Pay Attention To Statin Side Effects

I took statin drugs for several years including Lipitor, Crestor and Vytorin, which had little effect on cholesterol. However, I am now suffering from Inclusion Body Myositis which doctors have told me was triggerd by the statins. Now I am experiencing pain and weakness causing many falls and serious injury.

I read your weekly editorial in our local newspaper re: statin drugs. I began to wonder if the statin drug my mom has been taking for years could be responsible for her current physical condition.

I read more information online and ordered your book.

The more in-depth information brought tears to my eyes. It seems very clear to me that my mother must be one of the people that have had horrible side-effects from this drug.

She has incredible (increasing) muscle pain and increasing weakness. Memory loss and gaps. She has vision problems. Mom has myasthenias gravis, and the doctors have told her she shouldn't have muscle pain associated with that. She has worsening pain in her arms and wakes up in intense pain in the night. She is 75 years old and, at this point, after taking statins for years and years, can often barely walk across the room. She experiences shortness of breath. She can barely bathe herself without being physically exhausted. She still tries to get some exercise by walking when she is physically able (with a walker), but she often doesn't have the strength to walk.

Mom is being told now that the pain is from arthritis. At this point, mom has very limited opportunity for social interaction and her doctor suggested medication for depression. My mother has a doctor's appointment this afternoon. I hope and pray that her new physician will agree that she should be off the statin medication for (at least) a trial period, if not permanently.

I would hope that you might be able to put some of this information on statins into a condensed form that would be appropriate to present to a doctor. I have been emailing information to my dad, but it is a bit overwhelming for my parents to digest all of this information at this point.

Thank you very much.

I was taking Pravicol several years ago and started having muscle pain. Stopped the medication and the pain subsided over time. Last year I was put on Red Yeast Rice and over a year my cholesterol dropped 30 points. It is still elevated at 243, LDL is 174 and my cardiologist wants me to start taking Simvastatin 20 mg per day. I hesitate to take this med considering my previous problem. I am presently dieting and have lost 30 lbs with 30 more to go. After reading your info, I think I'll continue the RYR and increase exercise instead. Thanks, AC

I began statins in the mid-1990's. Since then I tried all of them. I totally collapsed at work one day and was unable to stand. I adamantly refused to take more, as of about 2003. Almost simultaneously I developed muscle problems, peripheral neuropathy, horrendous leg cramps, rheumatoid arthritis, and bursitis. Walking is extremely painful because of sore feet.

My doctor (excellent in every other respect) would absolutely not believe me and kept insisting that I take medications. Since the very beginning, my good cholesterol has been in the top one percent of the population. For the last few years I've been on Nyastan which gave a false diabetes scare recently.

Now I'm taking nothing and feeling better than ever, except for not being able to walk much distance. Since 2001 when all the symptoms began, the muscle problems and neuropathy have neither improved nor advanced, but I no longer have leg cramps at night. I do continue to cramp during water aerobics.

We are very careful about our diet and try to eat a very healthy lifestyle and exercise very regularly. I can only hope that in the future, ALS does not rear its ugly head.

I too was prescribed Lipitor, and I felt dizzy, stomach pains, weakness. When I mentioned it to my doctor, he sent me to a ENT doctor, who wouldn't see me unless I first took a hearing test. I could hear, I was dizzy! Why don't doctors listen to their patients and not keep saying oh it will be OK and you need to get the cholesterol down. I think they go overboard too much.

I too tried a variety of statins and experienced severe muscle pain with them all. I am now on slow release niacin, specifically Endur-acin, with no problems and my LDL is below 70 and my HDL is above 40.

SINCE 1991, I HAVE HAD HIGH NUMBERS IN CHOLESTEROL, L.D.L AND TRIGLYCERIDES. I HAVE BEEN ON ALL STATINS BUT I COULD NOT STAND THEIR SIDE EFFECTS FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME.

ALL THESE YEARS I TRIED DIFFERENT NATURAL REMEDIES WITH SOME SUCCESS, THEN IN MARCH 2008 I TRIED OMEGA 3 FISH OIL WITH CO Q10 AND LECITHIN CONCENTRATE FROM SOY 400MG. WITHIN A 4-MONTH PERIOD MY CHOLESTEROL WAS 290, WENT DOWN TO 135, MY L.D.L WAS 192, WENT DOWN TO 59, LAST, MY TRIGLYCERIDES WERE 198, WENT DOWN TOO 103.

