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Suggest to the doctor that he needs to research this further. The pharma companies really push the studies that appear to show statins "helping" the ALZ, but many more show NO benefit to older women and many reports of memory issues.
caringtx. how old is your Mom. statins are not reccomended after 70. Lipitor and other similar meds can have the side effect of causing diabetes. However if she is older, overweight and eats a diet high in sugar she would be a prime target for diabetes. Is she still in the hospital and are you there 24/7. it is usual to check the patient's vitals at least twice daily and more often if they have something like a high fever. I would expect them to check her B/P early in the morning at say 6 am and 12 hours later but they may wait till the patient does not have a visitor with them. Was she hospitalized because of the seizure?
my mother was recently had a seizure due to high blood sugar, she was not diagnosed as a diabetic previously. she has high bp and since she had her thyroid removed is on synthroid. the hospital put her on Lipitor before they administered her prescriptions. she refused them one day and the very next they were trying to give them again. she noted that her friends who had been on them had " gone south". the dr said , oh no it helps with dementia. they also changed Her bp meds and I haven't seen them take her bp once after changing them.
You've done your homework, Chimonger! Too many people look upon medical professionals as one step away from godhood, and they never question all the documented screw-ups or the ties that bind them to the pharmaceutical industry.
In my northern California community there are allopathic doctors who are hip to alternative healing methods and they don't let pride or profit get in the way of suggesting other options besides drugs and surgery. I'm fortunate to live where I do for that reason alone.
YES! It's in the drug's literature. Brain is built from cholesterol, and can't function without it. The Liver makes cholesterol to make sure there is some for the brain. Statins not only block cholesterol, but also important nutrients can be blocked from getting in, or stripped from body stores, like CoQ10 [which especially the heart, requires in order to work--that's why Statins can cause heart attacks.]
I've used alternatives for YEARS, and done fine. Like fresh garlic, mashed, minced and let to air for 15 minutes, then use it in avocado, or other cooking--had to use a head and a half per day like that, the first month, then reduced that to several large cloves of garlic fixed that way, daily. That, with about 2000 mg of Omega 3 fatty acids daily, controlled very high blood pressure, and dropped the cholesterol numbers every bit as well as any Statin...probably better. ...and the mainstream Doc was STILL trying to use scare tactics on me to take Statins....which I refused. I've observed others using Statins since they 1st hit the market, and NOT been impressed by them.
BTW: Alternatives, like Red Yeast Rice, work the same way Statins do. That means, you can get similar adverse effects from using cholesterol lowering Alternatives. I don't know if it's because the herbal has been doctored with statin drugs [many "Patent Chinese Medicines" are that], or if the herbals actually can do that same thing...bottom line, be careful. I know that depression- and anxiety-relieving herbs can, if one takes to much of them, cause a "Flat Affect", which is a kind of adverse effect some psych drugs can cause....just not as bad. The difference is, that herbs are usually used as whole herbs, instead of a lab fractionating out certain single components. That means, there are Co-ingredients in the plant which help the body use the "main ingredient" more efficiently and gently, than with the concentrated, single-"main ingredient" in a pharma drug.
I feel comfortable with my knowledge of alternatives, related to my profession, study and experience, that I can pretty well handle things. I keep regular medicine in the loop, in case of emergencies....but so far, have learned they do less for the injuries I've had, than I did myself. But there may come a time when they will need to do more than I can for myself--so I've not burned that bridge. And pray there will be a good advocate to direct my care at that time.
Really good, alternative Docs are still too scarce-- even fewer of those have hospital privileges!
Lipitor is probably the worst of them. Doctors should be more informed about what they prescribe. We all need to be "on top" of what we are given. I have had friends and relatives that ask before given anything. TG they did because mistakes have been made. Especially from hospital to rehab. Seems like some doctors don't read reports very well. I like that the pharmacy gives paperwork with your prescription of side effects. I do read them. I have even complained to my husbands doctor about a side effect my husband had that was not listed. He was told it's rare, but it is a side effect. When I told my daughter, RN, she knew what I was talking about and what caused it. Happens in her rehab all the time. If my husband had known, he wouldn't have had to be embarrassed. I called the office and made him tell the nurse when he went back. I feel it should be in the paperwork.
I was particularly interested in CWillie's comments about the mapping of the plaque in the arteries. My father's doctor put him on Atorvastatin after he had a minor stroke because it's a clot-buster. His cholesterol is fine via his diet. That was a few years ago and he was already showing signs of dementia before the stroke (in his 80s), probably due to previous TIAs. With each appointment, I continue to ask if he can be taken off and the doctor prefers to keep him on at a 20mg dose, which I understand is similar to that for a child. He did manage to come back about 98% from the stroke, but his motor skills and cognitive functioning have decreased slightly each year and increasingly so in the past year. I don't know if the statin has contributed or it's all dementia.
