Lipitor, Thief of Memory: Statin Drugs and the Misguided War on Cholesterol

by Duane Graveline, M.D.

Overview

Dr. Duane Graveline, former astronaut, aerospace medical research scientist, flight surgeon, and family doctor, given Lipitor(r) to lower his cholesterol, loses his short-term memory for several hours. He discontinues the drug, but a year later at his annual NASA physical is urged to resume it at half the dose. Six weeks later he loses both short and retrograde memories for half a day and is diagnosed in the ER with transient global amnesia (TGA).

Appalled by the medical community's ignorance of the cognitive side effects of the statin drugs, he begins searching for answers to his traumatic experience. Lipitor, Thief of Memory, Statin Drugs and the Misguided War On Cholesterol is the "scary, appealingly written" account of his findings.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012800497
Publisher:	Duane Graveline, M.D.
Publication date:	06/27/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	180
Sales rank:	767,208
File size:	121 KB

About the Author

June 1955 Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine

July 1955-June 1956 Intern Walter Reed Army Hospital

Jun-Oct 1956 Aviation Medicine at Randolph Air Force Base

1956-1957 Kelly Air Force Base - Chief of Aviation Medicine Service

February 1957 Aeronautical rating of senior flight surgeon

1957-1958 Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health - received Master's degree in Public Health

1958-60 Aerospace Medical residency at the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine

July 1960 completed residency training at Brooks Air Force Base receiving specialty certification by the American Board in Preventative Medicine

1960 Assigned to the Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory as research scientist with special interest in prolonged weightlessness deconditioning and countermeasures

July 1962 Brooks Air Force Base: scientific research and analyst of Soviet bioastronautics

1962 Designated NASA flight controller for the Mercury and Gemini program with multiple duty stations

1962-1965 Director of analysis for Soviet Bioastronautics and biomedical research scientist. Performed his original research on the extremity tourniquet and lower body negative pressure techniques for use in prolonged zero gravity missions

May 1965 Selected as one of NASA's six scientist astronauts from 1,400 original applicants. The top four hundred were reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences. Of the sixteen finalists only six passed the final testing

June 1965 Assigned to Williams Air Force Base for T-38 supersonic jet pilot training

Nov 1965 Resigned from NASA for personal reasons

1966-1991 Practiced medicine as a family doctor in Burlington, Vermont.Served as a flight surgeon for the Vermont Army National Guard helicopter group

1982 Took six months leave to return to NASA as Chief of Medical Operations for KSC

1992 to 1994 M.D. locum tenens licensed in the State of Virginia

1994 Retired from medical practice at the age of 63

2003-2005 Returned to KSC as NASA consultant in space medicine. Initiated study of effects of cosmic radiation on mice at Brookhaven National Laboratories