Baby Boomer Health – Can Statins be bad for your Brain

Welcome to this weeks edition of Baby Boomer Health – Can Statins be bad for your Brain

Show Notes:

Statins are used commonly in people with elevated cholesterol.  They have been shown to be effective in preventing heart attacks and strokes in people with high risk factors.  About 15% of those using statins complain of muscle aches and liver toxicity.

Recent studies are trying to determine is statins have an effect on memory.  Do they cause memory loss?

There are cases where memory loss has been related to a statin.  Once the statin was stopped the memory loss disappeared. 

So what do you do?  Only use a statin when you need to.  Work with your physician to reduce your cholesterol through diet and exercise.  The pill is not magic.  It will work best if you help it.  And side effects are usually less on a lower dose.

It is to your benefit not to take medicine you do not need and to try everything you can to lower the dosage of pills you need.