Statins - advice please

[MisguidedAngel]

Background: In October last year my OH had a TIA (mini stroke) in Spain, was treated for 10 days in hospital and discharged with a prescription for blood pressure tablets, a statin (atorvastin) and blood thinners. He was a slim, fit and healthy 81 year old who had previously not needed any medication at all.

On our return home (France) we saw our GP who gave a prescription for the same meds (without a lot of thought I must say). He has repeated it since then. We went to the surgery yesterday for a repeat and he questioned the dose of the statin (80mg daily), said it was a lot. At home, I checked the Spanish prescription and it was 80mg. Then I looked up side effects - "rarely" some people may experience confusion and memory loss.

OH is definitely confused and his short term memory is terrible. And it's got worse since the stroke. Some people say it's his age, to be expected. Others that it might be the first sign of dementia. Yesterday's example, he took his false teeth out and has forgotten where he put them. I can't find them anywhere. He has never been like this.

We have a friend who is extremely knowledgeable about nutrition and the effects of drugs. He has a autoimmune condition resultin from a bug he picked up in Thailand many years ago. He has transformed himself with a standard keto diet and is off all drugs. I have never seen him so well. He tells me that statins are too often routinely prescribed and can have serious side effects.

On the other hand, the internet tells me that statins are necessary to prevent strokes and heart attacks but I assume this is by lowering cholesterol which can be managed with diet.

I will see the GP on Monday and hear what he has to say - in France they usually refer to a consultant and it's August so nothing will happen any time soon.

In the meantime I am just looking for personal experience, opinion, hopefully some medical information. And I understand MN's caveat

You can't always lower your cholesterol just by changing your diet. Some people have a genetic condition that causes high cholesterol, that quite often isn't discovered until later life. This condition runs in our family and as a result we all take statins and have done for years with no side effects. It's a while ago but I think that when I first started taking them I started with a higher dose then reduced down to a lower dose once my levels were normal.

Thanks Nanny. I didn't know about the genetic element. Is there a test for this? And could you tell me, if you don't mind, what dose you're on now? In the hospital his cholesterol levels were normal so I assumed that the statins were prescribed as a preventative measure. And there hasn't been any ongoing testing.

It might be worth you checking out what cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra has to say about cholesterol and statins.

[[https://www.diabetes.co.uk/in-depth/aseem-malhotra-great-statin-con/

Link fail

www.diabetes.co.uk/in-depth/aseem-malhotra-great-statin-con/

Hi OP. I was on statins short-term following a heart attack caused by my artery tearing (low cholesterol, no blockage, but still, statins are the norm after an event like stroke/heart attack).
Statins can really mess with your memory. Technically, I should still be on them, but since my cholesterol is very low and played no role in my heart attack, I took myself off of them because I noticed the immediate decline in my memory. For me, the negatives of taking statins outweighed the positives.

If your OH would like to stop the statin, then what I would do, in his shoes, is have his cholesterol levels checked now, while on the statins. I would then inform the GP that he plans to lower cholesterol through diet and go off the statins. I'd then have another cholesterol check in 3 months time to see how his levels are off the statin and on a good diet. Without statins, my cholesterol is under 4. On statins, it's 2. I'm ok with being under 4 because it's still a healthy, low range. If, off the statins and even following a healthy diet, my cholesterol was higher, like 6, I'd then really consider continuing statins if diet alone wasn't lowering it. Strokes aren't always cholesterol related. Neither are heart attacks. I am proof of that. So taking a statin can be entirely unnecessary if your OH can maintain a healthy cholesterol level. Why treat a problem that isn't there? What blood thinner is he on? Because of his stroke, the blood thinners should be monitored because there is a small, small risk of bleeding on the brain/hemorrhagic stroke. They prevent clots, yes, but can also induce a bleed. So just make sure he's being regularly monitored on those blood thinners as well as checking his BP regularly.

I feel MUCH better off the statin. I'm still on my blood thinner and aspirin, which does make me a bit tired but I have to say, the statin was just killing me and I am delighted to be off it. If your OH does go off the statin, just make sure his GP and consultant are aware so that he can be closely monitored over the next few months to see if diet alone is ok. There's no reason it shouldn't be unless he has a predisposition towards high cholesterol.

Laure I will check that out.
Vanguard - that's very helpful, just the sort of thing I was looking for.
He's on Candesartan 16mg and Bisoprolol 5mg.
I will find out how/where to get a cholesterol test here in France. We are in the system but have hardly used it, we're both healthy. Might need a referral from the GP. GP is a bit too laid back by the sound of it, he should have been arranging regular blood tests. OH has always had a bad case of white coat syndrome and dreaded a constant round of medical appointments but the confusion and memory loss is really upsetting him. And he doesn't speak French well enough to be dealing with it by himself. I will have to start being more proactive on his behalf.
Thanks for the encouragement and information. Best wishes for your continued recovery.

I have familial hypercholesterolemia (one of the genetic disorders) which requires daily statins.
I also had a stroke (undiagnosed until recently) 10 years ago when I was 30. Apparently statins are not just for cholesterol but they also stop the arteries from hardening which can cause plaque breaking off leading to clots / blockages. My DF also had a heart attack recently and the chemist reiterated the above when DF questioned why he was prescribed statins when his cholesterol was normal.

It is possibly the TIA has led to memory issues. My short term memory and concentration is awful since my stroke (I knew I had a stroke at the time,
bloody dr's told me it was a migraine!). My GP has now referred me to psychotherapy to try find ways to help.
Only issues I had with arorvastatin was gritty and painful joints, so they changed me over to Rosuvastatin. I have no side effects at all now.

ispy When I read your post out to OH he immediately latched on to the word "gritty". He says this exactly describes the feeling he sometimes has in his joints, especially his jaw, but not often or bad. He has stiff joints too but that's not surprising given his age and the fact that he had a very physically strenuous job and still works hard. It's the memory/confusion that really upsets him and I really hope that a change of statins will help that.

Atirvastatin can be notorious for causing problems with the joints, it's the older, cheaper statin.
I was advised by my Dr to stop Atorvastatin for a week to see if the gritty achy joints got better. It did.
I was then advised to restart the Atorvastatin to see if it came back so they knew for sure this was the cause.
I was then switched to Rosuvastatin, which is newer and has far less side effects.
Atorvastatin is 50p a tablet, Rosuvastatin is £50 a tablet which is why the prescribe Atorvastatin first.

Off to the doctor's right now, I will report back.

He has reduced the dose of atorvastine to 20mg from 80mg and also given a prescription for blood tests. We have an appointment on Thursday to get the blood taken, it will then be sent to the lab. In France, the results are sent to the patient as well as the GP. So we are making progress. Thanks all pp for the help and advice.