I've just read one of Dr. Duane Graveline's articles about the dangers of statin and am shocked at the toxicity and side effects they can cause, especially Lipitor, which a doctor had prescribed for my now deceased mother. I do recall problems after she began taking them but at that time none of us ever thought to question Lipitor. Now I wonder how much of the symptoms she experienced were in fact medication related.
Dejavu, thank you for this recommendation. I knew statins were bad but had no idea how frighteningly dangerous they are.
Dejavu, your post and the implications of lead gave me shivers, in part because I've wondered about this myself but thought that I perhaps was being overly concerned.
I recall being shocked when learning some years ago that lead in cans was involved in the death of men in John Franklin's 1845 Arctic expedition. I believe there might have been another expedition which suffered a similar fat also attributable to lead.
As to not having lead in plumbing any more, it's my understanding that older houses could still have lead in the pipes, and that only a full change out would replace them.
Our local community has advised in its annual water quality reports not to drink hot water because of the possibility of lead contamination. I haven't researched why hot water would be more likely to contain lead than cold water; I'm almost afraid to but don't use hot water for cooking anyway. Still, I've wondered often if the residue of hot water left on dishes after rinsing is enough to affect a person's lead levels.
The other frightening issue about lead is the prevalence of it in products from China. The Environmental Working Group has been raising these concerns for quite some time.
I find it incongruous that homeowners here are put in the position of paying a fortune to remediate lead, but that Chinese products with lead aren't treated with such an aggressive response.
And you make a good point that the brain does need the right kind of fat to function. It's a fact frequently not addressed in all the hype about cholesterol.
Since finding this forum, I've wondered often about what seems to be, or is becoming, an epidepic of dementia in the US. When we have some rainy weather this week and I can't garden, it might be a topic for some research.
My mother's dementia seemed to go hand in hand with the statin drugs she took for years. I took her off them last year. That didn't cure the dementia, which is fairly severe, but its advancement seems to have slowed down. After her initial heart attack, she had another while on TWO statins and with very low cholesterol numbers.
The brain needs fat to function, especially in the elderly. The secret is in the KIND of fat. My brothers and I have Mom on a fairly high fat diet, but we make certain that it is high quality fat from grass fed animals, also coconut oil. At 94 she is enjoying better overall physical health since taking her off ALL prescription drugs and giving her supplements of whole food multi-vitamins, Ubiquinol, fish oil and probiotics.
Statins aside, however, what puzzled me was that for several decades before the obvious dementia took hold and long before she was put on cholesterol meds, she was exhibiting irrational behavior, making poor decisions, disastrous financial mismanagement, etc., and in general not functioning like the efficient mother I had while growing up. I recently came across a list of popular costume jewelry brands with high lead content. (Can't find the reference right now.) My mother has always liked to deck herself out with earrings, bracelets and necklaces, and I'm wondering if her "fashion statement" was the beginning of cognitive malfunction. Lead was the downfall of the Roman civilization. While we don't eat off lead plates or use lead pipes for plumbing any more, perhaps advancing mental decline can be traced to lead in jewelry, as well as the paint in older houses.
I was put on Mevacor (lovastatin) after a heart attack 14 years ago, and developed most of the classic side effects, including memory problems. I was forgetting customer orders at work, and did some research on cholesterol and statins. Your brain NEEDS cholesterol, and if you read the research studies carefully, you will notice that the actual :benefits are very small--in one study, the mortality rate from all causes was actually worse with statins. I noticed a lifting of my mental fog within two weeks of getting off of them, and several other things improved drastically as well--muscle pains in the upper arms and loss of motion, a hand tremor, vision issues. I suspect that some dental gum issues are related as well. I don't even care what my cholesterol numbers are. I eat little red meat, few carbs, lots of avocado and nut butters, and am keeping most of my numbers down on my own. (Had to change doctors; when my longtime primary dr retired, the first replacement I got wanted me back on lots of meds. I told him no, and he put me down as "noncompliant" and asked the office to get me another dr. This one is very nice, and willing to let me take care of myself. BTW, check up on red rice yeast, it is what lovacor was developed from. Also, when I had the heart attack, my cholesterol was within a normal range, as are half of the people who have heart attacks. They have also found that there is NO benefit of low cholesterol in older women, and a higher mortality rate. A cousin of mine, a couple of years younger than me, had a heart attack at about the same time, and his dr has him convinced that he needs the meds. The last time I saw him, his mental functioning was very impaired--took over 3 hours to find a place that is normally a 45 minute drive from where we started out, and a place he's been to a number of times with me over the years.
