Are cholesterol-lowering drugs able to afflict memory? We have wrestled with this problem for almost six years.
It began when we got an alarming letter. Its author was a woman who complained that a few months after starting taking Lipitor, she was “having trouble remembering names and coming up with the right word. At dinner once I said, ‘Please pass the elephant’ though I wanted the bread.”
Are cholesterol-lowering drugs able to afflict memory? We have wrestled with this problem for almost six years.
It began when we got an alarming letter. Its author was a woman who complained that a few months after starting taking Lipitor, she was “having trouble remembering names and coming up with the right word. At dinner once I said, ‘Please pass the elephant’ though I wanted the bread.”
We didn’t know what to do with it. We could not find anything in the medical literature linking statin-type medicines like Lipitor with memory loss. But soon, letters just started pouring in.
One of authors wrote: “Thank you. Validation at last! I have had enormous problems with concentration. I get confused and feel like there are big, ugly holes burned in my memory. I am certain that Lipitor is causing my problems, but my doctor refuses to believe me and denies any connection.”
Such letters led us to a suspicion that some patients have cognitive problems on statins. We were deeply alarmed when we got this story:
“I am a retired family doctor and former astronaut. Two years ago at my annual astronaut physical at Johnson Space Center I was started on Lipitor. Six weeks later I experienced my first episode of total global amnesia lasting six hours. They couldn’t find anything wrong with me, so I suspected Lipitor and discontinued it. Other doctors and pharmacists were unaware of similar problems. Believing it must have been a coincidence, I restarted Lipitor a year later. After six weeks I landed in the ER with a 12-hour episode of total global amnesia. I am more convinced than ever of a Lipitor relationship.”
The astronaut and retired doctor is Duane Graveline. In response to his case, we heard from other readers who had experienced episodes of total global amnesia while being on Lipitor, Zocor or similar medicines.
Total global amnesia is a kind of a temporary but terrifying memory loss. Dr. Graveline just forgot that he was an astronaut and physician. He didn’t even recognize his own wife. He has retold about his experiences in a new book titled “Statin Drugs: Side Effects and the Misguided War on Cholesterol”.
Recently we found out about another alarming experience. A retired professor of business law and computer science, Michael Kirk-Duggan was diagnosed with probable Alzheimer’s disease. It was progressing very quickly. During professor’s 50th college reunion he was wearing a sign around his neck with inscription: “I’m Mike. I have Alzheimer’s disease.” At the wedding of his youngest daughter, Michael Kirk-Duggan was not able to recognize people he had known for more than 20 years.
It was obvious that he would require long-term nursing care. But then he familizarized with our column about connection between statins and memory problems. He quit taking Zocor and his doctor was aware of this fact. Despite the fact it took many months, he gradually get back his memory and cognitive ability. He came back to his habit of reading three newspapers every day and he is again as sharp as a tack. He was given a complete neurological work-up that showed no signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
It is true that cholesterol-lowering drugs save our lives. Many patients take them safely. But there are people who develop memory problems while they are taking these drugs, and such drugs can be deeply harmful for them. This problem is complicated and it urgently requires more research.
