Statin Withdrawal Dangers?

[Guest guest]

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

[Guest guest]

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

>

[Guest guest]

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

> >

>

[Guest guest]

, " 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

[Guest guest]

> , " 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....