I COULD'NT BELIEVE THIS CHANGE, THE LOWEST MY TRIGLYCERIDES HAVE EVER BEEN SINCE 1991 WAS 170.

MY DOCTOR STILL HAS ME ON VYTORIN 10/40 FOR TWO YEARS. I MUST SAY IT DOES'NT GIVE ME THE BAD SIDE EFFECTS LIKE OF LIPITOR OR CRESTOR.

HAVE YOU ANY IDEA WHAT CAUSED THIS GREAT CHANGE IN MY READINGS?

My husband and I started taking Crestor earlier this year. He has gained 7 pounds and has not been able to lose it. I was steadily losing weight with a low-carb diet until I started the Crestor and have not lost a pound since! Do you think this is related to the Crestor?

Thanks so much for a marvelously informative column. I am a faithful reader and also have enjoyed hearing you both speak. Keep it up!

My doctors were mystified at my anemia. The puzzle was solved after reading your article on how taking Nexium and other acid-reducing drugs can hinder the absorbtion of iron and other nutrients. Now I regularly take iron with my other supplements. Thank you!

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! These "wonder drugs" have no proven track recored...EXCEPT for the never ending list of side effects.... let's not forget memory loss and amnesia! Oh and congestive heart failure.

But this is win-win for the drug companies....think about it...this drug "prevents" heart attacks and strokes!! but how do you know that a drug is preventing something you never had??? HELLO!! You are being duped, big time...

This is another perfect example of mass-media scare tactics causing everyone to think they HAVE to take these drugs....just because we have a test that can measure a substance in our blood??

Do some reasearch and see all the GOOD that cholesterol does for your body...hormones, muscles, brain, etc.

We NEED to eat better and flush big pharma and it's deadly poisions down the toilet.

I totally agree with the July 7th, 2008 message.

I have never taken statins but three relatives did and none of them lived a longer or better life.

Their different medical issues made me do some research on the Internet and I am sure that some of them were caused by their medications!

That`s why it`s so important to educate yourself.

The FDA trust the drug companies, the doctors trust the FDA, the nurses trust the doctors and the patients trust the doctors and the pharmacists.

I think it`s also good to do some own "research" in books and on the Internet.

Here are som of the books I have read and also some web-sites.

The Great Cholesterol Con (Antony Colpo)

Book with the same title (Malcolm Kendrick)

The Cholesterol Myths (Uffe Ravnskov)

Lipitor - thief of memory (Duane Graveline)

Malignant Medical Myths (Joel F. Kauffman)

Overdosed America (John Abramson)

The Truth About The Drug Companies (Marcia Angell)

Powerful Medicines, the benefits, risks and costs of prescription drugs (Jerry Avorn)

What if medicine disappeared?
(Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea)

Also Google for "Stopped our statins" - a very informative site. Under "print articles" there is a very good article from The Weston Price Foundation".

www.ravnskov.nu

www.thincs.org

www.spacedoc.net
(there is a Forum full of stories. You can also order a free news letter)

My M.D. pushes statins as though it were a miracle and even suggested my husband might benefit from them EVEN THOUGH his cholesterol has never been over 170 and he has no heart problems, just because he is over 60! My cholesterol is just under borderline on the total count but my good is at 60. I had always had respect for our Dr. but he seems driven when it comes to statins. I tried Zetia and about 4 weeks later had stomach cramping, then recently tried Lipitor for only 2 weeks and started having muscle aches , stopped it for 1 week and the aches stopped. I am thinking of finding another physician because of this, but wonder if I can find one that isn't a pusher.

I was taking Lipitor a few years ago. It was fine for @4 years then the side effects began. I was active and had a physical job, but became so disabled that I thought I was dying. At work I could not stand without conscious effort, all of my muscles felt weak. I was in line at a grocery and I mentioned that to woman in front of me and she replied that she had the same thing and she quit Lipitor. I quit that day and began to feel better within weeks. I did not agree to Crestor until my doctor said he had used it himself.

