smoore

OK, gonna make this bike related by saying I wear a bike helmet that covers my skull and my hair. Speaking of hair.....

...I take about six pills a day since my heart attack and quint bypass a couple of years ago. However, after a year my hair started thinning very badly and I have never had issues with that. Nor is there any baldness in my family. So I started Googling and doing my own experimentation and finally stopped taking my 20mg of Lipitor all together. And it really seemed to help a LOT after thirty days.

I mentioned this to my cardiologist and he wasn't too happy with me. However, he also didn't say it couldn't be possible. So now that I've been off of it for about three months, I think I'll start taking it again a see what happens.

Any informed thoughts or opinions are more than welcome. Thanks! I'm not doing great with this getting old stuff.

02Giant 

What is more important to you, having hair or your heart beating?

smoore

That's what he said. But rather than either/or...I'd prefer to see if there might be an option before I just resign to baldness. I guess since there has never been anything but full heads of hair in my family and I've never had any thinning up until now (age 66) I'm having a bit of hard time getting used to seeing this much of my head.

John_V 

You're right! It's more mental than anything else. Ask yourself this, "At 66, who do I have to impress that I need a full set of hair?" If the answer is "nobody", then I would be more concerned with the elevated cholesterol that the Lipitor is controlling than a few pieces of missing hair. But that's just me.

smoore

Well my 50th High School Reunion is this summer and ......there was this cheerleader.

NYMXer

with your reunion coming up, ditch the Lipitor and get some Viagra. Oh, those cheerleader memories...... thanks!

ltxi

Interesting. I've never heard of this side effect before. I'm 73. Been on statins since the mid '80s and on 40mg of Lipitor in particular for a good 15 years. I still have full head of hair.

canklecat

If you're referring to blood pressure meds, not just statins, yup, those can cause hair loss. Common problem with men and women both on some BP meds. Minor side effect compared with the benefits of keeping the BP under control, if diet and exercise haven't helped.

My only concern with statins is the somewhat increased risk of confusion and disorientation with some statins and some people, and the more recent research published by journals of medicine and science (not credulous "alternative medicine" or scare sites) questioning whether statins are necessary and effective. The pressure to prescribe statins appears to be driven by profits for pharmaceutical manufacturers.

While it's only anecdotal I've seen little evidence in my own family that statins are effective, or that there's any connection between diet, cholesterol and heart disease or other risks. My uncle did everything right from middle age onward yet suffered from numerous strokes, heart attacks and had numerous angioplasties. Meds and diet didn't seem to help. He died in his mid-80s after developing Parkinson's, although if I'm recalling correctly the actual cause of death was another massive stroke. His eldest son died of a heart attack at age 40 after no previous indications of any problems. His sister (my mom) has taken statins for cholesterol but I've seen no connection between diet and cholesterol in her lab work. I prepare normal, healthy meals for her, cutting out most sugars and simple carbs but otherwise preparing meat, eggs, etc., normally. I believe her BP meds are necessary and helpful, but I'm skeptical about the statins and asked her doctor to change statins from generic Zocor to generic Lipitor to see whether there was any improvement in memory and orientation (she also has the early stages of Parkinson's). There was an improvement, but there's no way to determine with any scientific relevance whether changing statins was responsible. It may have been due to the addition of Aricept and Namenda.

I won't take any of it unless absolutely necessary and there's evidence to show it actually works -- which doesn't appear to be there for statins. I'm more concerned about quality of life than longevity. I'd consider BP meds if necessary, although exercise keeps it under control. But I'm not going to worry about cholesterol or the sort of micro-management that seems to obsess my mom's doctors, who fret over minor deviations in her lab work, even when barely outside the limits considered normal (her doctor actually called to tell mom her blood potassium level was 5.2 mEq/L, barely above normal and hardly worth worrying about in an isolated instance when there's no history of problems in previous lab work). I've been off all prescription meds for 10 years and the only med I'll probably resume is for a chronic thyroid condition that didn't respond to synthetic thyroid, so I'd like to try Armour thyroid if I can find a doctor willing to prescribe it.

02Giant 

I have been dealing with that since I was in my forties...Ok, thirties.

BlazingPedals

Lipitor is a tool of the Devil! I haven't heard of that side effect before, but I believe it. Unfortunately as a bypass recipient, you're in the population who should actually be lowering their cholesterol. The doc could always try you on a different statin, which might not have the side-effect for you.

bikepro

Decisions, decisions.

John_V 

At my last reunion, the foxy looking cheerleaders looked more like the defensive line of the football team.

smoore

Since it was YOU who mentioned it...I've noticed that on FB as well. Beauty is skin deep and .....temporal.

qcpmsame 

Its not just the cheerleaders that have digressed, I have noticed that many of the jocks have gone to seed too. Many of them have gained a load of weight, lost most of their hair, and have heart problems. Cancer is really bad in the area our HS drew students from, so we have a lot of survivors, as well as losses, unfortunately. Long memorial list, sad.

Bill

outashape

Hair loss is a side effect of Lipitor. My mother passed in 2009. She was on Lipitor for many years. She did not have a problem with hair loss until her dosage was doubled. She asked several pharmacists if hair loss was a side effect and was told to call the number for Lipitor. There she was told that it was a known side effect for some people.

Gerryattrick

To get it back to cycling, just think of the great helmet hole tan marks on your head in the summer if you go bald on top.

smoore

Yea, but think of the extra sunblock I'm going to need.

Blanchje

The best move I ever made is when I gave in and took a #1 clipper to my head. 5 minutes every couple weeks is all the hair care I have.

BlazingPedals

A few years ago I tried using a coolmax headsweat under my helmet. It made me too hot, so I'm back to putting sunblock on my thin spot (which seems to get larger every year.)

charlielhyde

I understand very well because I had the same problem. A couple of years ago I noticed that I began to lose hair, although, in my family, no one suffered from baldness. The only solution was the hair transplant. So, the question was where it could be done and how much it would cost. I began searching on the internet for more information about hair transplant and I came across this site https://thehairlossadvisor.com/hair-t...splant-turkey/, where I found out very useful information regarding this topic. After all, I did the hair transplant in Turkey, as there are highly skilled surgeons and the prices are convenient. Now, I look better than before and I like my new haircut.

GeneO 

Same issue with me. My has thinned uniformly due to a combination of heart medications. I can't so without the Lipitor though due to genetically high cholesterol and triglycerides and heart damage.

Digger Goreman

Read "The China Study" by Dr. Campbell of Cornell University. Eliminating meat and dairy, along with biking to work, took care of my obeseity, hyper-tension, acid reflux, and who knows what else. Should be able to reduce/eliminate the drugs you're on.

Read the book with a scepticle and open mind. You can always go back to meat proteins and pills....

GeneO 

My triglycerides are hereditary and over 900 untreated and just diet adjustments don't help in my case.

Bill in VA

I have been on Lipitor for at least 15 years and have no issue with hair loss. Still as full head or hair at age 67, although now almost white. Now it is all shaggy and long due to the COVID-19 shuttered haircutters. Gives me a good excuse to experiment.

Bill in VA

I had similar results when I lost 45 pounds. I was able to go off the triglyceride medication, stopped getting heartburn, and cut back a lot on the BP medication. For me the key was a medically supervised plan of cutting way back on carbs and increasing animal and fish protein and vegetable and exercise. You then added carbs back in moderation. Cutting the carbs made me far more alert.