My husband was on and off Zocor and then changed to Zetia. Zocor caused knee damage and had to stop taking it. Later on he was put on Zetia and it seemed to be working o.k., however, his personality changed some and I thought it was just old age creeping up on him. His driving was the pitts at times(dangerous), easily aggitated (he normally is a calm laid back sort of fella). Memory was getting bad, mental functioning in general not the best.
His knee started bothering him again and he stopped the Zetia. When his knee seemed to be o.k. he would start taking it again. This rocked on for about a year. Finally one day we were discussing when he had been on Zetia and when he had been off of it. Low and behold, the answer was there for all the things above that he was doing that was not normal for him. When he was on Zetia he drove crazy, irritable, easily aggravated, etc. When he was off Zetia he returned back to almost his old self, it all coincided with taking Zetia.
My husband has been off Zetia 2 months now and he is almost back to being normal, driving just fine, smiling again, not irritable, etc.
He was not aware of being like that and I had not associated it with the Zetia. He asked me to go with him to the doctor and tell them my observations. They agreed it was the Zetia doing that to him.
Now I know what his problem was at times when he was on and off of Zocor in the past. He does not tolerate statins.
If you are taking a statin drug, be sure and ask those around you if they notice anything different about you, could save your life. The sad thing is that the person taking statins are not aware of any change in their mental or physical functioning.
I am amazed we did not have a car wreck or worse. I spent all my time being a side seat driver to keep us out of trouble. Now I can enjoy riding with hubby driving again.
My husband was on and off Zocor and then changed to Zetia. Zocor caused knee damage and had to stop taking it. Later on he was put on Zetia and it seemed to be working o.k., however, his personality changed some and I thought it was just old age creeping up on him. His driving was the pitts at times(dangerous), easily aggitated (he normally is a calm laid back sort of fella). Memory was getting bad, mental functioning in general not the best.
His knee started bothering him again and he stopped the Zetia. When his knee seemed to be o.k. he would start taking it again. This rocked on for about a year. Finally one day we were discussing when he had been on Zetia and when he had been off of it. Low and behold, the answer was there for all the things above that he was doing that was not normal for him. When he was on Zetia he drove crazy, irritable, easily aggravated, etc. When he was off Zetia he returned back to almost his old self, it all coincided with taking Zetia.
My husband has been off Zetia 2 months now and he is almost back to being normal, driving just fine, smiling again, not irritable, etc.
He was not aware of being like that and I had not associated it with the Zetia. He asked me to go with him to the doctor and tell them my observations. They agreed it was the Zetia doing that to him.
Now I know what his problem was at times when he was on and off of Zocor in the past. He does not tolerate statins.
If you are taking a statin drug, be sure and ask those around you if they notice anything different about you, could save your life. The sad thing is that the person taking statins are not aware of any change in their mental or physical functioning.
I am amazed we did not have a car wreck or worse. I spent all my time being a side seat driver to keep us out of trouble. Now I can enjoy riding with hubby driving again.
I'm glad U noticed all the signs and put it together and your dr. listened. My hubby was on Lipitor for 7 years, and only when I was put on it in 2000, and got very sick, did I start to research statins. I tried going off and I would be fine, then as soon as I was fine, they shoved me on something else, and it would start all over again. I finally tossed the fool things in the pail and said...FORGET IT!!
Not long after did I come across some of hubby's problems being related to statins, so we asked his cardio guy and he said yes, it sounded like he also was having reactions to it. Wish I would have known earlier, maybe half his problems would have never appeared, some are now permanent. As we look back now, we remember the forgetfulness, feeling like your walking on golfballs, irritablility to the point I was ready to walk out at times, and VERY sarcastic. I had no idea what was going on and never related it to a med., but since he has been off, he is his usual laid back self, but now has PN that is only getting worse. Yes, there are folks who take these drugs and have no problems, but many do, but trying to convince these drs. is like pulling teeth.
Happy things are getting back to normal, and I hear ya about the wacky driving. Hubby was a trucker most of his life, but the last 3 years before retiring, his driving was making me bats. One minute he was going too fast, next he was driving like a stinking turtle. Unfortuneatly, he had to retire 3 years early due to the horrid pain and PN from statins. Oh well, no sense dwelling on it now, not much we can do, but hopefully people will be a lil more cautious if taking these drugs, they are NOT the magic bullet most drs. make them out to be.
Lisa, if you consume no more than 7 grams or less of saturated fat per day you will have a better chance of controlling cholesterol via diet, if diet is the culprit. Starches and sweets raise the triglycrides. Exercise raises the HDL.
Yes, there are foods to eat, not what you want, but, they will keep you alive and healthy.
After I became diabetic (type 2) I stopped starches and sweets, tris came down big time. I walk treadmill every day 2 or 3 miles total and that helps lower the LDL and raise the HDL.
Policosanol is made from sugar cane and supposedly lowers cholesterol. I have my husband taking that now (get at health food store). Policinasol is also made from beeswax and grains, however, it is only the one made from sugar cane that lowers cholesterol. According to PubMed it really does work for some people. I took it for a year and it did not change mine, however, my cholesterol was good to start with. Doc wanted the LDL down from 93 to 70 since I am diabetic. Policosanol cost $18.99 for 60 pills and you take 2 pills at night.
Will see if it works for my husband, he has only been on it a couple of days now.
JJ, I hear you about the wacky driving. Same here, driving too fast then like a turtle, aggressive, refuse to let someone pass, turn left without good clearance, sitting like in a trance at steering wheel (not alert). I was beginning to think I was going to take car keys away from him. Our kids would not listen to me when I told them how he was driving, they chalked up to complaining mom. They now know it was the statins. One day he raced a drag racer guy and I kept telling him to get off the accelerator and he kept on. I screamed at him, told him he was not a teenager, stop it right now, all fell on deaf ears and he now remembers the dragracer but not that he was acting that way. Our car has same engine as police cars since it was made end of year right behind a police car order. Our mechanic told us otherwise we would not have known. We could have hit some rather high mph on city streets.
I told DH several times "I am not ready for this" when he was acting up at home. I really am not ready for an old man with mental problems. His doc laughingly told him "she was about to put you in a nursing home". Little did the doc know that if it continued he would have ended up somewhere cause I would not be able to hold up to very many years coping with that kind of behaviour. I love him dearly, but there is a limit as to what a person can cope with. Thank goodness he is returning to his old self and it is wonderful. His knee is still bothering him and I hope it is not a permanent thing.
When a fella has been quiet, laid back, etc. for years it is difficult to put up with their sarcasm, irritability, etc. My DH shredded important papers one day when I was not looking, ugh!! Many other things took place while he was under the influence of statins.
I am sorry both of you experienced horrible side effects from statins.
Perhaps others reading our posts will wake up and put two and two together and realize statins may be causing a problem.
Linear Mode
