Dementia symptoms and conditions

This is a follow-up to my posting on October 10th regarding my 57 year old husband who began taking Lisinopril in March of 2007. He was NEVER on any other medication prior to taking this drug. He suffered Depression, loss of memory, lack of concentration, can't focus and struggled with small task. We have recently had an MRI done and his brain has shrunk. Deadfred1 replied to my posting and he is a 36 year old male who has been on Lisinopril for 5 years. He has the same side effects as my husband. He had a recent MRI and his brain has shrunk!!! We visited a Neurologist with his MRI results for a second opinion and he is ordering more tests because "it appears to be indictive of Alzeheimers" with the area of the brain that has shrunk. How can this be??? This was a healthy, 57 year old NEVER on a drug in his life and within months of taking this, he is in Depression and having memory issues. Isn't anyone connecting any symptoms here??? Any Doctors out there with an "open mind"? This medication is was developed from the venom of a poisonous Brazilian snake!!! Hello...it's more like a slow death with Arsenic!!! My mother-in-law has been on this drug for years and years and years. She now sits with dementia in an Alzeheimers unit. Is anybody out there listening? Alzeheimers is becoming an epidemic in this country. Have we ever thought the medications we are taking is creating this devastating disease? Millions of people take Ace Inhibitors, millions of people have Alzeheimers. They are getting younger and younger according to the Neurologist. Why, because younger and younger people are being put on Blood pressure medications from poisonous snakes. Are there any open minded Dr.s out there that can "step outside the box"...don't just "think outside the box"...."step out for goodness sake" and start paying closer attention to the symptoms people are having. I am convinced there is a definite connection to my husbands side effects and this drug. Get off people. Get off.

husband and brother in law both diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. dear friend's husband diagnosed with Parkinson's 3 months later . all had been on lipitor for 2-4 yrs. brother in law has died--diagnosis changed prior to death from Parkinson's to Parkinson's with lewy bodies, to Lewy body dementia to frontotemporal lobe dementia (despite NO family history of this disease entity). there are SO many metabolic substrates whose pathways are interrupted by statins--pathways to isoprenoid metabolism resulting in among many other results, a decrease in glutathione reductase; a decrease in production of coenzyme Q10; decrease in dolichol, the lipid consittuting the largest % of fats making up the substantia nigra in the brain (area diseased in Parkinson's ). and lipids constitute the substance that makes up the mylein sheath surrounding nerves, and the largest % of the dry weight content of the brain.
Tremors were the first symptoms. then non swinging arm while walking, flat affect, rigidity of muscles. all symptoms of Parkinson's...

My husband (57 years old) started Lisinopril in March of 2007 for High Blood Pressure and he's never been the same. At first, we didn't connect the symptoms but now I am convinced this drug caused his problems. His symptoms include loss of memory, can't concentrate, can't retain anything, short tempered, depression. At times confusion or unable to grasp anything requiring multi-tasking. He had a loss of appetite where in lost 25 pounds in less than 6 months. He described months ago that "his head just doesn't feel right". When asked...do you have a headache...he'd reply.."I can't explain it...it just doesn't feel right. The depression has lead to another drug "Lexapro". This drug interferes with concentration too!
Prior to taking Lisinopril my husband was running his own business and working a full time job he's had for years. Within 6 months, our lives changed drastically. I know 2 other people experiencing the memory loss, can't concentrate, can't retain symptoms around the same age as my husband... all taking Lisinopril.

All of this has been weighing heavily on his mind because his mother has been diagnosed with Dementia/Alzeheimers at age 74. Guess what...she has been taking Lisinopril for years and years and has been treating for depression for years and years....any connection here? This drug has been around for many years and it seems like every elderly person is taking this for High Blood Pressure. Could this be a culprit to Dementia/Alzheimers? A reoccurring theme I see amongst all of these side effects is "depression".

Of course when we discussed these symptoms with his Doctor...we were pooh poohed with "I've never heard of these symptoms in 20 years of practicing". Well, he needs to do some research! My husband quit taking this drug on Sept 12th which takes 2-3 weeks to get out of your system. I noticed recently he didn't struggle at all at the ATM machine. I'm hoping this is the culprit as we are now in the process of getting a second opinion to determine if he may be in the early stages of Alzheimers. We pray that he is not! Get this drug off the market!!!

