetes, disease of the blood vessels to the brain or extremities, or two or more risk factors, such as hypertension, heavy drinking and smoking. Even for this group, there are much safer and more effective ways to lower risk than these very dangerous drugs. If you are taking a cholesterol-lowering statin drug, discuss this information with your physician or find one who is willing to discuss it with you by visiting http://www.acam.org

References
Lipitor, Thief of Memory by Duane Graveline available at amazon.com,
Statin Drugs Side Effects, sold at http://www.spacedoc.net.
Elias PK et al. Serum cholesterol and cognitive performance
in the Framingham Heart Study. Psychosom Med. 2005 Jan-
Feb;67(1):XXIV–30.
Golomb BA. Impact of statin adverse events in the elderly.
Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2005;4(3):389–397.
Muldoon MF et al. Randomized trial of the effects of simvastatin
on cognitive functioning in hypercholesterolemic adults.
Am J Med. 2004;117(11):823–829.
Pfrieger FW. Role of cholesterol in synapse formation and function.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2003 Mar 10;1610(2):271–280.
Physicians’ Desk Reference, 61st Edition. Montvale, NJ: Thompson
PDR; 2007.