hi everyone this lesson is on other side
effects of statins so we're going to
talk about
psychological and behavioral side
effects and we're also going to talk
about some
other neurological side effects from
statins so this is actually part two or
a continuation of my previous lesson on
statin side effects
so first let's just briefly do a recap
as to what statins are they are
medications used to lower or reduce
blood cholesterol levels and they all
have the suffix statin so
examples include a or suvastatin
simvastatin
and they do this they reduce blood
cholesterol levels by inhibiting
synthesis of
cholesterol by inhibition of an enzyme
called hmg
coa reductase now as
was talked about in my previous lesson
and in this lesson they cause a variety
of mild and or severe side effects if
you want to learn about the
more common side effects of statin use
please check out my previous lesson
but a brief summary of some of those
common side effects of statins include
myopathy so
painful aching muscles hepatitis or
inflammation of the liver headaches and
fatigue but there are even
more common side effects please check
out my lesson if you want more
information
but this lesson is on other less common
side effects that may occur including
psychological and behavioral side
effects of statins
so statins unfortunately have even more
side effects
one of them is renal impairment so we
did talk about
some kidney disease in the previous
lesson
but this one is more specifically on
renal impairment so
as we mentioned before statins are known
to cause myopathy
so disease of muscle and potentially
rhabdomyolysis which is
and rhabdomyolysis due to loss of
myoglobin
can cause kidney injury so it can lead
to acute kidney injury in kidney failure
now on top of that statins appear to
also have a direct impact on renal
functioning
to cause impairment so not all patients
will have this but
some will have effects on their kidneys
directly from statins so
they have this potential increased risk
from possible other side effects like
myopathy and rhabdomyolysis but they can
also have
direct impact or direct effects from
statins on renal functioning
waking is another side effect of statin
use we talked about
increased risk of type 2 diabetes in the
last lesson but
the weight gain may also be related to
this so this related risk of type 2
diabetes can lead to
elevated levels of insulin which
promotes weight gain
but it's also been suggested that
patients on statins may also increase
their fat intake in caloric intake
also leading to weight gain as well now
the next
several side effects of statins come
from these articles entitled effects of
statins and cholesterol on patient
aggression
is there a connection and the other
article entitled mood
personality and behavior changes during
treatment with statins a k
series so the first one is depression
so depression has been found in
statin users so torvastatin simvastatin
in lovastatin use has been found to be
associated with symptoms of depression
in particular the symptoms that have
been noted include
hopelessness and joylessness and
the reason for this is not clear it may
be
that statin use can exacerbate
underlying symptoms so if a patient has
underlying symptoms of depression
statins may actually
worsen those symptoms so the reason why
statins may increase
symptoms of depression is not known but
it may exacerbate underlying symptoms
now another possible side effect of
statin use is anxiety
so an increase in symptoms of anxiety
have been noted in some case reports of
patients taking statin medications
so again it may be due to statins
exacerbating underlying symptoms so
if a patient has issues with anxiety
already statins may
worsen those symptoms so again some of
these
have only been found in case reports so
anxiety has been found in case reports
so it's
going to be a very uncommon symptom
but it's still possible that this could
be related to statin use
now another side effect is irritability
irritability and agitation have been
found to be neuropsychiatric side
effects of statin use
and with regards to some of these
neuropsychiatric side effects
it appears that it can occur very early
on in
use of statins so within days of using
statins irritability can
show up it can be a side effect even
within a few days
but again this is a very rare side
effect aggression is also another
related side effect of statins
looking at case reports it does appear
that aggression
occurs more often in males compared to
females who take statins
and this can also occur very quickly
after use so even within a day of use
statins can cause aggression or an
increase in aggression in male patients
so again these come from case reports so
they're going to be quite rare
but they have been noted in patients who
use statins
some other side effects of statin use
include low testosterone
statins are noted to be associated with
lower testosterone levels and this makes
sense
the reason being is because statins
reduce cholesterol synthesis
and we need cholesterol to make
testosterone so if we have
lower cholesterol levels we're going to
have lower testosterone levels and we're
going to have lower
levels of other steroid hormones as well
so lower testosterone is going to be one
of those side effects and that's going
to lead to
many other signs and symptoms as well
fatigue and decreased libido so those
are some
other side effects that may occur with
statin use
sleep disruption is also another side
effect of statin use
statins may decrease sleep quality or
cause insomnia
and we mentioned fatigue being a side
effect in the previous lesson but sleep
disruption may be
the cause for this fatigue another side
effect that has been noted in case
reports
is nightmares so it has been noted in a
case report now this is just one report
that a teenager who was using statins
specifically as torvastatin had
nightmares
so nightmares have been noted to be
likely definitively caused by
statin use at least in a teenager
decreased attention has also been noted
in some
patients who have used statins statin
use may lead to decreased concentration
and attention
and again this appears to be a very rare
side effect as it
has been reported in a case report
now there are also some other
neurological
side effects of statin use peripheral
neuropathy is one of them
so peripheral neuropathy is a feeling of
numbness tingling
pins and needles and it often times
occurs on extremities so this numbness
tingling sensation on the hands or the
feet so statin
use may increase the risk of developing
neuropathy
upwards of 16 times higher compared to
non-statin users so it can be a
significant
difference in the prevalence of
peripheral neuropathy between statin
users and non-statin users
and then there is a possible future risk
of developing cataracts or an increased
risk for developing cataracts later on
in life
so there have been some studies
suggesting
that cataracts may be more likely to
develop in patients who have
started statins but evidence is mixed
so there may not be an increased risk
some reports suggest that there
are some reports suggest that there
aren't it appears more likely that
statins do not increase the risk of
cataracts as
has been shown in more recent studies so
i want to bring this up here because it
is still possible and it has been noted
in some studies but
it looks like some of the more recent
meta-analyses suggest
otherwise but again i want to mention it
here so if you want more information
on more common side effects of statin
use please check out my previous lesson
on this topic
and if you haven't already please like
and subscribe for more lessons like this
one thanks much for watching and i hope
see you next time