Do statins taken long-term affect the liver?

Question

I am 52. I have been on 20mg/day Lipitor statins for 4 years to correct an excess of cholesterol in the blood.

Over the last year or so, I have been increasingly tired, especially after exercise or when late to bed or early rising, mentally confused where I have the memory loss of my 83-year-old mother, feeking yuk nearly all the time, pins and needles when sleeping. A blood test revealed a serious Vitamin D deficiency and some insulin resistance. I am also putting on weight.

Are statins the wonder drug that stops me getting a stroke or a heart attack, or should I stop them immediately?

Answer 1

I stopped taking them!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/articl...

Answer 2

Statins are given as part of the therapy to help lower the risk of coronary events.

If you have high blood pressure and high cholesterol you are at serious risk of having a heart attack and taking statins along with other drugs prescribed by your doctor helps to lower the risk.

All drugs even the lowly aspirin carries some risk and that has to be wayed up against the risks of serious strokes or heart problems.

Your doctor should be doing blood tests every 6 months or so to check your liver function and as you are worried about this my advice would be talk to him/her about it.

They are the experts and you will get better advice from them than on a public website.

Answer 3

Statins can be a wonder drug

however they do have side effects

they do cause problems in some people

they can and do affect the liver

they can and do affect peoples emotional & wellbeing

they can and do affect movement

talk to your doctor, tell him the sypmtoms yu are experiencing, find out why he is prescribing you statins... is it for you benefit (ie you have a serous risk of heart attack, high cholesterol... its entirely possible tha tyou could get similar theraputic effect through other avenues than statins. IIRC Statins lowering cholesterol is one of the GP's targets set by government that triggers more cash for the GP.

the doctor can advise.. but they don't know best, if its affectign your health then change brand or stop altogether.

OK so you are yung enough for the threat to be a problem, but ultimately its your body do whats right for you

explain the position. it may be that a different statin may not react with you in the same way.