Confusion, trouble thinking, trouble concentrating, decreased cognitive function, mental sluggishness, foggy perception of reality, trouble solving problems or situations which require logical thinking and sequencing, memory loss, depression, irritability, low tolerance, lack of patience. jeez.....the list goes on. All that since I started Lisinopril. Never had it before. All of my symptoms seemed to be more neurological than physical, like other people's. Of course, everyone's body is different. I got off this stuff awhile back, but I still have the symptoms. I hope these symptoms are reversible. This is terrible. I need to get back to my normal life once again. It's like this junk is Alzheimer's/Dementia by design. Really.

please can u tell me does anybody on this site suffer from memory loss cause they are taking simvastatin

My mother has dementia and is being treated for shingle pain with Neurontin. She has lost touch with reality since they started this drug.

My father is 73 and has been taking this drug now for a few years. In the last year he has been suffering from severe hallucinations , particularly at night. The other evening he walked out of the house and went wandering around the village because he saw people in the house. Has anybody else had similar experiences taking this drug? Clive

Hi
I started taking 10 mg. daily ofLipitor 8 yrs. ago and about a year later I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. There's no test for Fibro, just blood tests to elimate everything else ex: Lupus, RA etc. I've been suffering so much from muscle pain, all the tender points as in Fibro and also diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. Three doctors diagnosed me with Fibro. and chronic fatigue. I had most of the symptoms everyone else is complaining about also. The pain in my stomach muscles are just about gone too.

It reached a point three weeks ago when I was having sharp pains all over my body and muscle cramps and charlie horses at night and I could just about walk up the stairs my hips hurt so much that decided to stop Lipitor. I was so tired all the time and in constant pain.

My doctors said it couldn't be the Lipitor. The pain in most of the tender points are just about gone but I know it will take a while to get out of my system. I lost muscle strength over the years and hope to get that back. I'm 64 years old and know it will take awhile .

I went to my doctor Tuesday and told him I took myself off the Lipitor and that I now remember being diagnosed with Fibro shortly after going on Lipitor. He got so mad at me and said that Lipitor doesn't cause a disease. As I said there's no test for Fibro and it's not a disease it's a syndrome or condition where the brain sends pain signals to the tender point muscles but there's nothing actually wrong with the muscles. I told him that 6 years ago when I tried going off Lipitor for 3 months and joined a gym, Curves, I felt fine and thought I was in remission. Then when I started taking Lipitor again I couldn't do the exercise in Curves and had to stop going. It never dawned on me it was the Lipitor.

I now have a problem with my heart, one condition I might have been born with but the Arrthymia I don't know about. My heart beats too many beats and it beats 4 beats and the 5th beat is backwards. Now I'm on 25mg of Topricin (the generic) beta blocker to slow down the heart beats. I don't know if this is caused by the Lipitor or not. My cardiologist said that Lipitor can affect every muscle in your body and she suggested that I get a RX for a blood test to tell whether I have muscle damage. I went for the test Tuesday but haven't received the results yet.

I'm going to change doctors, I don't like my doctor's attitude with me over the Lipitor. These doctors think they're God. When I told him on Tuesday about the 3 months that I felt fine 6 years ago he said that there are other drugs besides statins to lower cholesterol. I don't want to go on any drugs and the non statin drugs can cause intestinal blockage, he got upset when I told him that too. I'm going to try to lower it with flaxseed and fiber and see if that works. I go to Weight Watchers and kept 17 lbs. off for 6 years now, I do try and eat healthy.

I can't believe it cost me almost 8 years of my life in pain. It's even hard for me to get down on the floor with my granchildren, I have to crawl to the couch or chair to lift myself up and I get tired so easily. I just hope I get back to normal.

I'm so glad I found this website and figured out what was wrong with me. I hope my writing helps someone else dignosed with Fibromyalgia and taking a statin.

Thanks for listening.
Marie

I am 51 year old female. I have been having similar side effects that everyone is posting. The cough just started. And I am having cramps in my legs and back that I never had before. I also have been a little depressed. I just stopped taking the medicine yesterday. I am at a place called Optimal Health Institute. They put you on raw veggies and juice and fruits and nothing else for a week to 3 weeks or as long as you would like to be here. Also mild exercises to help you cleanse and you juice wheat grass 2 times a day. I decided to go off my meds yesterday (been taking 10mg for about 4 months) and my blood pressure reading just registered 119/78. It has been running 135/85 with medicine average. I just started but after reading all of these posts and my own side effects, I am definitely going off this junk. I hope this cleansing works. I am going to be here for 2 weeks.