My ophthalmologist helped me link statin drugs to two incidences of vein branch retinal occlusion in my late 40s. Thank goodness my vision loss was not debilitating. I will never take statin drugs and have cautioned all blood relatives.

What a wonderful website. I wish I would have found this site yrs ago. My mom was put on statin drugs long before the horrible side effects surfaced (that is muscle weakness and or pain). She told her family doctor & he turned the other ear. He just didn't listen to her & she was not a complainer. I said that in past tense because we lost her suddenly one evening. My heartache continues still & I believe always will. She finally stopped those statin medications on her own. But guess what, her muscle weakness that initially got a little better never went away & soon she began falling because her legs would give out & had to have not one but two muscle biopsies which confirmed she had inclusion body myositis.

The neurologist at OSU felt her IBM was related to her chronic use of statin drugs. And another interesting point: her family doctor did check her liver enzymes but not her muscle enzymes. She too was put on Celebrex for her c/o muscular pain. She experienced many falls that sent her to the hospital.

To see her decline was too much. But she was a trooper. Never complained. She was such a strong woman. Raised 4 children & kept an immaculate home. She was such an active & vibrant person. Looking back if she would have only stopped those medications sooner. But "they say" it is such a rare side effect. Is muscular weakness & these awful myopathies really that rare or just under reported!!! And my Mom was the most compliant person. If her doctor said she needed the medication she would follow his instructions.

She just didn't question his authority. If he would have listened to her & taken her off the medication when she complained. Also he never checked her muscle enzymes (a different blood draw) not related to checking a person's liver enzymes until it was too late. When her muscle enzymes were checked they were very high & she was on her way to being diagnosed w/ inclusion body myositis.

Without her medical records in front of me she was in her early to mid 50's at the time of diagnosis. And eventually she ended up in a power chair due to the severe weakness. She was only 64 years old when she died. Her Mom lived to be in her mid 80's & her Dad was 68 yrs old when he died & he was a life long smoker!!! My moms's oldest granddaughter will graduate from high school this year & next year my son (her second oldest granchild will graduate from high school.) I know mom will be looking down from Heaven but my heart breaks all the same.

And my intuition tells me that if Mom would have never been placed on those statin drugs to begin with her quality of life would have been better. She loved to go bike riding & work in the yard but her disability forced her to give these things up. I hope this will help someone else that is experiencing muscle weakness. If the doctor says your liver enzymes are OK also ask them if he or she checked your muscle enzymes. Nobody knows your body better than you.

I know my mom wouldn't care that I shared her medical history w/ you. If this post helps just one person then it was worth it. Also to note celebrex is still on the market but vioxx isn't. Take warning. Both are antiinflammatories. And Celebrex is accompanied by a warning sheet saying it may cause hytertension & or chest pain.

The inner ear is responsible for balance. If there is a problem with your ears you may very well feel dizzy and suffer from vertigo. The ENT's request was perfectly appropriate; if you have hearing loss, it may be associated with some difficulty with your inner ear.

Why do you think you were referred to an ENT (i.e., Ear, Nose, and Throat) specialist for dizziness? Perhaps instead of insisting that your physician isn't listening (please don't get me wrong, I do believe that most of them DO NOT listen properly to their patients) you might first ask WHY they are making specific recommendations so you have a clearer idea of their thinking.

I hope you have found some relief from your symptoms.

I was just diagnosed with Achilles tendonitis. The first question my orthopedic surgeon asked me was "do you take statins? anti-cholesterol medicine?" When I answered, yes that I take Zocor. He said, "that's your problem." He said that was a HUGE increase in people taking statins and torn Achilles tendons and tendonitis. Walking cast, physical therapy and about a year later (with no zocor) my ankle is better. Also, the numbness/tingling/burning in my legs went away that my GP had just blown off as my imagination.

My dad has become very dizzy in the mornings, muscle loss in his legs/arms, foggy memory and I'm trying to talk him into stopping his Zocor; but, his doctor (running a zocor factory that requires labs and a doctor visit every 90 days) won't take him off the zocor and can't explain/find anything wrong with him. My Dad thinks doctors are gods and won't listen to me.