My dad has been diagnosed with Parkinson's - effects of statins?

Hi

I might be completely off the mark with this but will give a shot anyway - I am interested in your opinions.

My dad is 73 years old. He has just been diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease. He has been on simvastatins for around 3 years now. The decline in his health has been noticeable for this time. He has slowed down a lot but I just put it down to getting older. 

He has always been active and lives a healthy lifestyle - no alcohol, no smoking, lots of daily exercise. But he has slowed down loads. 

Now, 1 in 4 Parkinsons diagnosis are wrong - could it be that the simvastatin might, just might, be causing all this? 

Yes, lots of his symptoms are pointing towards Parkinsons - for example he has lost lost of movement in his dominant, right arm (or naturally doesnt use it), it does not swing much when walking, has aches and pains (back and hips mainly - but has a history of this), he has lost his sense of smell, and his lips tremour quite considerably when he is resting. He has become shaky. Could these be symptoms of simvastatins? I have done lots of googling and there is of course 100s of google results on the dangers of statins and maybe I am being unrealistcally optmistic but if there might be a chance that it might not be Parkinsons, but there is hope until it can is ruled out.

?I say ruled out - his GP (whichever doctor he sees on any given day) said it defintely is not the statins. By all accounts he was incredulous when my mum asked if it could be the statins. 

He replied with pretty much everyone in that waiting room is on statins..(Sorry I can’t use inverted commas – my keyboards   delete button and inverted commas aren’t working for some reason..)  The same GP who said he has slipped a disc a month or so ago (turned out to be a muscular problem that went after a few days, and said he definitely did not have Parkinson’s a few weeks before that. Another issue here is that my parents are not the type to ask questions and push matters. They will just accept what is being said and take anything that has been told them.

 Since his diagnoses he was told that the Parkinson’s nurse would be in touch within days and visits would commence. Not heard a thing yet. I think it is a disgrace. Anyway I digress, sorry. 

I could type loads here, but I am aware that it is a lengthy and boring opening post. I am happy to answer specific questions that may help you help/advise me. I just want some guidance here, based on your experience and expertise and opinions

 Many thanks for your time.

0 likes, 56 replies