9th April 2006
Quote from uneamie:My mother passed away 5 years ago from "Cerebellar Ataxia". She never took statins, however my doctor just perscribed "Pro****l" 40 mg's for me. I bought them...very costly but they are stitting in my med's cabinets unopened. I am very frightened to take them and knowing my mother's history of Ataxia and not knowing if it was genetic or caused by a viral infection, I am refusing to take them at this time. :nono: I do not want to open the door to this monster of a disease. My mother suffered a very slow and painful death. Just the idea that statins can interfer with one's muscular system is enough to scare the heck out of me. :eek:
I am working on lowering my cholesterol naturally by weight reduction, red yeast rice tablets, red wine and fish oil tablets. If after 6 months of time I cannot lower it with this method I will rethink the statins....but it's going to take a lot convince me.
I know how devastating that cerebellar ataxia can be. People don't seem to realize that you might be under a cloud the rest of your life not knowing if she had the genetic kind. A specialist in California recently said that my mother most likely has "cerebellar ataxia syndrome" caused by lipid lowering therapies. (zocor, lipitor, zetia). However, hers started with imipramine (she was given this for urinary incontinence-which was caused by her doctor prescribing calcium channel blockers, and too much calcium). 12 other compounds are know to cause this also. amiodarone, amitriptyline, chlorcyclizine, chlorpromazine, clomipramine, fluoxetine, imipreamine, perhexiline, tamoxifen, thioridazine, and zimelidine. The bind to the NPC 1 protein and while cholesterol synthesis is normal, it hides cholesterol in pockets in the body, (brain, liver, other organs). Yes is lowers the serum cholesterol in the body...the only kind of cholesterol that doctors check. In recent months it has been shown that Zetia works on the NCP1 L1 pathway.. You can look up niemann pick and symptoms....guess what ataxia. I don't know if your mother had atrophy of the cerebellum....or if she had the spino cerebellar genetics test. After a lot of research, (and stupid answers from doctors) I was assured by an ataxia specialist that cerebellar ataxia is not genetic...only SPINO-cerebellar ataxia. I would not take the cholesterol medication, if my cholesterol was 3000!!!! Also the only kind of cholesterol that is dangerous is oxidized cholesterol. Hope this helps...I have a conference call with a niemann pick specialist to see if Zetia can lower serum cholesterol, but hide it away in truly dangerous areas. (so far a bio-chemist says yes....if it works on the pathway that they now say it does) (it was merck (the maker of zetia) that just now found the pathway. Nothing like not knowing how your drug works, but that it just lowers cholesterol!!!!!!