I am not a diabetic but have been researching the effects of statin drugs on my Dad. He has been a diabetic since 1996 and had only been on diet and excercise until the spring of 2003 his doctor decided to put him on both metformin and zocor. Now we are dealing memory problems and it has been quite the stressful time in our family the last 9 months. I haven't read many posts about people being on statins... Any thoughts?? opinions?? Advice.

Thanks!!

DAK

Hi am supposed to be taking zocor but my sister wants me to get a second opinion. I too have diabetes and started taking insulin in 2000. My over all cholesterol is 217. My good is 31 and my bad takes the rest of it but my sister said hers was 220 and her husbands is the same as mine and they aren't taking any cholesterol meds. I take other meds too and I just don't like to keep adding more meds to my list but I am getting a second opinion and when I find out anything I will let you know Kim

Statins are known to cause memory loss and muscle aches. My mom took lipitor for three or more yrs. She started having muscle pains and memory loss really bad. Every time she complained to her endo and gp, they would say its not the lipitor.

Then she went into the ER for something else and they did a lipid profile and discovered her liver enzymes were elevated. She was taken off the lipitor.

Now she has a new dr and the first thing he does is write a script for zorcor. He first tried to write one for zetia but she refused. My mom is diabetic as well.

Dak2005, your father's hdl of 31 is awfully low.

Dak2005, your father's hdl of 31 is awfully low.

Dak2005, your father's hdl of 31 is awfully low. Shouldn't it be at least 40+? :confused: :confused:

I actually don't know my Dad numbers for Cholesterol. There was a misunderstanding. My Dad was considered mild to moderate cholesterol when he was put on Zocor in the Spring of 2003 and the memory problems began around December of 2003

Hello Dak :wave:

I was on the statin, Lipitor for almost 2 years. I did suffer with many problems from the Lipitor. At the time I didn't realize that the Lipitor was causing my severe muscle pain. I also experience memory problems and had great difficulty concentrating. One time I actually got lost for 2 hours in my hometown.

My pain management doctor had decided to run a cpk blood test on me. I has asked her why she wanted this test and she had told me that my Lipitor could be causing some of my pain. At that point, I began to do my own research on this statin on the internet. I nearly fell out of my chair as I was reading about so many complications that many people had suffered from the Lipitor. I then began to get angry at my primary doctor for not making any connection that this med was causing more harm then good for me. I threw my medication in the garbage and made an appointment with my doctor. I told him what I did and that many of my illness' may be caused by this darn statin. He agreed with me.

I was even in an article in my local newspaper concerning statin's. The reporter had contacted me through email after reading some of my posts on another forum. Since I stopped Lipitor over a year ago, only some of pain has diminished. But many other's health condition's that I developed while taking Lipitor have stayed with me. Their is a TV show called 60 minutes. One of the producer's have contacted me as they wanted to discuss my Lipitor side effects. But I declined, as I cannot really prove that Lipitor has caused all my illness.

Statin's do work very well for some people. But many are unaware of the damage that they can do. Three members in my family were also prescribed, Lipitor and Zocor. The good thing is that they new what to watch for while taking it. They all had to discontinue the use of the med, as they had muscle pain, and one felt as if she was loosing her mind. What really worry's me is that their are many elderly people taking statin's and have absolutely know idea of some of the side effects it can cause. If they do suffer with memory problems they relate it to their age, rather than the medication. And most doctor's believe that statin's are a miracle drug as they do wonders for cholesterol.

But I believe that most people are better off changing their diet rather than taking the medication. I am so sorry that your Dad is having memory problems. I do believe that their is a strong possibility that the Zocor could be the culprit. Keep researching on the web and you will find so much information about memory problems and statin's. Their is even a book written by an astronaut, as he also suffered with severe memory problems while taking a statin.

I will keep your Dad in my prayer's.

:angel: Jeanne :angel:
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I decided to go on statins, even though my cholesterol profile isn't bad. I take a low dose of lovastatin and I haven't had any problems. My LDL isn't as low as current guidelines recommend, but I may just live with that.

i am also a diabetic 35 units twice a day and metformin 500 mg 3 times a dayim also taking 40mg zocor my cholesterol was 313 my triglyceride was 1377 hdl 51 to high to get a vldl and ldl in little over month my numbers are chol.208 trig.252 hdl 49 vldl 50 and ldl109 your doctor is soposed to do blood work once a month to ck your liver and chol.stuff has any body have this done once a month i havent had any problems so far im hoping to not be on zocor long

I only have my liver enzymes checked every three months or so. I've never heard of doing it every month, but I guess that's better than never bothering. Those are great numbers, Dazed!

thank u. for me zocor worked really fast