Terrifying spells of amnesia and learning difficulties may be side effects of statin drugs that lower cholesterol such as Lipitor, Crestor, and Zocor. Some experts believe that victims may even be misdiagnosed with dementia.
Although many authorities believe statins save lives of heart patients, hundreds of patients have registered complaints with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s adverse drug database, believing the drugs are causing memory loss, learning problems, and muddled thinking in older patients. They want greater public awareness, fearing that the side effects will be mistaken for dementia.
Several small trials — two at the University of Pittsburgh and one published in Reviews of Therapeutics — back up their theory, suggesting that statins do, indeed, interfere with learning.
“A subset of the population is vulnerable,” Joe Graedon, co-founder of the consumer advocacy website the People’s Pharmacy, told the Scientific American.
Experts believe those patients at risk have genetic defects, perhaps in the energy-producing mitochondria within cells. A 2006 study at the University of Buffalo supports the theory, finding that patients who experience muscle pain as a side effect of statins tend to have genetic defects relating to cellular energy production. Both brain cells and muscle cells use a lot of energy.
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