Posted on 01/09/2020 12:23:08 PM PST by ConservativeMind
“Patient Five” was in his late 50s when a trip to the doctors changed his life.
He had diabetes, and he had signed up for a study to see if taking a “statin” – a kind of cholesterol-lowering drug – might help. So far, so normal.
But soon after he began the treatment, his wife began to notice a sinister transformation. A previously reasonable man, he became explosively angry and – out of nowhere – developed a tendency for road rage. During one memorable episode, he warned his family to keep away, lest he put them in hospital.
-snip-
Alarmed, the couple turned to the study’s organisers. “They were very hostile. They said that the two couldn’t possibly be related, that he needed to keep taking the medication, and that he should stay in the study,” says Golomb.
Ironically, by this point the patient was so cantankerous that he flatly ignored the doctors’ advice. “He swore roundly, stormed out of the office and stopped taking the drug immediately,” she says. Two weeks later, he had his personality back.
Others have not been so lucky. Over the years, Golomb has collected reports from patients across the United States – tales of broken marriages, destroyed careers, and a surprising number of men who have come unnervingly close to murdering their wives. In almost every case, the symptoms began when they started taking statins, then promptly returned to normal when they stopped; one man repeated this cycle five times before he realised what was going on.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
And your “Obviously. So you might want to remain silent in discussions calling for expert opinions on medications and their purposes.
Just sayin’.” comment is just way over the top. Rude, condescending, wrong, arrogant and now on my long term list of people to ignore.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/benzodiazepines_and_the_alternatives
see His response in post #46. What an ass he is.
Statins have been around a long time. And while I don’t doubt that some people have bad side effects the notion that statins cause depression, suicide and other maladies as described in this fake news article is simply utter rubbish.
All drugs have some side effects for some people.
But the side effects are not like the alarmist nonsense in this stupid article.
I don't mind being called an ass when I do something that needs an apology.
I never said any drug was ALWAYS innocuous. What I said is that statins have been around a long time and while some people do have side effects there is no mass side effects for the vast majority.
Stupid, ignorant Scientology like articles like this cause some people NOT to take life saving medicine because they believe everything they read on the internet regardless of how stupid and false the article is.
No worries then. You are correct in the tread topic. The tread was about statins which IMHO (ignorant) are way over prescribed and have a major risk/reward issue.
Take care.
But I'm not sure that statins have any bearing on that issue, though.
I sure havè, and they insist on trying to shove it down my throat just the same. They try to insist it’s osteoarthritis except xrays don’t support that conclusion.
They’re just trying to adhere to their standard protocols which have little or nothing to do with a patient’s individual needs.
Golomb, Golomb, Golomb... Nasty Hobbitses!
No problem, FRiend!
Well, he apologized, so all is good!
I appreciate your graciousness.
Gollum’s personality changed when he was under the influence...
of the Ring.
Great connection!
Later that night he was doing up his pill box and asked "what is this pill?" I looked at the bottle and said it was the Topiramate. He said, "it doesn't look like the pill I was taking." I looked at them and agreed. We contacted the pharmacy and asked them why the pills looked different. They said that they had switched suppliers. Both were generic for Topamax but one worked fine and the other didn't.
So watch out for when they switch you from one generic to another. Treat it like a whole new medicine. Because it is.
I felt like I was an arthritic 85 year old(I’m 55)when I was on statins. I have hypothyroidism and a genetic tendency to very high cholesterol. But I was getting mentally dull, extremely fatigued and constantly in pain so I quit taking them. At this point, I’m staying out of the system as much as possible. I believe they put us on more and more meds as we age that hasten our demise and lower our quality of life.
My husband recently had a heart attack. His cholesterol has always been low but because he had a heart attack, they put him on lipitor. Neither one of us can understand why, but he’s going to keep on taking it as long as they tell him to because he’s a model prisoner when interacting with health professionals. I refuse to take that crap though!
Cholesterol is also a building block for all your hormones.
Two of the worst pills I ever took were mentioned on this thread. Both off label for nerve pain. Neither worked and both caused issues that still affect me years after I stopped them.
The first was Topamax. Within minutes of taking the first pill the pins and needles started in both feet and moved up. Finger tips and up and my personal favorite was when my face went numb from right below my eyes to my chin. And my right ear was numb inside and left eye lid would twitch and droop. Vision and taste bud issues among others. That was mid July to mid August 2011. I still have the pins and needles thing happen every so often and I know it goes back to the Topamax because of the way it starts and moves up my body.
About three years later the doctor treating my sleep apnea and trying to help with my nerve damage (unlike my primary) put me on name brand Cymbalta. I did have some side effects but I could tolerate them. Wasn’t working so she upped the dose.
Still tolerable until my primary doctor decided I didn’t need to be taking two of the name brand pills and switched me to one larger dose of the new generic pills.
That is when the less pleasant side effects started. The nightmares were horrible and this is before I had the BiPap and rarely actually slept.
I took the generic for about a month. By this time it was November 2014 and I had to get iron infusions. My last was a week before Christmas and I had a sleep study done the night before in the same building so I just made the appointment for early next morning so I didn’t have to wait around for hours.
Well I guess I got dehydrated (5 tries to get the IV in) and probably already started to get an UTI, so a few days later it hit me hard. I had already stopped taking my metformin and other meds but still tried to take the knock off Cymbalta. Well on Monday I guess it didn’t stay down long enough because by early Tuesday I was in withdrawal hell.
Brain zaps. Nothing like a pin ball game in your brain with electrical zaps that when sitting hit my spinal cord like a small bomb in the area of my L5 S1 degenerative discs and if I tried to stand or walk it hit the back of both knees. Oh and I had super hearing which was fun with young very loud kids in the house. My taste buds were off too and if it wasn’t salty, fatty, sweet or sour, everything I ate was bitter. I do not like bitter or spicy. By this time the fever/chills had ended and I was able to keep water and food down. I lived on hard salami, bbq pork and sweet foods for several days. Which is probably why I had a gall bladder attack right after.
The ironic thing is they put me on these pills from hell to avoid pain killers. I have very little reactions to pain killers. They make me able to sleep for 2-6 hours and some times they actually work and block some of the pain. I have never gotten a “high” feeling from any that I took as pills or in IV’s when in the hospital.
Mark
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