Statin

Hello tsilve, as you along with so many of us on this site have discovered at your own expense, the side affects of statin drugs are varied and extremely wide ranging, not to mention painful or debilitating. Personally I was prescribed 'Simvastatin' around '08 due to high cholesterol which I was totally unaware of as there were no symptoms or problems. After taking the simvastatin for a matter of months, my left knee began to pain me in a manner, which I can only describe as how I would imagine 'gout' to feel. Never having suffered with gout I could not be more specific, suffice to say that my knee swelled and neither standing or sitting provided any relief from the constant and severe throbbing. Since then I have taken 'Atorvastatin' which appear to be controlling my cholesterol levels without any major problems or concerns, fingers crossed !

First I would speak to your GP, and get him to tell you why you need them and what benefits, they are giving you, this is what I had to do and be clear. If you need someone to go with you take them, if you are able to tell them how it is go for it and make them prove that you need to take the tablets, or find a way to help you control the pain. My GP had no answers for me, so I made my own choice. I can only tell you from my point of view, was given statins recently and gave me joint pains so bad like you I could not move, was given another course and still the same. I have decided to not take them any more, I have put other things in place, not sure how they are working, but having started having a Benecol drink once a day, upped my fish intake to 4 times and week and taking Lecithin which are all said to help. Two weeks on I am back to my old self, can exercise daily like I use to , passing my 10,00 steps daily, my mood has gone back to being my old self. Until it is proven to me that I need the medication, I will take alternative steps . I would say also that I did a trial with the Actipatch, I do not know how it works, but it would for reducing and pain. I am unfortunately left with permanent knee pain which I did not have before, but between the Actipatch and Arnica Gel I am doing ok.

Hope you can find a solution.

Good to know I will see when my next bloods come through if there has been a change for me. Always willing to listen, but show me the benefits.

I think that you should have had a set of blood tests done as a minimum 3 months after starting and then at 1 year after and then annual. I was told this by the pharmacist when they did a medicine review about 5 months after starting simvastatin (and also starting and stopping some other drugs). Just as well that she did because it was found that my liver function had gone out of range by quite a bit. Simvastatin stopped and when blood tests redone 7 weeks later liver function almost returned to normal.

Whatever the reason, you are where you are because of the choices you have made. Whether from conscious analysis of the evidence, or the influence of a doctor, and doctors are the repository of received wisdom largely unchallenged. I'd suggest the latter.

Bigleg got in first but I mirror her opinion.

Were you offered life style change an regular exercise option to reduce cholesterol before medication. Reducing cholesterol by life style change is a very slow process.

Human body makes 2/3 cholesterol and the food we eat give the additional 1/3, please ask your doctor for some explanation to your high cholesterol and may be other blood work tests are necessary!

Every medication has side effect. There are a number of different statin, some may work for you. Did you try different statin?

Were you given a copy of your blood works numbers. Please ask for a copy of your blood work result numbers.

A doctor or a specialist can offer advice, on you continue or cone out of your medication.

Do you have any other rick factors other than high cholesterol.

Are you a doctor?

I am afraid I am unable to answer your question but :

1. Wait for the response from the poster (tsilve), if any of the questions and comments are helpful.

2. If one person can benefit from a question or comment then I have achieved my objectives.

3. There are many free on line medical courses available to learn basic health problems, understanding of them and medication.

Who publishes this booklet? I was never given one. I was on simvastatin for almost 6 months and then was taken off it due to liver function tests.

What booklet are you referring please?

Statins:

atorvastatin (Lipitor),

fluvastatin (Lescol, Lescol XL),

lovastatin (Mevacor, Altoprev),

pravastatin (Pravachol),

rosuvastatin (Crestor),

simvastatin (Zocor), and

pitavastatin (Livalo).

Bala. I wanted to know who published the booklet you mentioned in your post.

Are your referring to the on line course? I am afraid I have note referred to any booklet, sorry.

If you Google free online course you can find a lot in information.

Bala. Apologies but I had initially thought that you were referring to a booklet when in your first post above you said "Were you given a copy of your blood works numbers.". Re-reading it now I realise that you weren't. Difficulties of reading on iPhone small screen!!! Apologies.

Hi, I have decided to get off of them completely. I saw my eyes turning yellow and felt like I was experiencing liver problems. I am going to get my blood work on Thursday July 2. My numbers were not that high, but since my dad died from high cholesterol I thought I should since it runs in my family and my doctor suggested it too. I went from pravastatin to Liptor after 2 years started feeling joint pain, knee pain and still have pains. So, I took myself off and still have pain. I have no muscle tone and hurt all the time. Joint pain through out my body. I can hardly raise my right arm and I have a hard time plugging in my blow dryer with my right arm. It should not be this way! I am only 62 and have worked out for over 20 years to nothing now. How can I work out when I am in pain? I take CoQ10 with Ubiquinol everyday. I was taking 200mg but now I'm going to start taking 300mg to see if that helps my joints. Also, take 3-6-9 Omega gel everyday. I am determined to feel better. I hate feeling this way everyday. I wake up in pain and go to sleep with pain.

I will update you after July 2. Thank you for your questions and comments.

Thanks.

Please ask your GP for a printed copy of your blood test results for your records.

I certainly would not take the advice of anyone who recommended taking a statin when the majority of doctors would not take one or recommend one to there family members.

come off it i will try the advice of the GP but if it makes me feel worse I stop it I stopped my statins over 3 years ago still here but its your decision

Watch Tim Noakes on youtube , I have been on 3 different statins the pain from my back muscles where bad when I gave them up pain went, I would never take them again, I also read truth about statins.

