Statin Side Affects

[KSWurth01]

After having a heart attack two years ago I was put on a statin and blood thinners. Well this year my legs and right side was hurting so bad. Always in pain like I had bruised my rib cage. I was on Atorvastatin 20 mg a day. I went to my doctor and told him I wasn’t sleeping because of the rib pain. I was short of breath when I would work outside and clean house. Bloodwork showed I had Rheumatoid Arthritis and small red blood cells . Also an auto immune disease . So he put me on celebrex. Not telling him or my cardiologist I stopped the statin! Dropped 40 pounds in four months and all my pain is completely gone! It’s not the Celebrex. I’m telling you stopping that statin made me feel better. I’m normal again. I have stopped all fried foods. White foods like breads, potatoes, rice. I eat fruit, vegys and chicken, fish , pork and an occasional piece of lean red meat. I saw my doc the other day after getting my bloodwork done again and the RA is GONE! Exercises and getting more active are a part of my daily routine. I am still over weight but I am going to do this! Yes meditations are a big part of our lives but sometimes you have to decide what you are willing to do. I want a better quality of life and statins we’re not the answer. In two years I had been on three different types of statins. It’s just isn’t for me. I don’t want to be crippled because of them.

[Wooodsie]

Well done you. I ran out of statins so couldn't take them for about a week. Thought nothing of it when I got the prescription back and just took them. Now, only about 3 days in, I'm thinking some of the stuff that was going on, has come back. I'm seriously considering stopping them too now.

[Happyrosie]

well done. In this country, the UK, doctors are supposed to go down the “lifestyle and diet” route, or at least have a full and frank discussion with the patient about this, before prescribing anti- hypertensive and cholesterol medications.

But this is the first time I’ve heard of RA being dealt with to the point of disappearing through diet.

[MadBunny in reply to Happyrosie]

Me too . I've has RA for 17 years and rely on meds to keep it under control and without them ,I'd be in a pretty bad way. Im sure a healthy diet helps, but if it could be dealt with by diet alone, it would save a lot of money.

[TasteLessFood4Life]

It is a trade-off between benefits and side-effects. If it is skewed too much to the latter - hard to stick it out. However, there are many types of statins - some types are more suited than others for people. There is a massive debate on-going between the low carb vs healthy eating vs statins vs fat. All I know, statins have been around for donkey years - it is tried and tested in large samples of the population. If you can tolerate and your risk is higher than usual - no harm in taking.

[MadBunny]

I'm curious about RA being diagnosed by just a blood test. Bloods are just one part of a wider range of diagnostic tests .

[Survivor1952 in reply to MadBunny]

I’ve been told I am borderline for RA after a recent blood test but I’ve no symptoms at all.

[MadBunny in reply to Survivor1952]

I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully it won't develop into RA . Sending you good wishes 🐰

[Lowerfield_no_more]

It is my understanding that rheumatoid arthritis actually is an auto immune disease, and it doesn't go away once you have it, as in there is no cure, although it can go into remission before perhaps you get another flare up, and also modern medication can help to relieve the symptoms. So it is quite possible you do have RA at a very low level, and when you started with statins, known to cause joint and muscle pain in some people, they acted as a trigger to cause a flare up, and now you have stopped statins it has gone back into remission, perhaps assisted by your dietary changes and weight loss. All that said I have much sympathy for anyone who has RA, because my grandfather had it in the days when there was no medication treatment available and he slowly got progressively worse. Fortunately medical science has come a long way since then and the prospects for an RA sufferer are much much better, and hopefully will continue to improve.