The reason I posted this question is because when my Mom first started showing memory problems we took her off her statin med and for about 2 weeks she was almost back to normal then the memory problems returned. It was a brief but very impressive change. After her doctors "if you want your mother to live you'll put her back on the statin" lecture we did restart the med. Mom is now at I would guess stage 6 on the dementia road so in March we decided that we would stop the statin med in an effort to decrease the meds she has to take. Again, noticed after she'd been off the statin a brief but not as impressive improvement in her mental status lasting only a couple days. Not sure if she was just having a couple better days or if it was due to being off the med. We won't be restarting the med and regret having restarted it the first time. At this point high cholesterol is the least of her worries. Anyway, that's why I posted the question. Just really curious to see if others had a similar experience.
Sherry, interesting and helpful information. Has your husband had any side effects? I'm wondering if the article I read drew on information prepared by drug companies to convince people that more natural products aren't as safe as their own chemical compounds.
My cousin takes red rice yeast, available at health food stores for her cholesterol. I learned recently that the statin drugs are made from that natural product. They have the bad side effects, the red rice yeast doesn't.
Ferris, I agree about diet. If my husbands shows high (205-225) he cuts out certain things and it goes down. I'm not as good as he is. But, I have heard of peoples bodies that produce it and then meds r needed. I knew mine would go up after menopause because I was 195 before. Estrogen helps to keepit down. And no, I didn't do estrogen replacement because it makes me deathly sick.
I feel I need to add something about the whole cholesterol issue. I firmly, adamantly believe much of the effect of high cholesterol foods is genetic. My father has always been very active and very, very slender. He ate what he wanted including foods that I couldn't or wouldn't. Yet his cholesterol levels have been what one of his doctors described as better than his own (and mine). My father has never had to worry about this.
As to statins, if I had known how powerful and dangerous they are when a doctor prescribed them for my mother, I would have intervened. But that was over 15 years ago and we weren't aware at that time of the many side effects.
Caregiving is such a learning process and I wish often I knew 20 years ago when this started what I know now.
I've read in my favorite herbal magazine that red yeast rice is effective in lowering cholesterol, and know someone who did experience that when taking it. However, I also remember that the magazine article warned of side effects that need to be monitored.
I think if we eliminated all the processed, junk and so-called foods which are in part an amalgamation of chemicals, it would be a lot easier to be healthy and not be so focused on cholesterol.
On the other hand, doctors I think should focus more on environmental effects on the body, especially lead and its remediation, which has become so entangled by oppressive regulations that it's going to be hard to even find or pay for a remediator. And that's not even addressing the host of other chemicals in foods, including the ones discovered years ago to be carcinogens, and those such as MSG, sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate (which cause anaphylaxis for me).
JoAnn29 - May I suggest you just change your eating habits to lower your cholesterol to below 200. Taking a drug for cholesterol is not an answer. Eat well and lower it naturally.
Very interesting. My Mom has been off hers because of Graves desease. The med she is on for that effects the liver as do statins. Dr. put her on Welchol and that constipated her bad. Not on that anymore.
I'm bad about drs. and pills. Last time my cholesterol was checked it was 245. Think I get that Medicare check up and try that Neo 40.
With statin drugs it is not go to stop them all together but I noticed an improvement in my mom's mental health when the doctor split up the dose on the Lopressor. If the dose is small enough and the pill can be cut in half you stand a better chance of getting the meds you need without having to deal with Sun downers syndrome at night. I noticed when they put my mom on Lovastatin and then took her off of it and put her on the split up dose of Lopressor she is doing much better and in better spirits. If you need to take a statin drug do ask your doc about Lopressor and don't hesitate to tell the doctor about your problems with Lovastatin and the side effects you have.
My husband was on statins for over 20 years. Still is. I believe that he may have diabetes due to statins, also memory decline may also be caused by the statin. He does have dementia don't know the cause. He has type two diabetes, sleep apnea, drank heavily for years, so these contribute to dementia. I took him off statins for a while, didn't help as his high cholesterol is genetic the help is statins. I had my cholesterol high, and my doctor put me on several supplements which seem to help me, I can't tell you, as I don't know if it would work for you. Also you might to go to a doctor who is more of a homeopath. Mine prefers trying natural supplements, before prescribing medication.
