Builder,
My wife thinks I had memory loss way before I started taking statins.
When a side effect is described for just about any drug there is an inevitable flood of patients self-reporting those effects. Most turn out to be.......well, hypochondriasis. There are a small number of well-documented memory loss cases reported to date. But these have to be placed in the context of the huge number of patients taking these drugs. Even a very conservative estimate of the number of lives saved/annum by the statins totally overwhelms the memory loss numbers. There are books out in the lay press that have overdramatized the memory issue: these books do no service to consumers. But they sell.
Most well-reported cases describe onset within 60 days of starting the drugs. Median age was about 62. OK, but how many 25 year olds even check their cholesterol levels? About half the reported cases indicate successful resolution of symptoms following drug cessation. The bottom line remains (at least at this point) that the risk-benefit ratio is strongly favorable.
I'd continue taking statins.......if I could remember where I put the pills..........(oh, I'm just kidding!)
HTH,
Sam
