Taipei While the medical jury is still out on this question, the popular heart patient drug marketed by Pfizer is in a class of medications known as "statins".
Statins work, a heart doctor in Taiwan tells this reporter, by inhibiting an enzyme that results in lower levels of something called LDL, sometimes referred to as "bad" cholesterol, and raises levels of HDL, aka "good" cholesterol.
According to the medical literature out there online, clinical trials have indicated that ''abnormal'' - that is to say, "vivid dreams" - are sometimes seen in patients taking Lipitor following heart attacks and stent procedures..However, confirmed reports of such dreaming are still rare, occurring in less than two percent of patients studied so far.
Only the Big Pharma companies know for sure, and they aren't talking.
It's too bad that the old Omni magazine is gone, and of course, publisher Omni's Bob Guccione has passed over to the other side. What might be interesting, says a source at Princeton University, would be to see "more public discussion of the effects of legal and illegal drugs on dreams, as opposed to hallucinations".
"If Lipitor causes pleasant and happy vivid dreaming because it's a statin, perhaps some statins could be used as recreational drugs," the professor added, noting with an Isaac Asimov kind of smile: "A drug that could consistently induce good dreams on a nightly basis is the stuff that science-fiction hits are made of, If Lipitor has this potential, someone should find out what's in it. It could change the way we......sleep!"
Full disclosure: This reporter, not so much for a news story as for his health, has been taking Lipitor in half doses for a year now, following a heart attack and a stent implant. He takes a five milligramme tab of Lipitor each night "around midnight", and without fail the most pleasant and amazingly vivid dreams follow throughout the night, sometimes as many as three or four, with the last one around 6AM before waking. These Lippy dreams, as he calls them, are not hallucinogenic or frightening, and always follow real events in his daily life in the most pleasant of ways, and the dreams feel more ''real'' than dreams he had before going on Lipitor.
So, can Lipitor cause a person to have vivid dreams? Yes. What's in the drug? Only Pfizer knows for sure, and mum’s the word. Statins, whatever they are, and whatever the specific chemical in them that gives rise to vivid dreaming, are not easy to decipher. What's in the white Lipitor film-coated pills that turn on the vivid dreaming controls for some people? Repeated emails to Pfizer's PR department have gone answered.
Imagine if someone made a legal drug with no side-effects that could induce vivid dreaming 24/7? It could change the world. Well, that's too tall of an order, but if nothing else, it could change the way.....we sleep.
Dr Asimov? Calling Dr Asimov!
Other medications, which affect digestion or sympathetic autonomic Physiology, would also come into play.
If one hit is by a hypnagogic train of thought, such as those of the Hypnic jerk, Nick Farrell; well, let's just say: the devil is in swotting the details.
"Dreams. Mine are vivid, all right. Full of missed boats and losing stuff and being on stage with nothing to say. But I take so many mild-altering drugs in a day -- Prozac and pot, for starters...Lipitor too...So it would be impossible to set up any cause and effect hypothesis."
Former USAF Flight Surgeon,
Former NASA Astronaut, and
Retired Family Doctor writes on his website:
Here are a few of the reports I have received from readers of my books and from websites regarding personal experiences of Lipitor side effects.
In addition to Danny Bloom's vivid experiences with vivid dreaming:
1.) My father (aged 56) has been taking Lipitor for about three years now. He forgets telling us stories or events of the day and then tells us the same story over and over (about ten times sometimes). If I ask him to do something, he has forgotten about it within ten minutes. It is progressively getting worse and my mother is getting very worried. I heard a co-worker saying the other day that Lipitor made him really depressed and then thought that maybe Lipitor makes my father forget things. So, I went onto the Internet and searched "Lipitor - amnesia" and was shocked at what I found. I'm not sure that this is the problem, but could it be from that?
2.) For some time I've been concerned that Mum was becoming forgetful and becoming more reliant on her diary to remember appointments, etc., and that she was becoming increasingly confused. I am very concerned that on top of her other concerns, she may now have dementia. I did some research on dementia on the 'net, and began to consider having a closer look at the drugs she is, and has been taking. I've been gathering information on all the drugs she is currently taking, and am seeking to have all her specialists look closely at many concerning symptoms, including the confused thinking, 'though I suspect it will be a long and frustrating road. Somehow, for a period of approx. six weeks, Mum was taking 40mg Lipitor and 40mg Simvar daily. It was picked up when she was recently admitted to the emergency department of our local hospital with chest pain. I asked doctors if the doubling-up could have caused some damage. I was told, if she had experienced no severe pain in arms and legs, then probably no.
3.) I suffer now from memory loss and am always tired dizzy - God, too many things to mention. My Dr gave me so many drugs I can't remember all their names but as a result of this Dr I now have all kinds of things wrong with me. I take Lipitor now. Have been for about 2 years or so - before that Mevacor. I thought I was just getting older and my memory was going. I'm 55. All my family and friends told me something was wrong with me but I never thought my meds would do that. What can I do to get my memory back? I start to do something and it's like I don't remember what I was doing. My 17-year old daughter tells me I have Alzheimer's disease. She asks me did I do this or that today and I tell her what because I forget so much. People think I'm real slow any more. Just like driving - I was taking my son's baby to the Dr and I forgot how to get there.
