AD, then PD and now seizure

[sos_group_owner]

Hi All,
Been awhile since I've had a chance to visit the forum, but wanted to bring you up to date with my 65 YO husband's recent developments. Quick recap... stopped statins over 5 yrs ago, (took Zocor for 3, then Lipitor for 5), following CABGx4 at age 52. Final yr on Lipitor dosage was increased from 10mg to 20mg (for no apparent reason-cholesterol within limits) and I feel that's when memory started to decline, finally culminating in TGA. That was around the time Dr Graveline wrote his 1st book, Lipitor Thief of Memory and when we made the connection between memory and Lipitor. Yes, we were supplementing with CoQ10, but failed to increase 100mg of CoQ10 to 200mg when Lipitor was increased to 20mg. We tried RYR for a short period, but had the same ADR's as with Lipitor. Memory improved for the 1st couple years OFF statins, then started to decline again. One Neuro-Psychologist said definitely Alzheimer's type dementia, only to be contradicted by recent NP testing; definitely NOT AD. About 1 yr ago, while taking a walk, I noticed my husband did not swing his rt arm. About 1 month later there was a noticeable hand tremor. The tremor is still present (and more pronounced) and he now also walks slowly (bradykinesia). In March of this year our Naturopathic Physician ran a heavy metals test. Chelating agent used was DMSA. Hubby has very high mercury, almost as high lead and elevated levels of tin. Then in April our Naturopathic Physician ordered a relatively new test for "neurotransmitter". My husband has extremely low levels of serotonin and almost as low dopamine. A year ago this past May, he had to have an inguinal hernia repaired. He's lost a lot of muscle mass and weight in general (about 30 lbs).

We've been treating all the above with specific supplements to address memory, mood, vitamin deficiencies, serotonin and dopamine. Lastly a mild detox to address heavy metals. All was going well until the Saturday before last. About 20 minutes after getting up in the morning my husband walked out of the bathroom, let out a scream, threw his arms up in the air (like he was in great pain), then dropped to the floor. It took a few second for him to go into a seizure which lasted 4 to 5 minutes, followed by very heavy, labored in and out breathing. My son called at the exact time of my husband's scream and said to call 911 immediate, which I did. Hubby was in the Hosp for 4 days. Going to the Hosp on a Saturday really dragged out testing. All tests (CAT, EEG, MRI) were normal. There was no muscle damage considering the length of the seizure. Dilantin was started in the Hosp to prevent any future seizures. Our Neurologist says it's not uncommon for one with AD and PD to experience seizures. We've discussed that statins were the cause and she is "somewhat" sympathetic to our cause. Neuro is switching Dilantin (tons fo ADR's) with one of the newer anti-seizure drugs, Lamictal XR, tapering off Dilantin while gradually increasing Lamictal over a 5 week period.

I dreaded the day something like this would happen and we'd once again be at the mercy of allopathic medicine. I'm in the process of inquiring about Dr Eric Braverman's clinic in NYC. He's an MD but tests for underlying causes.

I highly suspect that Dr Graveline's latest Newsletter (excerpt below) holds the clue... "DNA damage" and "premature aging".

Question is... can it be halted or reversed?

Fran
~~~
"I (Dr Graveline) was seeking an explanation for why so many of the statin side effects such as muscle pain and weakness, the varied neuropathies and the ALS-like neuromuscular degenerations appear permanent. If the problem was due to deficiency of CoQ10, why do they not respond to full replacement of CoQ10? The common denominator in many of these cases appeared to be premature aging. Only one thing can cause that, I deduced - mitochondrial mutations. Finally I had an assessment of statin damage that made sense - a logical end product of CoQ10 and dolichol inhibition."

[David Staup]

Fran,

Don't have the link handy but some work is being done reguarding gene therapy and mitochondrial disorders, this is a potential cure but is probably way off in the future...

much info for us in mito research... also see this yahoo group:

"http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/mitoldies/?yguid=243884762

David

[sos_group_owner]

Thank you for the info David... will check it out.
Fran
Stopped Our Statins - Group Owner