Q. I have normal LDL cholesterol but low HDL, as low as 26. With diet and exercise I can get my HDL to the mid-thirties, which is not great. Lipitor lowered my LDL below 80 but sadly my HDL didn’t budge.
After being on Lipitor for a couple of months I woke up one morning and had no idea what day of the week it was or that the company picnic was the day before. At work I could not make simple postings of dollar amounts from hard copy to electronic spreadsheet (I would forget the amounts).
At a meeting, I could not remember names and later at home I kept asking my wife the same question, as I could not remember her answer. She took me to a doctor, who thought I had a mini-stroke. Ultrasound, brain scans and all other tests were normal, so no stroke.
I mentioned Lipitor but the doctor dismissed it (“no way”). At the end of the evaluation I was diagnosed with transient global amnesia.
Not wanting to be a vegetable for the rest of my life, I stopped taking Lipitor. I now take Niaspan (prescription niacin) and my HDL has improved to 43. My LDL is 80 and my memory is better than ever. I hope this story helps others.
A. We received a startlingly similar story from Duane Graveline, MD, a retired astronaut and family physician, in 2001. He too was taking Lipitor when he had a scary experience with transient global amnesia (TGA).
Subsequently we heard from others who also experienced TGA or other kinds of memory problems while taking statin-type cholesterol-lowering drugs. Anyone who would like to hear Dr. Graveline’s story and learn more about this complication and other ways to control cholesterol may be interested in a CD of a radio interview we conducted with him and several other experts.