While I think Zantac worked very well I feel that I must alert you to a
memory problem I had been experiencing. After taking Zantac for quite a
few months I started to experience a severe lack of concentration if you
will an example would be - I would be talking with someone and words
that I normally used would not come to my mind, I mean even the simplest
of words. I checked the side effects and it was not listed, I started
to think I had the beginnings of dementia, it got worse and worse, one
day while reading the newspaper I came across an article on a study by
Zantac of people with color, and there it was exactly what I was
experiencing.
I am Caucasian and have had the same reaction as in the people in your
study.

While your product might have helped my stomach it certainly scared me
into thinking I had dementia. It has been quite a few months and my
memory is back to normal. Everyone forgets what they want to say every
so often and perhaps a word or two might escape you, but this was not
the case at all. I only thank goodness that I came across that article
and stopped taking Zantac immediately. While the stomach problems are
still with me at least I have my memory back.

I hope you look into this and make others aware that this could happen,
I hate to think that my memory problem would have been a permanent dementia.

My friend and her sister (80 and 64) started Lipitor at the same time and both became disoriented and forgetful quickly. They lived in two different cities, but in the same state. The younger one suddenly was driving down the highway going the wrong way. The older one, a very dear friend, told me she was having whole days slide by and I took her to a doctor, who stated she was just "getting forgetful because of her age". They quit taking Lipitor, but not before the damage was done. Every time a Lipitor commercial came on my friend would get extremely angry and say "that is the medication that ruined my life". I hope this comes out in the press and her estate sees a healthy sum for all her suffering. Her younger sister is now in a lock down dementia facility. Before taking Lipitor the younger sister was a successful businesswoman, who ran two jewelry stores and a bed and breakfast.

My 82 yr old mother was prescribed Synthroid last May after tests on her carotid artery showed a problem with her thyroid (she had no symptoms). In June, my father started calling me and telling me how strange she was acting. So I called the Dr., and he said she was getting dementia, so put her on Aricept. Then she started getting depressed, not doing all her favorite things, not driving, etc. I called Dr. again and he put her on an antidepressant. I now know that this whole situation was caused by the Synthroid. It is so obvious. I am taking her off it for a few days to see how she acts. I sympathize with everyone who posted.

Within 5 days of beginning course of Geodon, 40mg daily, doc doubled my dosage to 80mg, began to have problems. Intensely manic, easily frightened, insomnia, terrifying dreams. I decided to get out of hospital ASAP and decide if to quit taking Geodon.
On day six already my face was twitching, was irritable and manic, pacing, increasingly manic throughout day, decided to skip evening dose, keep total dosage same as before, 40mg. Began tripping around midnight and it was all downhill from there. Sleepless all night, by morning I had convulsions, increased heart rate, fear and anxiety, psychosis, uncontrollable crying. Had another seizure 12 hours later. Slept a little with help of Valium. Next day developed Parkinson's like symptoms, had my father not been there to help me, Lord knows what would have happened to me. Still awake in day 3 of withdrawal. Hoping the worst is over.

I have taken Lisinopril since 2001 because of high blood pr. caused by Mitral valve prolapse. From the beginning it made me a little sleepy when I drive to work in the morning. I take 20mm when I have breakfast when I get up.
I now notice my hands hurt until I have worked for a while. I work 7 days a week as a mechanic due to low income. Whenever I get a small cut or scratch now I bleed like crazy.
I do ballroom dancing once a week and my arms & chest hurt when I go too hard or run. I have always been short of breath since 10 years old. I'm 70 now.
I would not be afraid to try it as it has helped me. Just pay attention to the affects it may have on you. When I stop taking it I get better but my BP goes up. It really doesn't bother me much. A friend takes it with no side affects.

