Guest guest Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 Everywhere I read we are advised to get off statin meds, or not ever start. But my friend has been taking them for several years and is having muscle complaints and memory loss and lots of the side effects mentioned. He doesn't know how quickly he can withdraw from the statins (Lipitor) and I can't find the answer anywhere on the web. Does anyone have any information about stopping this drug? Must one go slowly as with SSRI's, or can you just top cold and tough it out? Any advise is appreciated. Marji j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 Moderator's note: Paxil didn't have the tapering info for about 20 years. The drug manufacturers claimed that it was non addicting and that there was no problem associated with stopping Paxil. When the problems associated with stopping Paxil became overwhelming and could no longer be hidden, they then acknowledged that there might be a " discontinuation " problem and added the tapering instruction. end. Usually, if a medication needs to be tapered off, the physician's prescribing information will say so. (Paxil has this info) There is no 'tapering off' requirements listed in the prescribing info for Lipitor, so normally I would say no...however you might want to look into these sites before stopping cold turkey. (Sorry, this may take you a while, the info sheet is 24 pages long and the articles also quite long...) doctor's prescribing info http://www.pfizer.com/pfizer/download/uspi_lipitor.pdf personal articles from people who experienced serious side effects http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2004/01/31/lipitor_the_human_cost. htm http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2004/03/18/lipitor_side_effects_an d_natural_remedy.htm The articles also have links to additional info... Good luck Cynthia , " Marjij " <marjij wrote: > > Everywhere I read we are advised to get off statin meds, or not ever > start. But my friend has been taking them for several years and is > having muscle complaints and memory loss and lots of the side effects > mentioned. He doesn't know how quickly he can withdraw from the > statins (Lipitor) and I can't find the answer anywhere on the web. > > Does anyone have any information about stopping this drug? Must one go > slowly as with SSRI's, or can you just top cold and tough it out? > > Any advise is appreciated. > > Marji j > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 I only mentioned Paxil because I was familiar with it's current prescribing info because my ex was on it and it ended up taking the better part of a year for him to get completely off it. I have never cared for anti-depressants and in my estimation, they often do more harm than good. One of the things I did notice about the Doctors info on Paxil was that it had never been evaluated for long usage and, when I met my ex, he had been on it for over 4 years. I was shocked, he is not anywhere near what I would consider clinically depressed and for a doctor to promote that kind of dependance on a medication of this sort is, in my opinion, wrong. Cynthia , " Cynthia " <cindyvdz wrote: > > Moderator's note: Paxil didn't have the tapering info for about 20 years. The drug manufacturers claimed that it was non addicting and that there was no problem associated with stopping Paxil. When the problems associated with stopping Paxil became overwhelming and could no longer be hidden, they then acknowledged that there might be a " discontinuation " problem and added the tapering instruction. end. > > > > > > Usually, if a medication needs to be tapered off, the physician's > prescribing information will say so. (Paxil has this info) There is > no 'tapering off' requirements listed in the prescribing info for > Lipitor, so normally I would say no...however you might want to look > into these sites before stopping cold turkey. (Sorry, this may take > you a while, the info sheet is 24 pages long and the articles also > quite long...) > doctor's prescribing info > http://www.pfizer.com/pfizer/download/uspi_lipitor.pdf > personal articles from people who experienced serious side effects > http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2004/01/31/lipitor_the_human_cost .. > htm > http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2004/03/18/lipitor_side_effects_a n > d_natural_remedy.htm > The articles also have links to additional info... > Good luck > Cynthia > > , " Marjij " > <marjij@> wrote: > > > > Everywhere I read we are advised to get off statin meds, or not ever > > start. But my friend has been taking them for several years and is > > having muscle complaints and memory loss and lots of the side > effects > > mentioned. He doesn't know how quickly he can withdraw from the > > statins (Lipitor) and I can't find the answer anywhere on the web. > > > > Does anyone have any information about stopping this drug? Must one > go > > slowly as with SSRI's, or can you just top cold and tough it out? > > > > Any advise is appreciated. > > > > Marji j > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 , " Marjij " <marjij wrote: > > Everywhere I read we are advised to get off statin meds, or not ever > start. But my friend has been taking them for several years and is > having muscle complaints and memory loss and lots of the side effects mentioned. He doesn't know how quickly he can withdraw from the statins (Lipitor) and I can't find the answer anywhere on the web. > > Does anyone have any information about stopping this drug? Must one go slowly as with SSRI's, or can you just top cold and tough it out? > Any advise is appreciated. > Marji j Marji, Several very close acquaintances and friends both online and off have successfully eliminated the statins. However, because they inhibit a cholesterol making chemical in the liver, the medical sites state there is a danger of elevated LDL cholesterol and especially C- Reactive protein in particular ,however I am convinced that these indivduals had none of these problems. So apparently we should keep in mind that these medical sites would rather emphasize dangers of withdrawal than encourage it.. I can't conceive of withdrawal being more dangerous than statin usage and when following a more prudent healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables and in combination with minimizing saturated and elimination of hydrogenated fats and margarines, I believe you are absolutely safe in doing so. Dr. Whitaker claims that statins were only introduced to be taken short term initially, but that is not the way they are prescribed! It is absolutely essential that one taper off slowly and over a period of time, although although from what I have been led to believe you do not have to do this quite as gradually as with SSRI's or psychiatric meds. In my opinion, a 25% reduction is the accepted rate for the body to adjust and become accustomed to the changes in body chemistry. After all,we know drugs are chemicals, even though they say they are a a " natural " derivative. Blessings, JoAnn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 > , " Marjij " > <marjij@> wrote: > > > > Everywhere I read we are advised to get off statin meds, or not ever > > start. But my friend has been taking them for several years and is > > having muscle complaints and memory loss and lots of the side > effects mentioned. He doesn't know how quickly he can withdraw from > the statins (Lipitor) and I can't find the answer anywhere on the web. > > > > Does anyone have any information about stopping this drug? you could accesss dr.duane graveline's web site: www.spacedoc.net He has several topics related to statin toxicities, and one of the topics deals with stopping statins. there is preliminary evidence that within the first 2 weeks of stopping a statin there occurs a rebound effect of an increase in platelet stickiness (actually peaks about day 14 after stopping a statin)--this is thought to be the reason why a couple of studies showing a number of individuals who had statins abruptly stopped suffered a coronary event within the first 2 weeks of stopping the statin--obviously not everyone suffered a coronary event who stopped a statin, but the #'s were high enough to be statistically significant. dr. graveline suggests tapering off statins over a period of time, and taking something to decrease platelet stickiness--are you taking plavix already or aspirin??? you may wish to read about dr. graveline--he is a medical physican who was also an astronaut. he suffered transient global amnesia due to lipitor and has been trying since his adverse effect to find someone with the authority to make a change in the way the drug is marketed to listen.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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