Or Malcolm Kendrick, a UK GP - very vocal anti statin. Unfortunately doctors need to follow NICE guidelines and NICE is no longer independent. It appears that most of the people on the panel have 'conflict of interest' involving pharmaceutical companies.

Anti Statin, every one should be free to discuss this ant statin or statin side effect and the changes that are taking place!

Medication do and can help some people, the side effect can be bad for some people. We should be able to discuss both advantage and disadvantage of statin here.

My memory may not serve me 100% but I think I read last year that GPs receive money from the NHS because of the feeling that (overall) it saved the NHS money by people taking statins. In some cases this could be a worse conflict of interest!!

Stating distorted my husband at the age of 63 today at 65 he lives with pain, limited mobility and will not work again he has no strength, he was a fit healthy carpenter builder, now he is on no medication and learning to live in pain, get off them ASAP, and change your lifestyle, good luck.

Hi, thank you all for your suggestions. Long story short I am taking Uniquinol Co-Q-10, 200-300 mg a day and this will be my 5th day and I feel like my old self again.

After reading about the statin wrecking your bones and muscles I decided to try the supplement above and found it to be a wonder. I was active but after 2 years of Pravastatin and then Lipator most recently I was most of the time in bed and lifeless.

I did some research and read the article on line because of the pain and aches. My knee was the worst, then my shoulder started hurting to where I couldn't even lift my arm. I was feeling like I had worked out for 3 hours and had muscle pain. But this pain never went away.

I knew something wasn't right. My cholesterol levels were high and it runs in my family so I thought I should take the statin since my dad had just passed away from high cholesterol (heartattack). I also read in the article that our levels should be over 300 combined or higher before any doctor should prescribe a statin. Mine were not that high. For years I refused to take them. I thought I could control it myself through diet and exercise. And I did.

Please believe me when I tell you that this supplement is helping me with energy and the pain. I am not trying to push anyone else but it is making a difference for me.

I want my old body and life back. I feel I am on the right track and hope this message helps others. I still have some pain but no where near what it was. My memory was being fogged and I was forgetful which was not me. I didn't care about how I looked and wouldn't even get out of bed. That is not who I am. I am grateful for these blogs and the internet. We now can read up on what Doctor's don't tell us. My doctor should have told me what statins rob our bodies from and to take a supplement to replenish what we lack while taking a statin.

Am happy you are on the mend! Are you for statin or against statin?

your general health? the other two blood numbers, blood glucose and blood pressure?

I had all my blood work done and the final word is that everything is where it is suppose to be. However, I am still in pain and now my doctor is saying that because I suffered trauma last year due to divorce and findings of my husband's double life my aches and pains are due to that plus depression. I don't believe it. It was the statins and I will no longer take them. I am so glad I took myself off a few months ago. I am looking into more supplements to help my body and bones recover. I am determined to get better. Statins are poison. No one can ever change my opinion about that. My blood pressure was never high. My chlorestrol was never that high either. But my doctor talked me into statins and I went along with her. No one tells you that statins rob your bones and muscles and to take CoQ10 along with other supplements to combat the effects or they don't tell what can happen to your body if you do take them. That to me is so wrong because doctors know about what a statin can do to ones body. That withholding vital information should be spoken about so that we can make our own descision about statins. Be upfront with the side effects. This is BS in my book. I now suffer due to statin BS. They should at least put a warning on the label. We don't need them unless your numbers are extremely high. I don't know why doctors defind statins and give them out like candy. Don't let anyone ever talk you into any medications unless you research the side effects and do your home work. I learned a valuable lesson and I hope it is not too late to live a normal life.

I'm against statins due to my own experience. My mom is taking a statin and has the same symphoms. So, she is going to start taking the Ubiquinol as well. She is 88. My blood pressure is fine but I may be borderline diabetic. I have to control my sugar intake. That's my down fall. And as a pastry chef it can be challenging. I am working on that as well. Thank you, bala

My experience with Simvastatin is not good but with some things it is difficult to pinpoint things to it or to other things or a combination. As with all these things we are all different and have different reactions to medicines. I am in persistent AF (was in NSR for less than 72 hours following an ablation). With me (in my view) it was also probably the AF itself and the simvastatin that caused problems to both my INR levels and my SpO2 levels. Separate DNA testing (not connected with AF) showed that I had some intolerance to warfarin. Been on the same dose of Bisoprolol (5mg) from November. Beginning of Jan switched from Apixaban to Warfarin.

Started on Sima in mid September because of high triglyceride level. Had a medicine review by pharmacist in February who said that I needed further blood tests (for this and other reasons). Blood test showed liver function out of range for Serum ALT level (nicely mid range in Sep) and Serum gamma GT level (in range Sep).

From 05 January to end of March my INR was shooting all over the place and for instance went from 3.9 to 1.8 in a week. I was told to stop all green veg and salads and everything else that affects warfarin but still had significant swings from week to week (but not quite as bad). Also SpO2 levels were between 89% and 95% for most (estimate 80%) of the time. Also I was getting terrible leg cramps and feeling totally lethargic.

On 10 Mar stopped Simvastatin. On 30 Mar had ablation and three veins isolated. On 02 Apr went back into persistent AF (less than 72 hours in NSR). In first week of Apr INR dropped even though diet unchanged. However since then INR has remained between 2.7 and 3.1 with 5mg of warfarin (weekly or twice weekly testing). Also since ablation my SpO2 levels have been at 96% or higher apart from once at 94% and once at 95% (test twice daily). Cramps all gone.

Not sure what % allocation is to Sima and what to AF. EP didn't think that AF would have made anywhere near that difference so majority must be down to Sima.

My thoughts are that Sima was a SIGNIFICANT problem for me.