My dad has got a heart attack last year. And the doctor has put him on a list of drugs and medication. One of the drugs is statin drugs. Previously lovastatin, now the more expensive rosuvastatin (Crestor), which could cause an increase in liver enzymes.
I’ve noticed that my old man can’t walk as fast, his reaction has certainly slowed down, his mental capacity has decreased, his attention span reduced.
This is a compilation of links to the adverse effect, negative effect, of statin drugs a.k.a. HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors.
Statin Adverse Effects: A Review of the Literature and Evidence for a Mitochondrial Mechanism
Beatrice A. Golomb, M.D., Ph.D. and Marcella A. Evans, B.S.
Do YOU Take Any of These 11 Dangerous Cholesterol Drugs?
New Bombshell of Disastrous Side Effects from Statins…
Dr. Mercola
Rosuvastatin-Associated Adverse Effects and Drug-Drug Interactions in the Clinical Setting of Dyslipidemia
Kostapanos, Michael S.; Milionis, Haralampos J.; Elisaf, Moses S.
Statin-associated adverse effects beyond muscle and liver toxicity
D.N. Kiortsis, T.D. Filippatos, D.P. Mikhailidis, M.S. Elisaf, E.N. Liberopoulos
The Safety of Rosuvastatin as Used in Common Clinical Practice
A Postmarketing Analysis
Alawi A. Alsheikh-Ali, MD; Marietta S. Ambrose, MD; Jeffrey T. Kuvin, MD; Richard H. Karas, MD, PhD
Liver Toxicity of Rosuvastatin Therapy
Giuseppe Famularo, Luca Miele, Giovanni Minisola, Antonio Grieco
Statin Induced Myositis: a commonly encountered or a rare side effect?
Mukhtar, Rasha YA; Reckless, John PD
HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor & CoQ10
Nawarskas, James J. PharmD
Dangers of Statin Drugs: What You Haven’t Been Told About Popular Cholesterol-Lowering Medicines
Myths & Truths About Cholesterol
Victim of a Cereal Killer 
Since your dad has pre-existing heart problem,I dont think your dad should stop statin. Instead, you should discuss with his doctor about the side effect and his problem of walking slow, low reaction time, etc. Probably, LFT or CK can be done to confirmed that his liver and muscle are okay.
Its true that most medication has some side effect but it is about risk-benefit of the treatment we should be concern about. Statin has been used for a long time, widely prescibed and its traditionally known to be safe. So I would think that the adverse effects published by the above article are rare. But I am not comfortable with Dr who are quick to prescribe new and more expensive drug instead of the old, time tested and cheaper drug.
Having said that, I think lifestyle modification is much much superior than all these drugs:
Good diet(high fiber, low fat and protein, complex carbohydrate, zero trans-fat, high HDL, aka: plenty of fruits, vegetables, unpolished rice, wholemeal bread, nuts and pulse, plenty of water abstain meat and simple carb) , appropriate exercise, spiritual and mental wellbeing.
and then regularly followup his lipid profile and other medical parameters and adjust his statin or other medication accordingly.
Thanks for the heads up! That looks like a place I hoping to own and run one day. =)
The adverse effects above are not rare. They are well known issues of statins. One reason (my speculation) many doctors aren’t aware of it is: many heart patients are old, all these issues could easily be classified and growing old/senile. And their job is to ensure that patients are not dying from heart issues (I don’t blame them for this, it’s their job after all). So if a patient dies from a car accident due to his slow reaction from statin drugs, then it’s not considered a ‘side effect’ of drugs.
I can tell you with absolute certainty that statins ARE NOT SAFE. Try sitting in the car when my dad is driving. His concentration & attention is lacking (looking left and right when he should be looking straight ahead!), his reaction is slow, due to myopathy from statin—he can’t control the acceleration and brake pads properly. And his legs are weak, so when he is crossing roads, he is slow and doesn’t react fast enough to approaching cars.
It is basically trading one illness for other safety hazards.
Perhaps in the future, when I’m more established as a nutritionist/dietitian, I would visit hospitals & universities and give lecture for health-care practitioners to focus more on nutrition to address health issues. I know for a fact that most doctors in Msia are not nutrition-trained (it’s not in their course).
I have researched and found that the simple magnesium have been shown in decades of research to be beneficial for cholesterol control (besides being involved in 300+ enzymatic functions) with minimal or no side effect. And yet when I asked the doctor about supplementing my father with additional magnesium, she shot it down immediately. Instead of asking me for proof or reasons, she questioned the validity of using magnesium and ASSUMED that his magnesium requirements are met from diet. She probably thought I’m a quack that’s been reading too many tabloids.
I also requested that my father be weaned off statins as soon as possible. The doctor promptly prescribe it for another year (WTF?!), even though his cholesterol profile is good. She wasn’t even listening to me! She wanted my father to be on the safe side by reducing LDL to absolutely low levels (to prevent plague formation in the stents). I was close to tearing my hair out that day.
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“high fiber, low fat and protein, complex carbohydrate, zero trans-fat, high HDL, aka: plenty of fruits, vegetables, unpolished rice, wholemeal bread, nuts and pulse, plenty of water abstain meat and simple carb.”
All accurate, except for the “low fat and protein”, “wholemeal bread” & “abstain meat” parts.
Good fats & good protein are essential.