BethU
Extremely helpful member
- Joined
- May 11, 2008
- Messages
- 2,646
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 05/2008
- Country
- US
- State
- California
- City
- Los Angeles
Don't know if this should be under research, but I'll post here ...
I was at UCLA this morning being evaluated for the new emotional lability drug study, and while reviewing my med list, Dr. Graves noticed Lipitor, and said that he had read a new study last weekend (I think he said it was a Canadian study) that showed that ALS patients who take statins have worse symptoms than those who don't.
He didn't mention progression ... just the severity of symptoms. He said that people with both heart disease and ALS have to make a decision as to what's most important to them.
My PCP has had me on 80 mg of lipitor a day (the maximum dose), which is ridiculous, as I'm small (5'1") and old. That's the kind of dose you give a 21-year-old linebacker. I had been cutting the pills in half for the last six months, because I felt 80 mg was much too much for me (and my cholesterol is basically OK ... my PCP's just pill happy), and also because I can't swallow them any more. Now I can't swallow the half-pills, either, so for the last month or so, I've just been skipping it altogether.
I'm still taking a low dose of Niacin (which helps increase the good stuff, HDLs).
I don't know what study the doctor was talking about, but this seems to me to be significant. If others do know of the study, this is at least a confirmation that this news is being taken seriously at the clinical level.
(And I FINALLY have a defense when I tell my PCP that I'm through with Lipitor.)
BethU
I was at UCLA this morning being evaluated for the new emotional lability drug study, and while reviewing my med list, Dr. Graves noticed Lipitor, and said that he had read a new study last weekend (I think he said it was a Canadian study) that showed that ALS patients who take statins have worse symptoms than those who don't.
He didn't mention progression ... just the severity of symptoms. He said that people with both heart disease and ALS have to make a decision as to what's most important to them.
My PCP has had me on 80 mg of lipitor a day (the maximum dose), which is ridiculous, as I'm small (5'1") and old. That's the kind of dose you give a 21-year-old linebacker. I had been cutting the pills in half for the last six months, because I felt 80 mg was much too much for me (and my cholesterol is basically OK ... my PCP's just pill happy), and also because I can't swallow them any more. Now I can't swallow the half-pills, either, so for the last month or so, I've just been skipping it altogether.
I'm still taking a low dose of Niacin (which helps increase the good stuff, HDLs).
I don't know what study the doctor was talking about, but this seems to me to be significant. If others do know of the study, this is at least a confirmation that this news is being taken seriously at the clinical level.
(And I FINALLY have a defense when I tell my PCP that I'm through with Lipitor.)
BethU