Lipitor and ED

My GP has never heard of it he says, but my Urologist just told me to get off of Lipitor as it is most likely the cause of my ED. So my GP has me now on Zetia. I've read this group for 4 mos now and see no reference to Lipitor and ED.

I'm a healthy 64-year-old, great BP, (that of a 16-year-old the nurse tells me) but since I've been on Lipitor, (3 years) ED has become a growing presence. I know.... every med has it's own side effects, but if Lipitor was the cause of my ED, what will Zetia bring?? Comments?

From the National Institutes of Health website: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi? cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11818357& dopt=Abstract

Do lipid-lowering drugs cause erectile dysfunction? A systematic review.

Rizvi K, Hampson JP, Harvey JN.

University of Wales College of Medicine, Wrexham Academic Unit, Wrexham, UK.
Fam Pract. 2002 Feb;19(1):95-8. PMID: 11818357

BACKGROUND: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is common although under-reported by patients. Along with the better known causes of ED, drug-induced impotence needs to be considered as a cause of this symptom. Lipid-lowering drugs have been prescribed increasingly. Their relationship to ED is controversial.
OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to clarify the relationship between lipid-lowering therapy and ED. A secondary aim was to assess the value of the systematic review procedure in the area of adverse drug reactions. METHODS: A systematic review was carried out using computerized biomedical databases and Internet sources. Terms denoting ED were linked with terms referring to lipid-lowering drugs. Information was also sought from regulatory agencies.
RESULTS: A significant literature was identified, much from obscure sources, which included case reports, review articles, and information from clinical trials and from regulatory agencies. Information from all of these sources identified fibrates as a source of ED. A substantial number of cases of ED associated with statin usage have been reported to regulatory agencies. Case reports and clinical trial evidence supported the suggestion that statins can also cause ED. Some information on possible mechanisms was obtained, but the mechanism remains uncertain. CONCLUSIONS: The systematic review procedure was applied successfully to collect evidence suggesting that both statins and fibrates may cause ED. More numerous reports to regulatory agencies complemented more detailed information from case reports to provide a new perspective on a common area of prescribing.

I've been on Pravachol since 1995 - never had side-effects. My GP tried to get me to switch to Liptor a few years ago. I experienced severe muscular cramping and pain after 1 week. Went back to
Pravachol. My cardio added Zetia about four weeks ago and I have experienced some mild bloating and weight gain, which apparently, is a side-effect. I told him if it doesn't go away I will stop taking
Zetia.

Do you think we might at last have something on the statin issue that gets the medical community's attention?