This is a letter to me from a man who has been injured by statins. His
latest consultations are suggesting it is Cerebellar Ataxia, or
Progressive Ataxia. This man has an identical twin who is hale and
hearty. This man used to be a Navy Seal prior to taking statins. This
man had a brain MRI a year or so prior to taking statins, and it was
compared to the post statin brain MRI. The pre-statin MRI was noraml,
no damage. The post-statin MRI shows considerable brain damage; damage
to the cerebellum, among other sites. Doug's family and friends are
trying to talk him into getting a wheel chair. He keeps falling and
injuring himself badly.

Zee: How are you Doug?

{Doug's wife edits his e-mail responses.}

"I used to be strong now I just have a hard time
talking. Getting out of a
car was trivial in the past but now it takes
minutes.

I am kind of concerned that now I am starting to
have headaches and I hope
they do not get worse. My eyesight is bad and I
just got on the US Congress
"Books on Tape" program for the blind. Swallowing
is harder (I drink with a
straw now) and the list goes on.

I have learned patience with this body as it
requires far more time to do
things than in the past.

I ask everyone's patience in talking with me as
speaking on the phone is
tough. I do better with email form though even
this form of communication is
harder for me as my typing has gotten a lot
slower. (The keyboard has a
backspace key that corrects my many mistakes) The
phone is saved for
answering it and croaking out a quick reply.

I hope that I will stop getting worse but so far
I slowly keep getting
worse. Support from my family has made this
easier for me, but it is
something that so far I haven't been able to
change.

So far I still don't know what is causing my
decline. As you know I have
been to tons of MD's without any diagnosis. And
as my brother has said you need a
diagnosis for a prognosis. Well I still don't
have a diagnosis. They think it is Cerebellar Ataxia
or Progressing Ataxia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Life After Lipitor: Is Pfizer product a quick fix or dangerous drug?

2004/10/20

By Melissa Siig, Tahoe World
January 29, 2004

At first glance, Tahoe City resident Doug Peterson looks like he is
recovering from a stroke. His speech is slurred, he has difficulty
walking in a straight line, and he can't sign his own name. By
afternoon, he is so fatigued he has to sit down for the rest of the
day. When asked his age, Peterson says he is 52. His wife Karla,
standing nearby, corrects him. He is 53.

Doug has never had a heart attack, and until the onset of the symptoms
almost three years ago, was an active skier, biker and scuba diver. Now
he is limited to walks on the treadmill. Doug traces his problems to a
drug he started taking almost three years before his health began
deteriorating - Lipitor. Two other Tahoe City locals have also
experienced negative side effects from taking Lipitor or other statins,
the name for a family of cholesterol-fighting pills.

While there is no concrete evidence linking Doug's health problems to
Lipitor, after doing years of research, meeting with doctors and
talking to other statin sufferers all over the world online, he and
Karla are convinced of the connection. Pfizer, the maker of Lipitor,
claims the drug is effective in lowering cholesterol and has minor
side-effects. But as Doug and others would ask, is it worth it?

WONDER DRUG OR DANGEROUS PILL?

Doug, who has hereditary high cholesterol, was first prescribed
Mevacor, a statin made by Merck, in 1998. Six months later, his doctor
had him switch to Lipitor, which comes in higher doses, and upped his
dosage from 10 to 20 mg. His cholesterol dropped from 285 to a low of
160.

"The doctor was very pleased," said Doug, "but meanwhile the symptoms
started."

In the fall of 2000, Doug began having restless sleep patterns. His
twitching and flying arms got so bad that Karla had to sleep in another
room. One time, Doug even fell out of bed. The couple didn't think
anything was seriously wrong until a few months later when Doug started
slurring his words. This was followed by a loss of balance and the
beginning of what Doug calls the "statin shuffle" - a slow, wobbly walk
across a room. Next to slide was Doug's fine motor skills. It took him
five minutes to write four words, much of which was illegible. Finally,
he tired easily and his cognitive memory processing diminished. He had
trouble following books with complex plots.

Confounded by Doug's illness, over the next two years the Petersons
traveled all over California meeting with neurologists, internists and
acupuncturists. Doug had MRIs, brain scans and neurofeedback tests
done.

Last February, Doug's doctor suggested he go off Lipitor to see if the
drug was causing his health problems. After three weeks, the symptoms
persisted, so the doctor put Doug back on the pill. Since Doug wasn't
exhibiting the most common side effect, muscle cramps, and his liver
function tests came back normal, the physician was doubly sure that
Lipitor was not to blame.

