Do any of you think my mom, having recently been put on statins, might be suffering severe anxiety, depression and worsening mood disorder because of something the statin is doing to her brain? Just musing & curious about your thoughts. I know you’re not giving medical advice. I’m just trying to help my mom, since her doctors are not.
Do any of you think my mom, having recently been put on statins, might be suffering severe anxiety, depression and worsening mood disorder because of something the statin is doing to her brain? Just musing & curious about your thoughts. I know you’re not giving medical advice. I’m just trying to help my mom, since her doctors are not.
Statins inhibit cholesterol production, which is considered to be good for the heart, but cholesterol is essential for brain function. We have a "blood braIn barrier" that protects the brain from a lot of detrimental stuff, but not all. Many kinds of statins, some get through to the brain easier than others. If one statin seems problematic, they can try another.
I have the alzheimers gene so I'm especially cautious of anything that might make my brain unhappy. I quit statins, against my doctors' advice, and mitigated my cholesterol with diet changes. How we produce and use cholesterol is greatly affected by diet, a factor few doctors have much training in.
"Psychiatric adverse effects, altering mood, personality, and behavior, sometimes arise in patients receiving statins.
Statin psychiatric effects can include irritability/aggression, anxiety or depressed mood, violent ideation, sleep problems including nightmares, and possibly suicide attempt and completion."
I've found that informing my doctor what I want helps to find better solutions. The default of standard care is designed to provide best results for all patients, yet we're all different, so teamwork is important for tuning the treatments.
Thank you so much for this! She’s only 70 and was married to an MD for 30+ years (albeit one trained prior to WW II) so she takes my comments very lightly. She may not listen, but I will try…
Here's some more authoritative info that might help. From Dr Peter Attia, recommended to me by my cardiologist. This is the third of a 3 part series of articles on cholesterol and brain function, which describes the types of statins and their influence on the brain. A lot of his site requires a subscription, which is well worth the price, but I think these articles are freely available. Maybe you could give her a subscription for her birthday.
Do any of you think my mom, having recently been put on statins, might be suffering severe anxiety, depression and worsening mood disorder because of something the statin is doing to her brain? Just musing & curious about your thoughts. I know you’re not giving medical advice. I’m just trying to help my mom, since her doctors are not.
Statins inhibit cholesterol production, which is considered to be good for the heart, but cholesterol is essential for brain function. We have a "blood braIn barrier" that protects the brain from a lot of detrimental stuff, but not all. Many kinds of statins, some get through to the brain easier than others. If one statin seems problematic, they can try another.
I have the alzheimers gene so I'm especially cautious of anything that might make my brain unhappy. I quit statins, against my doctors' advice, and mitigated my cholesterol with diet changes. How we produce and use cholesterol is greatly affected by diet, a factor few doctors have much training in.
Yes!
"Psychiatric adverse effects, altering mood, personality, and behavior, sometimes arise in patients receiving statins.
Statin psychiatric effects can include irritability/aggression, anxiety or depressed mood, violent ideation, sleep problems including nightmares, and possibly suicide attempt and completion."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5005588/#:~:text=Key%20Points%20Psychiatric%20adverse%20effects%2C%20altering%20mood%2C%20personality%2C,including%20nightmares%2C%20and%20possibly%20suicide%20attempt%20and%20completion.
Find anther doctor!
I've found that informing my doctor what I want helps to find better solutions. The default of standard care is designed to provide best results for all patients, yet we're all different, so teamwork is important for tuning the treatments.
Thank you so much for this! She’s only 70 and was married to an MD for 30+ years (albeit one trained prior to WW II) so she takes my comments very lightly. She may not listen, but I will try…
Apologies, but the discussion of statins is in the second article of Attia's three parter.
https://peterattiamd.com/does-low-cholesterol-cause-cognitive-impairment-part-ii/
Here's some more authoritative info that might help. From Dr Peter Attia, recommended to me by my cardiologist. This is the third of a 3 part series of articles on cholesterol and brain function, which describes the types of statins and their influence on the brain. A lot of his site requires a subscription, which is well worth the price, but I think these articles are freely available. Maybe you could give her a subscription for her birthday.
https://peterattiamd.com/low-ldl-cholesterol-and-neural-development/