4.) I am a business man, 42, good health, was 30 lbs over weight, and lost 30 lbs on a moderate Atkins and exercise program over 8 months. Lipitor was prescribed 3 months ago; cholesterol came down immediately to 170s but in the last 30 days have felt like my brain is in a fog. I can't remember short-term things like; I just picked up the phone now, who was I going to call or what someone just told me hours or days earlier. I am going nuts thinking I am going thru some type of midlife thing until I was talking to a friend about it yesterday and he described that his father (a very sharp guy) had experienced the same thing and had narrowed it down to Lipitor being taken in the morning
5.) My 63 year old wife has been on a max dose of Lipitor for over a year. Since the increase in her dose she began experiencing constant muscle soreness and increased short- term memory problems. She brought this to her doctor's attention, but other than a check to rule out Alzheimer's disease, nothing was done. A week ago your site was brought to my attention and I sent her to the doctor with a printout of your site. He seemed to already be aware of the possible connection between Lipitor and her symptoms and took her off the drug for six weeks. We'll see if there's any change in her symptoms during these six weeks.
6.) I found your web page when I decided to search out Lipitor. I have been on Lipitor longer than I can remember. I started with Pravachol and then went to Lipitor. I never associated my lack of energy and muscle problems with the drugs though. I was having a series of deep tissue massages with a massage person whom I have used before.
After the 3rd session my neck muscles were just as tight as when I started. She asked me if I was taking any cholesterol medications and I had to say yes. She had told me she had seen a number of her patients with close to the same problems and they all were taking the cholesterol medicines. She asked me when I saw my doctor next and I told her in October when I was due for my blood work. She just suggested that I might want to consider going off of the Lipitor till then and just see how I felt. She gave me something to really think about. I only thought for a very short period as I stopped taking it the next day. I went on vacation and started having more energy and my neck pain was minimal. I was amazed. I feel really great right now. I still need to tell my doctor but might wait till I go back in October. I just wanted to let you know that your web page really helped me and all the other ones too.
7.) I have been taking Lipitor 40mg. for approx. 1 year. For about six months I have had severe pain in the muscles around my left elbow, especially when twisting my thumb downward with my arm outstretched. I am 47 years old, and an automobile technician by trade. I went to my family physician and was told that I had tennis elbow. In the last month the problem also began to show up in my right elbow. This condition makes doing my job very painful at times, depending on what I have to do. A few weeks ago an insurance salesperson came to my shop to try to sell me disability insurance. When she asked me if I was on any medications, and I told her I was taking Lipitor, she asked me if I have arm pain. I told her, "come to think of it, I do." She said that her mother had experienced severe arm pain while on Lipitor, and had to stop taking it. She told me that ever since the problem with her mother, she now asks people if they experience arm pain, if they tell her they are taking Lipitor. She said that a large percentage of people she asks do, in fact, experience pain in their arms. I stopped taking Lipitor about 2 weeks ago, and the pain in my arms is almost gone.
8.) I am 65 yrs. old I've been taking Lipitor for over 8 yrs. then my Doctor added Lopid for more than one year. From what I saw on the internet you can not combine Lopid with Lipitor. It will cause muscle problems, which I now have and feel like I'm going cripple. I stopped taking Lipitor six months ago. I would like to warn any one out there not to take Lipitor with Lopid. It's a horrible pain to have muscle problems.
9.) The evolution of my Lipitor problems. My right foot on the pedal was now at a funny angle. My quad muscles became unusually sore. My libido was now non-existent. At night in bed I was getting palpitations and my heart rate rhythm was very irregular with the heart stopping for about two/three
seconds about six times a minute. My performances on the bike were getting steadily worse. In June I raced a 25-mile time trial and barely finished the distance totally exhausted. It was then that I researched Lipitor on the internet. I am very angry to think that the medical profession can proscribe a drug with these side effects. I do not know whether or not there was a drug interaction with the antibiotics or whether it made no difference, anyway I stopped taking Lipitor immediately. That was 42 days ago. My heart rhythm is now back to normal, the palpitations stopped and libido back to normal, the soreness and stiffness in my neck almost gone. When riding my bike the angle of my foot on the pedal is now OK. My bike training is still suffering as my recovery is still not very good. To aid recovery I am taking 2000Mg Vitamin C 1000Mg Lysine 1000Mg L-Carnitine 120Mg CoQ10 and Vitamin B Complex supplements daily. Lipitor is a poison. It will probably take me anything up to six months to fully recover and with hopefully no permanent damage. Anything you can do to prevent people taking Lipitor is OK with me.
