I am one of those who statins screw with my memory and I am made to feel like it is just old age

[Stargazer99]

My memory has holes in it...I forgot an activity my church was holding this evening...I take statins and it drops information upon occasion. I never know when or what it will drop so I have a calendar upon which I write activities so I will see them every day. Well, I forgot to write this one down thinking of course I will remember it. I am damn sick and tired of being told that it is just my age...BS. Even when I am doing some things in the house when I get distracted I lose my initial project upon occasion.
Last week I was talking about the capitalist system with a person and could not pull out the word capitalism to speak no matter how hard I tried. The next day was no problem capitalism came to mind with no effort. What makes me so damn mad is that I know the word or the persons name that I newly met but at times it won't access and that makes me madder than hell. And to be viewed as this is an old age problem tears me apart. Has anyone here had the same madding problem? I know why this occurs but it does not help

[murielm99]

1. This happens to me from time to time.

I have a planner and I write everything down. What will happen when I get bad enough to forget to write in the planner? My husband does this, too.

One of my friends is a retired foreign language teacher. She started teaching at a nearby community college because it is to hard to find teachers with her specialty. She started forgetting things, mostly names and proper nouns. She knew, but could not access the word. She quit the job, leaving a gaping hole in the community college's faculty. I understand her decision.

[NoRethugFriends]

2. What leads you to believe it is the statins?

I am 75, and difficulty in word-finding is not unusual at our age.

[nilram]

3. Have you mentioned this to your doc?

There are a bunch of different statins and they each have different side effect profiles. I was put on pravastatin because it’s water soluble, so it exits the body quickly if I need to quit it.

[LauraInLA]

4. Whoa, I've been taking Lipitor since I was 45-46 (I'm now 54), and my memory has seriously deteriorated

over the last several years. I’m talking forgetting past and present events, data, word choice — things I wouldn’t have expected for another decade, at least. For years I’ve discussed menopause, depression, and other possible causes with my doctor. I was terribly afraid it might be early onset dementia. But this never came up. So thank you for this info — I just sent my doctor an email.

I am so sorry you are having these issues, and I really hope you find a solution!

[demosincebirth]

5. I had my doctor cut my Lipitor from 50mg to 10mg, because

I read that it was a possible side effect

[LauraInLA]

6. Do you feel like you had noticed any changes in memory before you cut your dosage?

[demosincebirth]

8. I did. Names of people and names of things

[LauraInLA]

9. Oh, wow. I can very much relate to that. Thanks for the info!

[Clouds Passing]

7. I did not know statins caused memory issues.

After I started taking statins, I messed up four medical appointments. I never do that. I did not know that was attributable to statins. Recently, I stopped taking them because muscle pain was severe. I felt like I was becoming crippled. The doctors kept telling me that’s not symptoms from statins, but it is. Now the severe muscle pain is gone.

I have started to take an herbal supplement to help reduce my cholesterol. And sticking with lower cholesterol diet.

[LauraInLA]

10. Also funny -- I started having muscle cramping, too. My doctor put my on vitamin b12 drops, and the

cramping stopped. But we never considered the statin starting it in the first place.

I have a genetic condition which makes my cholesterol high regardless of dietary changes. But could you tell me which herbal supplement you take, so i can ask my doctor if it might work for me?

[Clouds Passing]

11. I didn't have cramping just very sore and weak muscles My MD put me on CoQ10, didn't do a thing.

I’ll have to add B12, my labs were a tad low anyway.

Emerald Labs - Cholesterol Health (it is high in niacin, which can cause headaches, so I am working my way up slowly to the full dose). Try iHerb or Amazon

[LauraInLA]

12. If you do add b12, my doctor said liquid under the tongue was important.

[Clouds Passing]

13. Thanks for the tip. I like sublingual! So much easier to take.

I was taking both the atorvastatin and the cholesterol health, my LDL is low, HDL high. I can’t tell you if the cholesterol health is going to lower my cholesterol enough by itself. I will find out in 3 months.

[LauraInLA]

14. I actually did some genetic testing and learned that I have a gene (or gene suppressor? Can't remember!)

that means taking Omega 3s makes my cholesterol worse. Since I stopped, my cholesterol was still high but not as high. I don’t know — you might check it out.

[Clouds Passing]

15. I haven't heard of that! Thanks for the heads up.

I take flax seed, fish oil is 😵

[womanofthehills]

16. A Korean study of the entire population

- older people with 210- 249 cholesterol live longer than those with 200 or less. Also, niacin works great for lowering cholesterol- if you really want to lower your cholesterol. Mine is 240 which according to this study is perfect.

“ Abstract

It is unclear whether associations between total cholesterol (TC) levels and all-cause mortality and the optimal TC ranges for lowest mortality vary by sex and age. 12,815,006 Korean adults underwent routine health examinations during 2001-2004, and were followed until 2013. During follow-up, 694,423 individuals died. U-curve associations were found. In the TC ranges of 50-199 and 200-449 mg/dL, each 39 mg/dL (1 mmol/L) increase in TC was associated with 23% lower (95% CI:23%,24%) and 7% higher (6%,7%) mortality, respectively. In the age groups of 18-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, and 75-99 years, each 1 mmol/L higher TC increased mortality by 14%, 13%, 8%, 7%, 6%, and 3%, respectively (P < 0.001 for each age group), for TC ≥ 200 mg/dL, while the corresponding TC changes decreased mortality by 13%, 27%, 34%, 31%, 20%, and 13%, respectively, in the range < 200 mg/dL (P < 0.001 for each age group). TC had U-curve associations with mortality in each age-sex group. TC levels associated with lowest mortality were 210-249 mg/dL, except for men aged 18-34 years (180-219 mg/dL) and women aged 18-34 years (160-199 mg/dL) and 35-44 years (180-219 mg/dL). ”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30733566/