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
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Scott F. · 23 hours ago 23 hr