10.) My mother, age 84, lives with me, and has been taking Lipitor for 3 1/2 years, up until very recently. She's experienced a lot of muscle pain, inflammation, and symptoms similar to muscular dystrophy -- difficulty walking, rising from a seated position, coordination, droopy eyelid on one eye, tremor in her right hand, difficulty initiating walking, very dry eyes, and more. It was only on August 17 when I ran across the article, "My Life After Lipitor", that I suspected Lipitor could be causing these symptoms and contributed to my mom's deteriorating health. Having called her primary physician immediately after suspecting this, they scheduled her for a CPK test. It was her first time. Her reading was 174, on a scale from 30 to 135. So, they've told her to stop Lipitor, and she should be fine in 2 weeks. Meanwhile, I have contacted health consultant and have begun to give my mom some of the recommended supplements as he advised. Almost immediately, the tremor in her right hand was greatly reduced, and is almost gone entirely. But it's a long road ahead. She is so frustrated with her mobility issues, which makes her frightened to be in the house alone. She depends on us for assistance to dress, undress, toileting, showering and more. Mostly, she's afraid that she'll fall. She's lost all her confidence to be independent. She's frequently asked me, "did I have a stroke?" She has not. Yet, she's felt so debilitated, that she's concluded she must have. I'm so frustrated her primary physician called her CPK results (174) only "mildly elevated" and of no concern. When I asked her physician if she recommended replacing Co-Q10 which her Lipitor had depleted, she said she wasn't familiar with this, but added, "it couldn't hurt.
Duane Graveline MD
a wit in NYC tells me today:
re
In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an archangel who serves as a messenger from God. He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel BLoom's visions.
''Danny
Terrific, if WSJ or NYT or BBC or Times might be interested in a quote ..., I could point out to them that Lipitor dreams could be a huge boost for psychiatry given the cooling of enthusiasm about antidepressants. If it's approved for psychiatry, especially where it might have a cardiological benefit, Lipitor could fulfill the original promise of LSD, which was developed by a mainstream Swiss pharmaceutical researcher and for a while embraced enthusiastically -- so much so that a Canadian sanatorium was actually designed under the influence of the drug!:
In 1965 Osmond and Izumi announced that they had designed the new hospital at Yorkton (YPC) with the aid of psychedelic drugs.
It was not possible to interview the patients and get their views since they were too disturbed and would have had difficulty in describing their perceptual worlds. [Izumi] therefore decided he would became an volunteer, take LSD, and spend time on the ward of the hospital at Weyburn under Dr. Osmond’s supervision and also on the ward of the University hospital in Saskatoon (Hoffer 2005, 155).
This deliberate attempt to transform their perceptions of space by “sympathetically embodying”8 the perception of the patient would, they thought, aid in understanding the schizophrenic’s lived experiences. “The object was to understand some of the experiences and problems of the mentally ill, so these problems could be considered in the building design” (Izumi 1971, 381).
Of course LSD soon had some terrible press, but the inventor never completely lost his faith in what he called his "problem child":
Lipitor therapy, even more than LSD, could enlist the psychiatrist (the only psychotherapist generally authorized to write prescriptions, especially for a mainly non-psychiatric pharmaceutical) as the key interpreter of the dreams, a great development for Freudians, Jungians, and others suffering from the move to Prozac etc.
Calling Dr. Gabriel!''
I am told now by a New York Times reporter that Gabriel Byrne is being treated just for this issue above....
''Gabriel Byrne is in treatment has that issue'....'
says a 80 year old man in NYC
Really interesting stuff. Judging by the comments, contrary to your positive
experience with Lipitor, many people have experienced very negative effects.
The trouble with drugs is that they all have negative effects that vary from
person to person. My mother suffered from various conditions and was taking
a daily cocktail of drugs. For a time she suffered from sudden fainting
spells which, as you can imagine, had us very worried. She then went on a
vacation in Spain and forgot to take along one component of her med
cocktail. She had no fainting spells while in Spain. Upon her return, the
fainting was traced to the one drug she had been taking.
There is lots of anecdotal evidence of this type.
Medicinal Marihuana Does NOT induce Deep Dreams, More Exhausted Blackout. Deams Ye Speak arn't True Dreams, As Thats SUB Conscious. Remembering Dreams Is near waking state, in grogged & sweet feeling state, good food mixing with feelings, Is Common.
Had dream last night of getting onto plane to England, with No Ticket, left Vechile on curb. thought, why'd go so spontaneously, much earlier in year did same to hawaii several times, in Dreams. Yesterdays dream Clerk gave me $500 To Pass thru gate. Now Thats Dream.
Older People suffer such light conscious dreams. Molecule size if factor. About Atomic weight 450 is best to slow nerve, minerials Not so good, as too long lasting, CHO or Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen arranged in right sized 450 atomic weight molecule goes in, induces sleep & is digest harmlessly in nerve, if done properly(diazapam). Thinks thats whats in effect, happening, heavy organics slip into lighter state & interfer wth nerve shaft operation,due to solivancy of drug with Fats without having to penetrate nerve sheathe. Fats Where Preventing nerves from working properly, on inside, on shealth, good insulate.
Exercise Danny be best , Burn up those surplus calories, form hard varnished, leave tired feeling behind. Really should of ignored heart attack, from sound of it. Maybe Docs' Spoof, More than most, Although by book, to work most out from, of last. Bascily Aging Slip Back half step, yet Not In Constructive(preffered) way.
Signed:PHYSICIAN THOMAS STEWART von DRASHEK M.D.