What Statins did for My Dad

[bomber70]

Per Doc Graveline, I am posting a recent message to him for others to benefit from:

Dear Doctor Graveline,

My father has been taking Statins since the mid 1980's. On this past Friday, my father was given emergency vascular surgery to remove blockage from his right carotid artery that was 90% clogged (uncovered by an ultrasound scan). He barely made it through surgery and will have to have the same thing done on the left artery in 2 months.

Since he has taken Statins for high cholesterol for 10 years, yet his arteries are still clogged, the principles in your book hit home for me even more. The problem is NOT cholesterol - I am thoroughly convinced from personal experience.

The tough lesson for him and me - was that you can be on 80 mg of Zocor for 10 years, and still die of a massive stroke or heart attack because cholesterol is NOT the underlying problem. In this case, Statins did nothing to cure the real problem - inflammation.

Best,

TH
Lehi, Utah

[jet500]

Bomber70,

In 1992 I had an ultrasound that showed the left carotid as 100% occluded and the right as 80% occluded. I was having TIAs.

The left was inop but the VA opened the right side to 50% to 60%. A year later the VA got on the Statin bandwagon and put me on 60mg of Simvistatin (Zocor). I have not had a problem with the carotids since but did have a triple bypass in 1996. At that point I scored Statins as 1 for 2.

The carotid operation is a great thing. You can lead a normal life with a normal lifespan. I credit the great doctors at the Los Angeles VA/UCLA more than the statins that the problem has never returned.

I have recently been told I might have ALS (Lou Gehrig's). I seem to have almost all the symptoms. After reading everything I could find I decided to stop the Zocor over a period of a couple weeks.

Initially the progression of symptoms didn't seem to change but now it seems to have slowed. 2mos.

Not reversing but that may never happen. I have an MRI and an EMG coming up soon.

[mousa]

Dear Bomber70 and Jet500,

Thank you for posts - all very interesting. Hope all goes well for you and yours and that Jet500 will let us know results of EMG and MRI

All the best,

Val

[eml256]

Hello Bomber--i am pressed for time, so will copy a post I made under another topic--info regarding ALS should be of interest to you:
Hello Marjorie and Jamie, my husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease 1 1/2 yrs ago( age 59 at the time) after being on Lipitor 10 mgm/day for 4+ yrs. 3 months prior to his diagnosis, my niece and I were discussing getting our respective husbands together for golf--we live in different regions of the US (her husband was 56 at the time). We discovered both men were exhibiting the same neuro symptoms. we found both had been on lipitor for 4+ yrs. and in surface researching the drug, discovered it depletes the body of coenzyme q10. In simplistic wishful thinking way, my husband discontinued the lipitor and began taking coq10 @ 100 mgm/day. 3 moths later, the neurologist he consulted for the first time made the diagnosis of parkinson's and stated there were no "traditional" anti parkinson's drugs for early onset patients, but there was a supplement he could recommend that had shown efficacy in patients with early onset Parkinson's--that supplement: coenzyme Q10 @ 1200 mgm/day (reported in a study by Clifford Shults, et al in the Annals of Neurology, 2002). we were shocked and no longer felt it simplistic to associate Parkinson's and statin use. Since that time my husband has begun taking multiple supplements and vitamins (including R+Alpha Lipoic Acid which reportedly helps re-cycle excess coq10 so that it does not become a pro-oxidant). Many of his initial symptoms have regressed--ie shuffling walk, stooped posture, "masked" facial features, though his right hand tremor and some bradykinesia (slowness of movement) have remained, though to lesser degrees. My husband was also an avid exerciser--was a 6 day/week jogger prior to his symptoms development (there is some evidence that those individuals who are/were avid exercisers are more prone to adverse statin effects because of the molecular effects of statins upon muscles)--continues to work with weights and use an elliptical walker 6X's/week as well as taking TaiChi 3X's/week.

when first diagnosed, my husband asked a friend who is a diagnostic radiologist about PET Scan use to determine if one does have Parkinson's--when the radiologist asked why he wanted the scan my husband told him that I thought this was all a statin toxicity to which the doc replied that during the past yr he had consulted upon about 2000 patients, and 40 of those were initially diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig disease) that in fact had a statin toxicity. When my husband inquired how he knew to look for statin use in these individuals, the doc replied that his first patient with swallowing and speech difficulty diagnosed as possible ALS was his wife. If one accesses the MDA (muscular dystrophy assoc) web site, there was a feature "ask the expert"--under the heading of ALS, there were 16 questions and answers printed during a 4 month period of time. 4 of those 16 questions or 25% specifically asked if a statin was associated with the onset of ALS in each individual:http://www.mdausa.org/experts/responses.cfm?id=66

it is of interest that this feature has been suspended, and in fact I had a difficult time finding the site with these questions. there have been no further questions and answers since August 2004--I wrote letters to each of the physicians who had responded to the statin/ALS questions in Aug 2004 pointing out the "coincidence" of 25%^ of the total # of questions asked specifically related to statins and the origin of their ALS disease. Yes, it could easily be coincidence, though could also easily be related instances.

I have amassed a huge # of studies and articles related to statins and effects upon the body--and am currently trying to piece together a coherent "citizen's petition to the FDA" to mandate post marketing studies to determine if statins have a causal relationship to parkinson's disease.

On the Lipitor forum of dr garaveline's site, one woman whose husband developed a neurodegenerative reaction to statins noted he is taking "glyconutrients" also--marjorie, would you mind sharing information w ith me about its use, where to obtain it, etc. and i am vitally interested in hyperbaric O2 treatments. my husband also sees an acupuncturist, now about every 4 weeks, not enough to make a major difference...

I think Lipitor caused Parkinson's in my husband and my niece's husband. Since their diagnoses, i have had a friend whose husband is 50 diagnosed with Parkinson's who had been on lipitor for 2+ yrs....I have also been in contact with a woman who was diagnosed with ALS and continued to consult new physicians until one did extensive EMG testing and changed her diagnosis to "statin toxicity". last i heard from her, she had not improved, but her condition had stabilized for which she was thankful.
we are in hopes many of the neurological effects can be reversed, though there is NO help from the medical community since there is no acknowledgment this neurological condition is related to lipitor. and it may all be coincidental--though without some study, even an epidemiological one--to determine is there is a possible relationship, we will never know, there will be No therapies developed to address damage done by statins, and just guess work therapies on our parts.
thank you both for sharing your stories--madelyn