I also read this recently:

Subject: Lipitor, Thief of Memory - New Book
Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 02:39:33 GMT
From: "Sharon Hope" <shope@anet.net>
Organization: Comcast Online
Newsgroups: sci.med.pharmacy

The new book, "Lipitor, Thief of Memory", is now available.  The
release is timely, as Wall Street Journal reported last week
that the cognitive damage from statin drugs is seen in ~ 15% of the
patients.  Many of these people are told they have "early Alzheimer's"
when in fact the drug is affecting their memory.

The author, Duane Graveline MD, is a former US Astronaut, US Air Force
Flight Surgeon, and MD family doctor, retired. His book, "Lipitor, Thief
of Memory" is now available from Infinity Publishing. Just call
877/BUY-BOOK or
order online at:
http://www.buybooksontheweb.com/description.asp?ISBN=0-7414-1881-9

Book is $17.95 + $4.50 S&H

If you buy 5 or more, there is a 40% discount. (in case you go in
together or want to give some to friends, or doctors)

If you buy 20 or more, the shipping is FREE

More and more, people on Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are
suffering disabling short-term memory loss and multiple episodes of
transcient global amnesia. The brand names of the statin class of drugs:
Lipitor, Mevacor, Pravachol, Zocor, Lescol, Crestor and Baycol, aka
atorvastatin, cerivastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin,
pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin; This class of drugs is also
known as HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors, short for
3-Hydroxy-3-Methyl-Glutaryl Coenzyme A Reductase.

Note that WSJ estimates 15% of statin patients are affected by
cognitive adverse effects, far more than the 2% on the label.  Given
that there are over 106 million people on statins (per Fortune Magazine
2002), each percentage represents over a million people.

That would put memory loss from statins at about 15 million people,
which is horrific if it is to the degree of total disability, as it has
been in my husband.  The statins are being prescribed for people in
their 30's, 40's and 50's.

By comparison, according to the website by the Fisher Center for
Alzheimer's Research Foundation:
"Today, it is estimated that about five million* Americans suffer from
Alzheimer's disease, and about 360,000 people are newly diagnosed every
year. Alzheimer's affects about 10 percent of people ages 65 and up, and
the prevalence doubles roughly every 10 years after age 65. Half of the
population ages 85 and up may have Alzheimer's.(*Sources: Evans D.,
International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders,
July 22, 2002; Evans et al, The Milbank Quarterly, 1990; Brookmeyer et
al, American Journal of Public Health, 1998)"

All screening tests for Alzheimer's should include questions that
determine if the patient has been taking one of these
cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.
If the symptoms started after the patient started the drug, the
possibility that the memory loss is due to the drug must be explored.
Be aware that discontinuing the drug must be done under a doctor's care,
and that memory loss due to the drug resolves very slowly, over a period
of years if it took that long to develop on the drug, but it does
resovle.
-----------

Ellis Georgantis

Anon said: There's no scientific evidence of it.

Are you sure of that? There are several studies looking at their use
as immunosuppressants in organ transplants.

This is just one of 60 citations I found on Pub Med looking statins in
the context of their possible role as immunosuppressants. B'adant

Minerva Urol Nefrol. 2003 Jun;55(2):111-9.  Related Articles, Links  

Acute renal allograft rejections, a role for statins?

Holdaas H, Jardine A.

Department of Medicine, National Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
hallvard.holdaas@rikshospitalet.no

Acute rejection of kidney allografts during the first months following
transplantation is one of the most important risk factor for long-term
graft failure. Some small open studies have indicated that
3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-Co-A), statins, might act
as immunosuppressive agents, and reduce acute rejection rates.
Moreover, the use of statin in transplant recipients is quite common,
despite no data from prospective large multi-centre studies are
available to demonstrate any beneficial effect for acute rejections or
long-term cardiovascular protection in this population. In this
overview, recent clinical and experimental data will be provided for
assessing statins as immunosuppressive agents. Although in vitro
studies have provided a theoretical basis for the use of statins as
immunosuppressive agents, more recent clinical placebo controlled
studies have failed to confirm the initial optimism of this effect of
statins.

Publication Types:
Review
Review, Tutorial

PMID: 12847415 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Anon said: There's no scientific evidence of it. Part two....

And another example of a type of study looking at statins as
immunomodulator, which may be the explanation for their action in
cardiovascular disease. These studies show this is indeed being looked
at. I would say yes, statins do look as though they are
immunosuppressants with possible practical application for
that....which would be novel, since their ownly present role as
immunosuppressant is to cause grave disability and death. B'adant

J Am Soc Nephrol. 2002 Jun;13(6):1673-81.  Related Articles, Links  

 
Immunomodulatory effects of statins: mechanisms and potential impact
on arteriosclerosis.

Palinski W, Tsimikas S.

Department of Medicine 0682, University of California San Diego, La
Jolla, California 92093-0682, USA. wpalinski@ucsd.edu

Clinical trials with statins have demonstrated a marked reduction of
cardiovascular mortality. However, it remains controversial whether
these clinical benefits stem from powerful cholesterol-lowering
effects of statins or whether they are due in part to their
cholesterol-independent effects on vascular function, plaque growth,
plaque rupture, or thrombosis. The identification of several
mechanisms through which statins decrease the recruitment of monocytes
and T cells into the arterial wall and inhibit T cell activation and
proliferation in vitro have prompted speculations that
immunomodulatory effects of statins may be beneficial in recipients of
organ transplants. Hypercholesterolemia is frequent in these patients,
and delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions in the arterial walls of
the graft may be compounded by chronic inflammation associated with
conventional atherogenesis. To assess the potential clinical relevance
of immunomodulatory effects of statins, the role of the immune system
in atherogenesis and the effects of statins in vitro in experimental
models and in clinical trials will be reviewed. It is concluded that
despite solid in vitro evidence, clinical evidence for an independent
immunosuppressive effect of statins in organ transplant patients is
presently insufficient; however, further investigation of their in
vivo occurrence and clinical relevance is warranted.

Publication Types:
Review
Review, Tutorial

PMID: 12039998 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]