The only TV I ever see is NFL games. On Thanksgiving Day it was football and some advertisement for a Cholesterol Drug. A 'Heart' was crying out to its owner how they needed to do more. And of course it stated how the studies showed spectacular results. Two things, the side effects where HUGE. Scared me to say no. And most l likely if u took this medication you would live 3 more days. The Cholesterol narrative is so alive and well.

Currently 25% of patients say no to Statins. I thankfully am allergic to statins. I think. But not sure, this ad was foe an injection.

Let's start off with saying in August of 2018 I was simply fat, dumb and happy. I was in the 320's, never really had blood sugar nor blood pressure issues but the cholesterol had been ever increasing thru my upper forties. Around the time I turned 49 the doctor convinced me to give the statins a try, I forget which one, but I picked up the prescription. About the third day I started to feel funny, and by the fourth to the fifth day I had every side effect listed. When I googled the medicine it listed the five more common side effects and I had all five by day five. I stopped taking them that day but the symptoms continued, and some even worsened.

I fought the symptoms for a month or more. The doctor offered another version of the statin, maybe another name brand, but I declined. By mid-September I had cramps behind my eyes and pains in my neck and spine that would drive me to my knees.

On Monday morning, Labor Day 2018, I woke up as blind as a bat. Zero sight. Everything was as the same color as a computer screen when turned off. I freaked out. The pain in my neck/spine was crippling. On the way to the emergency room some of sight returned in my left eye almost like a curtain was being peeled back. By noon I could see again but the pain was even more intense.

Over the next three months it was CAT scan after CAT scan, blood draw after blood draw, multiple MRI's, a couple EMG's, a lumbar puncture (spinal tap), some visual evoke type tests, some cognizance exams, probably in stroke protocol 10-15 times when the left side showed weakness or no mobility.

In late December I was diagnosed with Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder. During the explanations of the disease the neurologist said something triggered the autoimmune response and your body reacted. By then I was well onto my Google Medical degree and was near graduating from the Youtube College of Medicine and based on my newfound medical expertise (LOL) my trigger was the statins. I have no medical background to say that was the case and it could have been a complete coincidence; I simply could not prove it one way or the other. But in my brain (and in my heart) it was the statins.

From that point til now, I doubt statins will ever be an option.

Scott