Anyone taking Welchol experience anxiety or panic attacks?

[ConcernedWife0102]

My husband has been taking Welchol for high cholesterol for several years. It seems like around the same time he started that medicine he developed anxiety disorder/panic attacks. I haven't read any evidence that Welchol would cause anxiety or panic, but I can't help but wonder. Has anyone else taking Welchol experienced anxiety and/or panic attacks not attributable to any particular situation? Thank you.  

[samdeemom]

SHORT ANSWER:  Yes, I believe Welchol has been causing me to suffer anxiety and depression.

LONGER ANSWER:  Welchol is so expensive that I couldn't afford to fill the prescription when my doctor first prescribed it.  I've tried every statin available and have severe problems with anxiety/depression/mental fog/muscle pain/etc because I do NOT tolerate statins at all.  Since I couldn't afford to fill the Welchol script, my doctor gave me as many samples as he had on hand at least 4 different times.  I had zero side effects when I took the samples, but only ever took them for 2-3 weeks at a time since they always ran out.  

This year, I was able to get help filling the prescription and have been taking a full dose of Welchol every day for about 2 months now--the longest I've ever steadily taken this medication.  About a month ago, I noticed feeling mild-to-moderately depressed with some anxiety.  I tried different things to buck up and relax, but nothing helped.  For the last 2-3 weeks, the anxiety has been building to a near-debilitating level.  I'm not having panic attacks so far, but I just can't calm down.   I've also had severe stomach pain during the same time span.  Basically, I just have not felt like myself at all for at least a month.  I tend to be rather sensitive to medications/chemicals and usually don't need--or tolerate--the same "normal" dose that most people can take.  That means that any medication I take has a tendency to build up in my system until I start feeling "off."  Usually, it manifests itself in depression and, especially, anxiety.  

I don't know yet if Welchol is even doing anything to lower my genetically-high cholesterol or not.  But even if it is lowering my bad cholesterol, the symptoms I've been having seem to indicate that it's built up and I've got too much of the stuff in my system right now.  I've decided to stop taking it for at least a week to see if I start feeling better.  If I do, I'll know that 6 pills/day is too high for me to tolerate and I'll probably drop down to 2 or 4 pills/day in future to see if that helps me avoid the systemic build-up and these debilitating side-effects.

[samdeemom]

What I'm feeling is the exact same thing that happens to me every time a medication builds up in my system.  I appreciate what you're saying, but I know my body.  I also know that anxiety can be a side-effect of taking Welchol.  

[Paxiled]

Statins have some of the worst side effects of any drugs out there.  They can destroy joints, cause a lot of pain, and damage your liver.  They can block the absorption of nutrients that protect the heart, such as CoQ10.  Anything that blocks the absorption of nutrients can leave you with all kinds of problems, including mental problems.  But it's very difficult to tie these things together.  Certainly mental problems aren't high on the list of side effects of statins.  An interesting part of this is that science does not have a consensus on the connection between high cholesterol and heart disease -- there is a correlation but not an understanding of how this really happens.  If you eat sufficient antioxidant rich foods and the cholesterol therefore does not oxidize too rapidly, which is what causes the bad cholesterol to adhere to the walls of your blood vessels which is the problem with it, you can very well have high cholesterol and no evidence of narrowing blood vessels.  There is more to it than just that.  For some, obviously, statins are going to be their best thing to do, but that's probably a whole lot fewer people than are prescribed them.