Not everyone who takes a statin will have side effects, but some people may be at a greater risk than are others. Holiday Sale: Save 25%, Beatrice Alexandra Golomb, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, responds. Some experts note that statin side effects can take longer than a few weeks to develop. Neurologist Available for Android and iOS devices. If you have read about the potential side effects of statins, you may be more likely to blame your symptoms on the medication, whether or not they're truly caused by the drug. Some patients decide to stop taking statins, a cholesterol-lowering drug, if they experience side effects. While statins are highly effective and safe for most people, they have been linked to muscle pain, digestive problems and mental fuzziness in some people who take them and may rarely cause liver damage. Testing quantified the impairment. Terms of use. Do you have a question about the brain you would like an expert to answer? Neurological Side Effects. 12 She reports that in many cases, patients told her they had complained to their doctors about neurological problems, only to be assured that … Statins are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for high cholesterol in the United States. Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at, Scientific American Mind Volume 27, Issue 4. Interestingly, statins can produce very different outcomes in different patients, depending on an individual's medical history, the statin and the dose. Frightened, I decided that I must have had a stroke. This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Remember that statin medications can reduce your risk of a heart attack or stroke, and the risk of life-threatening side effects from statins is very low. Discover new insights into neuroscience, human behavior and mental health with Scientific American Mind. However, if you stop taking the drugs these side effects will also disappear. To relieve side effects believed to be caused by statins, your doctor may recommend several options. Competing interests: No competing interests. Statins Side Effect #1: Muscle Pain. Neurological side effects. Rarely, if the increase is severe, you may need to try a different statin. Statins can produce muscles pain and weakness. These side effects reverse once you stop taking the medication. The FDA warns on statin labels that some people have developed memory loss or confusion while taking statins. Cataract.
© 2020 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. Support our award-winning coverage of advances in science & technology. Statins prevent heart attacks in people with diabetes, so the relevance of the mild increase in sugar values with statins observed in some people is unclear. The side effects can range from being mild to severe, and here’s a look at some of the most common. Very rarely, statins can cause life-threatening muscle damage called rhabdomyolysis (rab-doe-my-OL-ih-sis). However, recently there have been concerns over their side effects. I was sent for a Neuropsychological test at the head injuries center. Even if your side effects are frustrating, don't stop taking your statin medication for any period of time without talking to your doctor first. These side effects, however, resolve with stopping statin therapy. If you think you're experiencing side effects from statins, don't just stop taking the pills. The actual risk of developing muscle pain as a result of taking statins is about 5 percent or less compared with taking a pill that doesn't contain medication (placebo). Risk factors include: Grapefruit juice contains a chemical that can interfere with the enzymes that break down (metabolize) the statins in your digestive system. Drugs and food that interact with statins, Taking multiple medications to lower your cholesterol, Having certain conditions such as hypothyroidism or neuromuscular disorders including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Amiodarone (Cordarone, Pacerone), a medication for irregular heart rhythms, Gemfibrozil (Lopid), another variety of cholesterol drug, HIV treatments called protease inhibitors such as saquinavir (Invirase) and ritonavir (Norvir), Some antibiotic and antifungal medications, such as clarithromycin and itraconazole (Onmel, Sporanox), Some immunosuppressant medications, such as cyclosporine (Gengraf, Neoral, Sandimmune). One of the most common complaints of people taking statins is muscle pain. For instance, some patients taking statins develop ALS or ALS-like conditions with progressive muscle wasting, which sometimes resolve when the patients stop taking the medication. Rhabdomyolysis can occur when you take statins in combination with certain drugs or if you take a high dose of statins. These drugs are typically prescribed to lower cholesterol and thereby reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. But studies show that statins can influence our sleep and behavior—and perhaps even change the course of neurodegenerative conditions, including dementia. Statins can indeed produce neurological effects. Statins also appear to increase or decrease aggression.