Posted: 8/1/2008 10:06:33 AM EDT
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I have genetic high Cholesterol. To make a long story short, I have been taking Lipitor for a few years. After about 6 months I noticed my memory getting bad. After a few years, it got to the point that I literally could not remember a movie I saw yesterday. So... I went to the dr. After a year of trying different things, changing docrotrs, and a lot of very expensive tests, he recommended that I try not taking the Lipitor for a while and see what happens. I went on vacation about a week later and went off the pills. Since I was out of my usual environmet/schedule I didn't really think about it. Three week later, it dawned on me that I could remember things. My wife even commented on it. Is this possible? I am not one of those guys that blames prescription drugs for everything, but dang. It has made such a hugh difference. (I was only taking 10mg, too). Anyone else have this problem? |
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Same thing happened to an co-worker. He went off of Lipitor and feels much better now. I think he is taking something like Niaspan instead to lower his cholesterol. I have been on Vytorin and have not noticed any side effects (how would I know or remember...lol), but I am sure that some people just can not tolerate statins. Maybe you are one of those folks. dvo |
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I am taking 20 mg of Lipitor per day and can't recall having any memory issues other than ones I attribute to getting older. I've always had a very good memory (in some ways; don't ask me to remember someone's name or birthday), so I could probably lose some ability and not feel impaired. |
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I used to work with a woman that was prescribed an insane amount of statins for a genietic cholesterol problem. No symptoms, just had the gene. She couldn't find the freezer at work one time, I don't know if she ever managed to find it. She was kind of old and over retirement age but was pretty non functional at work, if it were anyone else they would have been fired but she was buddies with the supervisor. She got sick the last week of emplyment before she finally did everyone a favor and retired. She didn't make it though cause "sick" was really cancer and she died about 3 months later. Statins have been know to suppress CoQ10, one brand was taken off the market from some folks dropping dead. Many doctors prescribe coQ10 for patients on statins. I have noticed I am much more mentally sharp when I take efa's and coq10. I don't doubt the statins could affect your memory. |
| There has been research studies published stating the memory problems associated with taking Statins. I have had memory issues when taking these drugs and stopped having the problems when I quit. Hopefully my Dr can suggest a better medication to deal with my cholesterol. |
Let me know what he/she prescribes. |
I didn't have any problems with Lipitor but Lovostatin was something else. I'd been taking it for a few weeks and one day I decided to go to the kitchen and make a sammich. And then about 15-20 minutes later I decided I'd go make a sammich. WTF? Theres already a sammich here?  No memory at all of the first trip. I switched to Lipitor and just a couple months ago to Simvastatin,a generic Zocor. You might try another brand/type.
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Damn!!! That must have been kind of trippy. 
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That's exactly the kind of thing that would happen to me. It's tough to do a good job at work with this going on. On the other hand, I used to get "presents" in the mail all the time from different firearms companies. I would never remember ordering it, but my name was on the box and the purchase was logged in quicken. It was always the perfect thing too...I've received mags, gear, etc. Out of the blue. It's kinda fun. I mighta exploited this problem a couple of times..."sorry honey, I just don't remember buying a case of NIB FAL mags..." 
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