If this was happening to me, I'd want a friend to intervene. When my friend lost her ability to think and remember on statins, she told me she was fairly sure she had the beginnings of dementia and her doctor had her writing things down. I asked for a list of all her prescription and OTC meds and researched them all, discovered the connection with Lipitor, copied off the material and she took it into her doctor. The doctor was skeptical because it was largely anecdotal, but one of the first people to discuss it was a NASA astronaut. He lost his memory on statins. Her doctor agreed to try, but only to humor her and me. Her memory returned. He was astounded.

Here's an article: It's Not Dementia, It's Your Heart Medication: Cholesterol Drugs and Memory - Scientific American

My friend was cooperative. If your friend doesn't want to rock the boat, maybe you'll end up being the boat rocker. Maybe you'll lose your pal's friendship, but as it stands now you're already losing him.

Dementia does happen to people in your friend's age group, but it's not common. Dementia usually comes on slowly; however, some brain diseases can come on quickly and ... well, so quickly that people notice and become alarmed.

I've talked about two friends in this thread. One who suffered vascular dementia from many mini-strokes and who could not remember her diagnosis. An MRI showed her brain was atrophied. She was well into her late 80's when she began to change. Her symptoms came on slowly, over a period of several years. My other friend was 67 or 68 when she started taking statins and became highly confused. She's now in her 70s and in fine fettle. Her symptoms came on quickly, within a matter of several months.

If it was happening to me, I'd want a friend to rock the boat on my behalf. I wish you the best, Jimi. This is very difficult.