Forgetfulness, memory loss - is the culprit Crestor?

In recent weeks, maybe over a month now, I have noticed a worrying sign, a growing incidence of forgetfulness, issues with my memory.

Now after my triple bypass nine years ago in 2007 I, like many others after such operations, had issues with my memory, something which I soon after found out was not uncommon for people who have had open heart surgery and a condition that was referred to as Postperfusion syndrome or "Pumphead". With me, my short term memory after surgery was absolutely "shot" but remarkably my long term memory seemed to improve.

After a year or two (or was it longer?) the memory issues appeared to go away and I was more or less back to normal.

Fast forward to 2016. Over the past 3-4 weeks (or maybe a bit longer) I have noticed that again I am having issues with my memory, particularly short term. At first I simply didn't pay much attention to this but over the past couple of weeks I feel this has been getting worse and it is starting to concern me.

For example, in conversations with people, if I am talking about something and get interrupted, I can find it very hard to find my line of thought, of what I was talking about and it can take me minutes of serious concentration to remember what I was talking about. This has happened more and more over the past couple of weeks.

More worrying, however, has been a couple of issues regarding my medication and this is something I will need to address if it does not improve or in fact if it gets worse.

A week ago today I started using Ntro-Dur 5 patches to help me with my angina. All good, I followed the instructions and Monday through Thursday I placed the patch on a different part of my upper body as directed.

Then came Friday. On Friday evening I realized I had forgotten to put the patch on that morning. Okay, these things happen and I made a mental note not to do this again.

Then came Sunday, two days later. Normally I put the patch on in the morning after my shower and take it off in the evening - on for 12 hours, no patch for 12 hours as per instructions.

So this morning (Monday morning) I am lying in bed at 5.00am wide awake, feeling good and then it dawns on me that I did not take the patch off last night - it had been on since 10.00am the previous morning for some 17 hours. Now I am not sure what the consequences will be for me today but I do know I will not be putting a patch on today.

BUT the worrying thing is that now, within seven days, I have had two incidences regarding medication that I need to take to help me with my issues, in this case my heart and angina.

And then I remember - oh the irony - that one of the side effects of Crestor is memory issues, forgetfulness. After finding a new 99% blockage in my RCA in May I was changed from Lipitor for my cholesterol to Crestor.

Will monitor this situation and will speak to my GP if this situation does not improve or in fact if it gets worse.

More information on side effects of Crestor can be found here: https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a603033.html