My Mother was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis 30 years ago. She has been on prednisone at low doses since then. About 3 years ago she started imagining things, and hallusinations. About 2 years ago her prednisone dose went up to 60mg a day due to a stroke of the optic eye nerve. She has since been tapering down, now at 15mg a day. But tapering down makes her arthritis more painful. She has developed diabetes, loss of sleep, loss of apetite, loss of muscle tone. When she gets bumped, it's a big opened gash, rather than just a bruise. With the higher dose she was more moody & would get angry easier. The hallucinations & paranoia continue & are making me more & more concerned. I haven't read about this in any of the stories. Has anyone else experienced this side effect? I spoke with her Rheumatologist who suggest a psychiatrist to prescribe anti-psychotic drugs. She's already on 11 pills a day, does she need another?
Please let me know if anyone has experienced this as well.
Thank you.

My father 64 years old has been on Lipitor for over 2 years. In the past few months he has been very quiet, finding it hard to talk and he knows what he wants to say but some words are hard to say. Severe fatique, he moves much slower, difficulty reading and to understand what he's reading. Finds it hard to write and draw and when he is sleeping he has awful twitching. Is this because of Lipitor? we are waiting for an MRI and EEG the doctor seems to feel it might be dementia or Alzheimer's and maybe so but that all doesn't add up.
Does anyone else feel like this?
Is there hope, we have taken him off Lipitor 2 days ago.
Does anyone have a good result to hear?
How do check to see if Lipitor is the problem where does that show up?

I took Carafate pills for a bleeding ulcer about 25 years ago with no apparent side effects. I have been taking Carafate suspension this time for another condition for the past three weeks and have developed severe pain in my right side, extreme belching (and I do mean extreme), and constipation. I read today online that the suspension has aluminum and shouldn't be taken by people with kidney disease. I have stopped taking the suspension and most of my symptoms are gone (still some pain in the right side but rapidly diminishing). Also, I am an older person and have avoided aluminum most of my life for fear of dementia. My father did this and was mentally clear until close to his death at 88. I wish I had been told about the aluminum in carafate suspension so that I could have made an informed choice about whether or not to take it.

I was given topamax to treat headaches and cyclical mood disorder. I was not given any info about side effects or that, at the time(April of 2006), the drug was not FDA approved for treating mood disorders. I took about 3 25mg tablets a day for 6 weeks and started noticing pain in my chest, stomach, back, and neck, my heart felt irregular as well. Towards the end of the 6 weeks, I felt so bad that at times that I had to crawl to the bathroom at home because my body and heart felt so weak. I weighed 135 pounds before starting the drug and 117 after, lot of weight to lose for me in such a short period of time(my weight very rarely fluctuates at all). I started noticing that when I would eat a large meal, I would then be hungry with an empty stomach an hour later, and about 15-20 minutes after taking my 2nd pill for the day I would feel shooting chest pains and become slightly dizzy, I would take my third pill at home a couple before bed and the symptoms were even worse. I called the on-line nurse late at night a few times and they would say it was just anxiety, my friends and family that knew about all this would also say that I was just worrying too much. I decided to take matters in my own hands and started doing research on the drug. I found all the information I needed, that was not given to me, decided I was experiencing some of the specific side effects people had noticed. I finally decided on my own to stop taking the drug after my doctor told me that all this was because I wasn't taking a high enough dosage, I still can't believe that she said that!!

Now that I've had some time to look back and gather myself a little, I know that I also experienced side effects such as dizziness, loss of taste, decreased sex-drive, Loss of wittiness, feeling like being in slow-motion, slurring speech, heartbeat going from 64bpm sitting on the couch to 128bpm after walking to the bathroom to pea, difficulty breathing, basically felt like crap but was too drugged up to really notice.

It did stop my headaches and stabalized my mood but I think the improvements in mood were primarily due to the fact that I wasn't all there. DEFINETLY NOT WORTH ALL THE SIDE EFFECTS!!!

As soon as I stopped taking this, I felt much better in the head, noticing that I was probably running on about 70% for the past few weeks. Also gained back all the weight very quicky. I felt like myself again and was rejuvanized in my life!! Primarily all the side effects disappeared and I moved on with my life. Unfortunately the chest pains slowed down but did not disappear. I felt like, and still feel like, I had a broken Sternum. I went to the same clinic and had numerous tests done(EKG, blood tests, X-rays), everything came up clear. I have had to tell some of my friends, numerous times in the past year, not to restle with me or hug me too hard because it hurts.

I have not been taking any perscription drugs for the past 14 months because of all of this and now have recently started feeling increased pain in my chest(the chest pains never completely went away) . I do not have health insurance but am going to get this all checked out ASAP, I will post again once I find out what's going on.