We stopped the statins when mom's bloodwork showed elevated liver enzymes. It did help her memory slightly, but she continues to decline for many other reasons. As for nitric oxide supplements, forget it, they are free radicals and often promoted as an over the counter cure for erectile dysfunction. I see absolutely no evidence that it will reduce cholesterol and trigylcerides. Sounds like snake oil to me.
The sad fact is many people will suffer irreversible muscle and nerve damage before they find out that statin drugs caused that damage. My mother did before she stopped them, and now my whole family is using diet and exercise to control their cholesterol. I could not believe the AMA recommended statins for "everyone over 50"!!! Big Pharma must be laughing all the way to the bank! For a real eye-opener, read The Truth About Statins by Dr. Barbara Roberts.
Did my research after my previous post and am totally horrified. totally agree with Rocketjet and nothing would persuade me to restart a statin. Now I know I can look forward to progressing advancement of my symptoms. some people improve others don't. I have been off Lovastatin for over 6 years and only get weaker and more emaciated. Yes I need a cane or hubby's arm. Do your research and talk to your MD!
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Was she hospitalized because of the seizure?
In my northern California community there are allopathic doctors who are hip to alternative healing methods and they don't let pride or profit get in the way of suggesting other options besides drugs and surgery. I'm fortunate to live where I do for that reason alone.
Brain is built from cholesterol, and can't function without it.
The Liver makes cholesterol to make sure there is some for the brain.
Statins not only block cholesterol, but also important nutrients can be blocked from getting in, or stripped from body stores, like CoQ10 [which especially the heart, requires in order to work--that's why Statins can cause heart attacks.]
I've used alternatives for YEARS, and done fine.
Like fresh garlic, mashed, minced and let to air for 15 minutes, then use it in avocado, or other cooking--had to use a head and a half per day like that, the first month, then reduced that to several large cloves of garlic fixed that way, daily. That, with about 2000 mg of Omega 3 fatty acids daily, controlled very high blood pressure, and dropped the cholesterol numbers every bit as well as any Statin...probably better.
...and the mainstream Doc was STILL trying to use scare tactics on me to take Statins....which I refused.
I've observed others using Statins since they 1st hit the market, and NOT been impressed by them.
BTW:
Alternatives, like Red Yeast Rice, work the same way Statins do.
That means, you can get similar adverse effects from using cholesterol lowering Alternatives.
I don't know if it's because the herbal has been doctored with statin drugs [many "Patent Chinese Medicines" are that], or if the herbals actually can do that same thing...bottom line, be careful.
I know that depression- and anxiety-relieving herbs can, if one takes to much of them, cause a "Flat Affect", which is a kind of adverse effect some psych drugs can cause....just not as bad.
The difference is, that herbs are usually used as whole herbs, instead of a lab fractionating out certain single components.
That means, there are Co-ingredients in the plant which help the body use the "main ingredient" more efficiently and gently, than with the concentrated, single-"main ingredient" in a pharma drug.
I feel comfortable with my knowledge of alternatives, related to my profession, study and experience, that I can pretty well handle things.
I keep regular medicine in the loop, in case of emergencies....but so far, have learned they do less for the injuries I've had, than I did myself.
But there may come a time when they will need to do more than I can for myself--so I've not burned that bridge. And pray there will be a good advocate to direct my care at that time.
Really good, alternative Docs are still too scarce-- even fewer of those have hospital privileges!
Dejavu, thank you for this recommendation. I knew statins were bad but had no idea how frighteningly dangerous they are.
I recall being shocked when learning some years ago that lead in cans was involved in the death of men in John Franklin's 1845 Arctic expedition. I believe there might have been another expedition which suffered a similar fat also attributable to lead.
http://www.historytoday.com/sheila-rowbotham/canned-food-sealed-icemens-fate
As to not having lead in plumbing any more, it's my understanding that older houses could still have lead in the pipes, and that only a full change out would replace them.
Our local community has advised in its annual water quality reports not to drink hot water because of the possibility of lead contamination. I haven't researched why hot water would be more likely to contain lead than cold water; I'm almost afraid to but don't use hot water for cooking anyway. Still, I've wondered often if the residue of hot water left on dishes after rinsing is enough to affect a person's lead levels.
The other frightening issue about lead is the prevalence of it in products from China. The Environmental Working Group has been raising these concerns for quite some time.
I find it incongruous that homeowners here are put in the position of paying a fortune to remediate lead, but that Chinese products with lead aren't treated with such an aggressive response.
And you make a good point that the brain does need the right kind of fat to function. It's a fact frequently not addressed in all the hype about cholesterol.
