Statin Drugs: FDA Letter by Morley Evans

v.2.0.7

To whom it may concern:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Below is a report I made to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. You may find it interesting.

Report to MedWatch, the FDA Medical Products Reporting Program (10/10/2001):

Zocor was prescribed to reduce cholesterol in 1992, after a lab report. I began reporting muscle and joint pain which the doctor ignored. In 1995, I was diagnosed with “fibromyalgia” by another doctor. My condition continued to worsen. I returned to the first doctor who eventually referred me to a psychologist, a rheumatologist and physiotherapy. I "managed" my disability. In 1998, these rheumatoid symptoms were treated by another doctor who instructed me to cease all medication. I coincidentally discontinued Zocor. Pain, swelling, stiffness, sleep disorder and other problems improved during the next seven months. In 2000, the first doctor's successor prescribed Lipitor to reduce cholesterol, after a lab report. He mocked my reports of renewed pain and other symptoms. In June 2000, I had a “stroke” and was in a coma when taken to hospital where a neurosurgeon drilled a hole in my head and saved my life. I coincidentally discontinued Lipitor. My condition improved. In September 2001, CBS News noted the Baycol recall and I learned of statin drug side effects. They sounded like my symptoms. Subsequent examination on the Web of product information from Merck and Pfizer revealed warnings that Zocor and Lipitor can cause musculo-skeletal and other problems. I was not warned by my doctors who seemed unaware of these side effects. I was not warned by the product information that came with these drugs when I took them. Such would have saved me from ten years of extreme pain, suffering, disability and loss of income. The problems I experienced were severe.

Sincerely yours,
Morley Leonard Evans

LINKS

1. U.C.S.D. Statin Study: collateral effects

2. Public Citizen petition: WARNING

3. Medical Timeline: Morley Evans’s medical history

4. My Symptoms: collateral damage in the war on cholesterol

5. Q.B.G. NO. 1780 OF A.D. 2003

6. Iatrogenic Disease: definition

7. Risky Business: probability

8. Neuromuscular Center W.U.St.L.: ætiology

9. NINDS, National Institutes of Health: myopathy

10. Clinical Practice Message Boards: collateral effects

11. MedStudents Brazil: ætiology