Are my meds causing Joint pain?

[Elliecabg2023]

Hi everyone, since my cabg last year, and now things have settled down, I'm on these meds. Levothyroxine which I've been on about 10 years for thyroid, lansoprazole, aspirin, Bisopropol and atorvastatin. I've read the problems with muscle pain with that statin, but what I have is Joint pain, fingers, elbows, hips, ankles, lower back. I imagine it's a similar pain to having arthritis. Does anyone see any connections, have anything similar, got any advice ? Many thanks

[Blearyeyed]

Atorvastatin is well known for having joint and muscle pain as a common side effect.If that's already happening to you you can request that your GP changes your statin for another , like Rosuvastatin, before it gets worse. Many of us are on this without the side effect.

As I can see you are also on a PPI, and you have a thyroid issue it would also be worth having your Thyroid panel done , if you haven't had tests in the last 3 months, because cardiac and other issues can be both made worse by under medication or over medication with your thyroid so you may need an alteration in the dose of levothyroxine more frequently. Especially if you also get some digestion or malabsorption.

Both the medications and thyroid issue can also cause very low, insufficient or Deficienct levels in certain common nutrients and these can be the root cause for many side effects that pop up on medications like pain , fatigue , migraine and sleep problems so it would be worth requesting a baseline of vitamin and other tests from your GP. It's not necessarily that an individual medication that is fully responsible for new symptoms but that adding that to your care combination was the final straw to break the camels back.

These tests are recommended by NICE when using various medications for cardiac, digestive and thyroid health , and testing every 6-12 months is also recommended even if the initial tests are normal because the health issues and long term medication use can reduce your absorption of certain nutrients over time. You are allowed to request these on the NHS.

The tests to request are Vitamin B12, Folate, Ferritin/Iron, Vitamin D ( only done every 12 months) , full blood count, liver function, kidney function ( electrolytes). If you haven't had one in the last 6 months total Cholesterol and diabetes HbA1c test are also advisable.

Request the results for your own hard copy files, it's good to do this for all letters and test results so you can query things and refer to them at appointments.

In relation to nutrient tests it's important because the GP will just state they are normal even if they are very low or insufficient, or very high but patients , especially those with thyroid issues, get symptoms from these ranges before deficiency occurs and it's better to make changes in your diet or take supplements sooner rather than later before the symptoms get worse as part of preventative care.

You can also require more fluids on more medications because of the extra work the body does each day to metabolise them and try to function properly. You can have minor inflammation which causes pain in joints because of internal dehydration even if you don't feel thirsty , so hydration is a great way to reduce mild or moderate symptoms when you take medications, including statins.

If you have found that you are being less active or mobile since getting new health issues that lack of movement also adds to joint stiffness and back pain. Even if you aren't up to exercising keeping active , little and often , us key to helping that. Even just having a stroll about for a few minutes an hour and stretching your joints can be enough on your worst days to reduce pain.

And, you can also get more pain if you are being too active, even if you think you aren't doing much your body might not agree at its new health level so keep a diary of daily activity, not just physical exercise, and see if it's possible that you might need to pace yourself a little more to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness and add more little rests and gentle stretching movement into your usual activities.

Hope things improve soon , Bee

[Elliecabg2023 in reply to Blearyeyed]

Thank you for your excellent reply, it will take me a while to digest everything you've said, although I think I have some things already covered, I take vitamin d oil once a month and have b12 injections even 6 months. I also take multi vitamin, collagen and fish oils. I was aware that statins give muscle pain, but didn't know they caused joint pain too.

[devonian186]

Has anything else changed since your CABG? Such as less exercise and putting on weight as your last three ailments could be as a result in changes to your lifestyle and putting on weight and exercising differently.

[Elliecabg2023 in reply to devonian186]

From that point of view i lost 10lb post op., still overweight though, and I am doing a lot more exercise, predominantly water based to avoid joint issues. So maybe four aqua classes a week and one cardio rehab, with the occasional lawn bowls.

[Dee717]

Hi Elliecabg,

I too had a CABG last year and whilst I can concur that I’ve definitely had muscle pains with statins and changed, reduced dose and even considered taking inclisiran.

However recently I’ve learned through physiotherapy and advanced cardiac rehab that sometimes the side effect of open heart surgery is general MSK issues and pain. I’ve developed the same kinds of pain as you describe in your post.

It maybe worth you going to see an experienced physiotherapist to help relieve your aches and pains naturally vs painkillers.

I wish you well on this journey we are on.

Dee717.