Since finding this forum, I've wondered often about what seems to be, or is becoming, an epidepic of dementia in the US. When we have some rainy weather this week and I can't garden, it might be a topic for some research.
My mother's dementia seemed to go hand in hand with the statin drugs she took for years. I took her off them last year. That didn't cure the dementia, which is fairly severe, but its advancement seems to have slowed down. After her initial heart attack, she had another while on TWO statins and with very low cholesterol numbers.
The brain needs fat to function, especially in the elderly. The secret is in the KIND of fat. My brothers and I have Mom on a fairly high fat diet, but we make certain that it is high quality fat from grass fed animals, also coconut oil. At 94 she is enjoying better overall physical health since taking her off ALL prescription drugs and giving her supplements of whole food multi-vitamins, Ubiquinol, fish oil and probiotics.
Statins aside, however, what puzzled me was that for several decades before the obvious dementia took hold and long before she was put on cholesterol meds, she was exhibiting irrational behavior, making poor decisions, disastrous financial mismanagement, etc., and in general not functioning like the efficient mother I had while growing up. I recently came across a list of popular costume jewelry brands with high lead content. (Can't find the reference right now.) My mother has always liked to deck herself out with earrings, bracelets and necklaces, and I'm wondering if her "fashion statement" was the beginning of cognitive malfunction. Lead was the downfall of the Roman civilization. While we don't eat off lead plates or use lead pipes for plumbing any more, perhaps advancing mental decline can be traced to lead in jewelry, as well as the paint in older houses.
I don't even care what my cholesterol numbers are. I eat little red meat, few carbs, lots of avocado and nut butters, and am keeping most of my numbers down on my own. (Had to change doctors; when my longtime primary dr retired, the first replacement I got wanted me back on lots of meds. I told him no, and he put me down as "noncompliant" and asked the office to get me another dr. This one is very nice, and willing to let me take care of myself. BTW, check up on red rice yeast, it is what lovacor was developed from. Also, when I had the heart attack, my cholesterol was within a normal range, as are half of the people who have heart attacks. They have also found that there is NO benefit of low cholesterol in older women, and a higher mortality rate. A cousin of mine, a couple of years younger than me, had a heart attack at about the same time, and his dr has him convinced that he needs the meds. The last time I saw him, his mental functioning was very impaired--took over 3 hours to find a place that is normally a 45 minute drive from where we started out, and a place he's been to a number of times with me over the years.
How much more can we endure
We take them hoping the change is good
And we give them cause we're told we should...
We know not if they cause more grief
Instead of hopes of found relief
Of guilt we sometimes hold within
Our hearts so saddened,yet intend
To comfort and to soothe the one
With hope our best is always done.
marymember
Mom is now at I would guess stage 6 on the dementia road so in March we decided that we would stop the statin med in an effort to decrease the meds she has to take. Again, noticed after she'd been off the statin a brief but not as impressive improvement in her mental status lasting only a couple days. Not sure if she was just having a couple better days or if it was due to being off the med. We won't be restarting the med and regret having restarted it the first time. At this point high cholesterol is the least of her worries.
Anyway, that's why I posted the question. Just really curious to see if others had a similar experience.
As to statins, if I had known how powerful and dangerous they are when a doctor prescribed them for my mother, I would have intervened. But that was over 15 years ago and we weren't aware at that time of the many side effects.
Caregiving is such a learning process and I wish often I knew 20 years ago when this started what I know now.
I've read in my favorite herbal magazine that red yeast rice is effective in lowering cholesterol, and know someone who did experience that when taking it. However, I also remember that the magazine article warned of side effects that need to be monitored.
I think if we eliminated all the processed, junk and so-called foods which are in part an amalgamation of chemicals, it would be a lot easier to be healthy and not be so focused on cholesterol.
On the other hand, doctors I think should focus more on environmental effects on the body, especially lead and its remediation, which has become so entangled by oppressive regulations that it's going to be hard to even find or pay for a remediator. And that's not even addressing the host of other chemicals in foods, including the ones discovered years ago to be carcinogens, and those such as MSG, sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate (which cause anaphylaxis for me).
I'm bad about drs. and pills. Last time my cholesterol was checked it was 245. Think I get that Medicare check up and try that Neo 40.
I had my cholesterol high, and my doctor put me on several supplements which seem to help me, I can't tell you, as I don't know if it would work for you. Also you might to go to a doctor who is more of a homeopath. Mine prefers trying natural supplements, before prescribing medication.
Do your research and talk to your MD!