My mother was put on Prednisone to hopefully shrink a benign tumor on her colon. When she went into a psychosis, they weaned her off. That was two months ago. The psychosis has resolved but she is now in a state of dementia. I feel like I've lost my mother. I wish there was some help. I don't know if she'll ever recover.

Please do not allow an elderly patient with dementia to take this medicine. There are warnings all over the place about this - in the information that comes with the medicine, on the internet, ect. Even the FDA warns not to give to elderly patients with dementia as death can occur. Unfortunately, we just experienced this effect with someone dear to us.

Wow! This is amazing. My dad JUST started taking Singulair last week and his memory has deteriorated so much in one week that I thought he might be getting Alzheimers or Dementia! Now-I think it could be a side effect of this medicine. What a blessing it is to have FOUND this site and discover others are having the same kinds of problems! I have already called him and told him to STOP taking this pill!
Thank you!!

This post is about my mom she was put on Vytorin which is a combination of Zorcor and Zetia. Her cholesterol was not all that high but her Dr wanted her to try it to see if it would come down. She was on it for one month and her cholesterol droped from 195 to 86 BUT she was having really bad headaches and her neck would be stiff her legs hurt and she had blurred vision in her left eye only and shooting pain in the left side temple. Before taking Vytorin she was in pretty good shape for a 71 year old but not she is so tired all the time, I am really worried about her overall health. Yesterday when I took her back to her Dr to find out why she was still having these problems he said the medician should already be out of her system since she quit taking it on Nov 17. I requested that he send her to the hospital for blood test since Vyortin had been known to make blood test abnormal. I also requested a CoQ10 Blood Test which should show any damage to the muscle tissue which can be a side effect of the Vytorin it breaks down muscle tissue in some cases. I really think MD's need training on these drugs before giving to patients. Also do anyone know how long it takes these meds to get out of the systems. Has anyone else had these problems. Thanks for any response and help. Sharon

My father is quite elderly and has dementia. He was taken to the hospital last week for an "infection" that was causing him to become extremely weak. After 4 days in the hospital they still couldn't figure out what was causing the infection so they prescribed a 7-day round of Levaquin. Five days after taken Levaquin both his feet and ankles as well as his hands, wrists and forearms have swollen so much he can't close his hands. He is in extreme pain. We had no idea what might be causing this and now that I found this website I realize that Levaquin could very well be the problem. If the swelling doesn't go down within the next day or two I will have to take him back to the ER. I only wish that I would have found this website before I allowed him to take it.

I have taken Avelox, Cipro and Levaquin within the past two years - all with side effects:
CIPRO: (Rx for diverticulitis) Dry raspy cough, irritated throat, sneezing - all started shortly after each daily dose and eased off until next dose. Poor sleep, wakeful and unable to go to sleep. I did not continue the medication as prescribed and the symptoms were gone within 24 hours.
AVELOX: Dementia - something like Alzheimers - I could not do a simple crossword puzzle, knowing that I knew the answers at one time. I could not think or function and, again, stopped the medication early. Symptoms went away.
LEVAQUIN: Confusion, sleeplessness, anxiety, frequest urination.

My husband is currently taking Avelox and is having some strange symptoms: Hallucinations, strange dreams, confusion, raspy cough and laryngitis. He was put on Avelox two days before he came down with Influenza and the cough and laryngitis may be a result of the flu - but I am recovering from the flu and he is not, and should be.

I will no longer take any quinolone and may need to change doctors if he insists prescribing them. He wants my husband to continue taking his last two doses of Avelox. I just hope he survives this!

I am 53 (female) and have been taking Lipitor for about 5 months. I haven't read the whole list below, but is anyone having problems with mental clarity and thinking that it might be related to the Lipitor.? I am experienceing short term memory loss and mental confusion. My M.D. is sending me for a brain MRI this week. While I don't fear this is early dementia, I am beginning to think it might be a side effect of the Lipitor. I stopped taking the Lipitor 7 days ago and it seems I am more clear minded.
I have felt a general overall "puffiness" since starting the Lipitor. This combined with the mental clairty issues are making be suspect of the Lipitor.
I also am experience an overwhelming fatigue. This too seems to have lessened since stopping the Lipitor.
My M.D. just stares at my blankly! I am starting to think I am really loosing it. Anybody having similar reactions?
Thanks for any responses!