Finally, last spring, a doctor in Pasadena suggested Lipitor could be
the culprit. Doug went off the drug in May, and since then his symptoms
have stopped their downward spiral and his health has slowly started to
improve. According to Karla, his mind is sharper, his balance is better
and his speech is more clear in the mornings, before he gets tired. But
he still has a long way to go.

"Before, I was a good father and family person," said Doug, who has two
children with Karla. "At this point, I can't do that much."

A former Navy diver and owner of Sierra Tahoe Computers, a repair and
service business, Doug has had to cut down his work schedule because of
his fatigue and loss of hand coordination. He is considering going on
disability, but Karla remains optimistic.

"We are hoping he is going to get better. That's our number one goal,"
she said. "Anger is a waste of energy at this point. We are trying to
recover and get the word out."

DID PFIZER DO ENOUGH STUDIES?

Since Parke-Davis (later acquired by Pfizer) developed Lipitor in 1997,
it has become the number one prescribed cholesterol-lowering drug in
the United States, with more than 18 million Americans having been
prescribed the drug. New York City-based Pfizer, the world's largest
pharmaceutical company, derives a quarter of its $32 billion in annual
sales from Lipitor, according to an article in SmartMoney. With sales
expect to top $10 billion this year, Lipitor is poised to become the
largest-selling pharmaceutical in history, surpassing Pfizer's other
wonder drug, Viagra.

Lipitor is proven to lower total cholesterol by 29 to 45 percent. As
with any prescription, it comes with a list of possible side effects,
such as muscle pain or weakness and liver dysfunction. Pfizer's Web
site states, "The most commonly reported side effects are gas,
constipation, stomach pain and indigestion. They are usually mild and
tend to go away." In a nine-month study of 2,502 patients, Pfizer found
that more serious side effects, such as facial paralysis, colon
inflammation and gallbladder pain, occurred in less than 2 percent of
those treated.

Pfizer was unable to commment on reported adverse side effects in time
for the Tahoe World's deadline.

The problem, say the Petersons, is that Pfizer has not conducted any
long-term studies. Doug's health issues didn't start for two and a half
years after he started taking Lipitor. Similarly, Tahoe City
psychologist John Altrocchi, 75, was on Mevacor for around three years
when he started to develop calf pain that became so severe he could
hardly walk. He also experienced a case of temporary memory loss called
transient global amnesia (TGA), which has been linked with statins. A
day after watching the 1998 Super Bowl game, Altrocchi had no memory of
the event.

"There's no way you could prove that Mevacor was responsible for the
TGA, but it's very possible," said Altrocchi, who stopped taking the
drug about three years ago and convinced his brother, a retired
neurologist, to go off Lipitor. "Especially for older men, I think it's
wise to get off statins right away.

There is very little evidence they do much good."

While most symptoms seem to start after a few years, Ed Ontiveros of
Homewood began having physical problems within 30 days of taking
Lipitor. After experiencing muscle aches and weakness for a few days,
the 75-year old fell in the bathroom and didn't have the strength to
get up. Since going off the drug, he's had no problems.

"It [reduced cholesterol] is not worth it with the side effects," said
Ontiveros. "You may not live as long, but you sure don't want to die
earlier."

Doctors are quick to prescribe Lipitor, says Karla, because they
perceive it as a magic bullet in the battle against cardiovascular
disease, the leading cause of death for Americans, and it's easier than
prescribing a long-term regime of healthy diet and exercise. But the
evidence that high cholesterol leads to heart disease is not
conclusive, said Altrocchi, and there is even speculation that
cholesterol provides protection for the brain and spine.

THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

The Petersons say Pfizer is too powerful to take on alone, but would
consider joining a class-action lawsuit against the company. However,
lawyers have told them a lawsuit is only possible if Lipitor gets
recalled by the Food and Drug Administration. (Another statin, Baycol,
was recalled by Bayor in 2001 after 31 people died of kidney failure
while on the drug.) The Petersons filled out a complaint on the FDA Web
page and encourage other Lipitor sufferers to do the same.

Frustrated by doctors who doubt the connection betweenLipitor and
health problems, the Petersons are awaiting the results of a study
being conducted by Dr. Beatrice Golomb, a neurologist at the University
of California-San Diego, on the effects of statin drugs.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal this week, Golomb found that 15
percent of statin patients developed some cognitive side effects. In
the meantime, the couple is focusing on Doug's recovery and staying
positive.

"At this point, I consider myself lucky I'm not in a wheelchair," said
Doug, who is currently in physical therapy. "There are no guarantees in
life. Your birth certificate doesn't come with a warranty."