Does Simvastatin 40 mg cause memory loss and amnesia?

I've been on 40 mg Simvastatin daily for about 3 years. Over the last 15 months I've had 13 episodes of transient amnesia. I've been referred to two neurologist. They were both puzzled and say that it's not TIA or TGA. My episodes initially were all on waking from sleep but in the last six months have all occurred while awake. They last from a few minutes to half an hour. During an episode I cannot remember who people are, local geography (streets), the day of the week, the time of year, or what I did recently, etc.. On the same days that I have had an amnesia episode, but NOT coincident with it, I have often had one or two episodes in which I feel I am going to pass out. Thiese have occurred after I saw the neurologist. My GP is not interested.

My heart operation was NOT cholesterol related, the need for the operation came from other directions, this is straight from the doctors because I asked.  Even in view of that, he said that taking the statins should be done as a preventive measure.  Even dating back to our initial consultation, he has never once made any mention of any side effects, much less some very serious ones listed in the FDA's current advisory posted on their website.

My cardiologist is very convincing and says it is best to be on statin drugs if you've had any heart condition.  I asked him at the time how long, and he said for the rest of my life.  That in itself is a bit shocking, as I don't believe in making my body dependent on ANY drug.

The memory patchiness - being a patchwork quilt with massive blank spots - came up gradually and almost unoticeably over that 2 year period, until finally what I was not being able to remember became unmistakable.  Words I would reach for and not find, names I knew were there but I simply could not recall, no matter how hard I tried.

Once I noticed the memory patchiness had gotten really noticeable on the simvistatin - it's hard to be aware of what it is you are unaware of - I went off the simvistatin and gradually my memory became reliable again, filling in the empty patches and delivering three dimensional life again, which had gone very one dimensional while on the statin.

(Unfortunately one of the drugs on the list that is known to cause that memory patchiness is thyroid supplementation - which I need because my thyroid gland was hit by the Xrays in the radiation therapy in '80, while being treated for Hodgkins Disease.  Now I take 100mcg every day.  Can't stop taking that one.)

Recently during an office visit with my cardiologist I told him about stopping the Simvistatin a year ago and he started me on Atorvastatin 40mg instead, saying Lipitor would have less deleterious effects on memory than Simvistatin.  But the advice I have read from the FDA earlier today says that all statin drugs act alike.  And in the month I have been taking Atorvastatin, I find I am reaching for people's names more now again, like before, and this time I am not allowing it to creep up on me.  I can't help but wonder what it is that should have been occuring to me these days, that is NOT occurring to me because of the blank/blind spots in my memory. Again, what is it that I am supposed to be aware of that I am not aware that I am unaware of?

As of today's FDA advisory reading, I am now worried about my liver, diabetes, and potential muscle damage as well.  "The rest of my life?"  I don't think so.

I will be showing my cardiologist the FDA warning and will probably stop the atorvastatin at the end of the month, unless he presents me with compelling proof that I need it.  Had to do the same thing in the hospital after my heart operation when they were hitting my lungs with searing Atavan and other breathing drugs 4 times a day, burning my throat and IMHO scarring it.  My breathing was just fine!  I rebelled.  When confronted with my demand for proof of the need for such treatment, they went away and came back later, saying it was my choice, I could quit if I wanted. They could not present me with any earthly reason for me to be taking it except that "It's protocol".  So of course I quit it.

Why did they endanger and stress out my delicate breathing apparatus for no good reason?  What would have happened to my lungs if that had continued, 4 times a day, until I was released on the 9th day?  Why don't they find the side effects of these things as important as the POTENTIAL help I would get from keeping my already safe-level cholesterol levels down further???  These side effects were not even MENTIONED by my cardiologist.  Ever.

My chiropractor says our brains are made of fat and need a certain amount of cholesterol to function properly.  I think that, at least in my case, the statin drugs are depriving my brain of that, and making me unaware of things that should be occurring to me naturally.  In which case I consider these drugs not only deleterious, but insidious as well.  Taking it for the rest of my life?  Sorry Charlie.  

Not an option.

Here's a link to today's FDA cover page, discussing this issue -

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm293330.htm

i had a quadruple bi pass 3 years last November.

this was due to high cholesterol.

I have been on a number of statins for some years before the operation

I think about 11-13.

they were changed a number of times, the first one I was on was Lipitor,

then I was put on atorvastatin, a low dose, then it was increased to a high

dose, I think 28? Mg, now on Simvastatin 40mg.

i have complained to my wife for over 2 years that I have a lot of pain my knees when walking. I assumed that because I have a torn cartilage in my left knee, I was compensating by putting weight on my right knee.

I have also been feeling very tired and nearly every day I have gone to bed about 2pm. 

I have lost my balance a number of times, but don't know if that is a side effect.

Last week I read an article in the Daily Mail about statins that prompted me to read the leaflet in the tablets. I was shocked to find that I seemed to have a number of these side effects.

I stopped taking them 2 nights ago and the pain in my joints seems to have almost stopped, I did not feel tired yesterday and didn't need to go to bed.

my cholesterol is below 5, but I won't know what the next level will be because of stopping them