I have been on Pravastatin40 for over 5 years, now due to severe muscle pain and fatigue stopped a couple of days ago. Is there a cure?

[Myth66]

After severe muscle pain stopped Pravastatin40 couple of days ago. I was on it for the past 5 years. Experiencing extreme fatigue, will it ever become better? Will the muscles come back to normal? I am taking coq10, vit D everyday.

[123congo]

I wish I knew the answer to that. I took myself off statins a year ago and substituted plant sterols instead, without the side effects. Cholesterol level came down to 5.4 which my doctor apparently thinks is acceptable. The national average is 5.7. I am also taking coQ10 however I still experience weak and tired leg muscles which for an ex rugby player and swimmer is particularly annoying, however I think its all about learning to manage ones situation. Good luck, I look forward to hearing others comments.

[scottbliz]

Same problem for me, I have been off of statins for 6 months and some of the pain is better but I still cannot do everything I used to do. I have to sit about every 5 min. it seems like.

[kasibarndoor]

You my find ubiqinol helps rather than Q10, maybe add vitamin k2 to vitamin d (although sunshine is better)

[Myrahjm]

I had been on low dose statins for about 25 years prior to my heart attack at 58 last year. About 5 years ago my doctor doubled my dose of Lipitor from 20 to 40mg which I stopped completely about 6 months later due to sharp pain in the middle of my lower back. After the heart attack (I was 58 at the time) they maxed out the Lipitor dose to 80mg which I felt I had to take but the side effects got so bad that last March I thought I had kidney stones again. Any labor I did caused enormous lower back muscle pain causing nausea. I don't like to go to the doctor but I did and they told me to stop completely and the symptoms improved. Then I went to half dose and it got bad again. Then we tried pravachol which although not as bad still caused problems so last September I decided to stop all statins.

Things got better but I'm still having major lower back issues anytime I use those muscles (cleaning up the barn etc.) so I'm not sure if you ever recover completely or not. I did start taking CoQ10 after the heart attack and raised the dose this past summer. Also a few other supplements based on a book called the Great Cholesterol myth by a Dr. Sinatra which is pretty compelling and is consistent with some of the other books I've read. What many are saying is that sugar (and white flour) is the problem vice saturated fat.

For me that's been my whole life. I never ate much saturated fat but plenty of sweets, bread and pasta. And my issue is genetic with a strong family history of heart disease, I've never been overweight and I'm not sedentary. My LDL cholesterol has been average and not bad but my HDL has always been very low. And I don't think statins helped, been on them for 30 years now and still had the heart attack (then again I don't know if I would have had one at 50 if I hadn't been on them). Interesting to that my Dad had his first heart attack also at 58 fixed with a stent then a 2nd at 62 where they did a quad bypass. Then he shifted to the Atkins diet and since then variations of it. He stays away from bread and sweets and he's still alive at 83 while his brothers died at 65 and 66 and his parents at 61 and 57. Maybe there is something to the sugar, white flour piece.

But back to the muscle issue no more nausea but I really have to watch it. I try to exercise thinking it will improve but so far the back still gets sore very easy and takes awhile to recover (heating pad helps). Then again its only been 3 plus months since I went completely off of statins and since last April off the high dose Lipitor but I'm hopefully and intend to stay active and push it some to try to rebuild and strengthen the muscles. Good luck to you.

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to Myrahjm]

I also was told I had familial hypercholesterolemia - a genetic pre-disposition to excess production of cholesterol. I had bypass surgery in 2015 and was given a cocktail of pills post-surgery, including 40 mg of Crestor. After limited success by eliminating red meat and reducing simple carbohydrates I decided it was time to make a bold move to get off the drugs.

I became a vegetarian, although I still consume dairy (goat dairy) and fish. I do not eat any red meat, chicken, turkey, lamb, pork or goat.

I have completely eliminated simple carbohydrates (they become sugar in your body) such as white bread, white rice, white pasta, white potatoes. I have 2 slices of whole grain bread daily, and once every couple of weeks I'll have brown rice or whole wheat pasta.

I eat mostly vegetables, fruits, beans, chickpeas, lentils, egg whites and ensure I drink 4 cups of green tea per day. Everything tastes great as long as you get some good recipes. I'm also full and don't ever feel hungry.

The other half of getting off of pills and eliminating heart disease is exercise. I do a hard workout 4 days per week and on off days I walk for an hour. There's a big difference between being active and exercising. Playing golf is is an activity, running sprints during a high intensity interval training program - is exercise.

Read this:

athleteinme.com/ArticleView...

and this:

pritikin.com/healthiest-die...

P.S. I no longer take any medication, have dropped 35 pounds, do not have high blood pressure or any other symptom of heart disease. My blood work is excellent although my LDL is slightly elevated however my ApoB/ApoA-1 ratio is 0.64% which is optimal.

[Floozie]

It's obvious that you have a family history of cardiovascular disease which is why you have been prescribed statins. Your father has been rescued by the surgical interventions. With regard to your muscular pain, I wonder if you have had blood tests to measure your creatinine phosphokinase, which is an indicator of muscle damage if it is significantly raised, although, if this is the case, statins are not necessarily to blame & the muscle damage could well be due to another cause as muscular pain can be due to lots of reasons. People always seem to blame statins for any pain they experience, but I do agree from what you say that you seem to have proved they are the culprit in your case. Have you not been investigated for the reason of your heart attack? In view of what you say about your father, I would certainly want to know the cause in case your situation is similar to his. You also don't mention any other past medical history or medication you may be taking (perhaps for hypertension) which would obviously need to be well controlled. Lots of questions which need to be addressed.

[Brendamary]

My chiropractor suggested Turmeric tablets and only buy best I.e Pukka or Lambert online and they have been very good. Take 1 or 2 tablets during the day and add two black pepper corns to get this into system quicker. They really do seem to help the inflammation in body.

[rocheen in reply to Brendamary]

Do they keep your cholesterol down. any good for bp

[Brendamary in reply to rocheen]

Not sure but he told me general inflammation in the body and makes you feel a lot better. My cholesterol has come down and bp good?

[rocheen in reply to Brendamary]

thanks. has it come down since you started taking it. was it high before.

[DakCB-UK]

I was on Atorvastatin for about 5 years and developed extreme muscle pain towards the end of that, finishing up with leg spasms. After coming off and taking Q10, most of the problems cleared up in about 3 months.

I now have to be a lot more careful than I used to not to let my knees get cold while exercising, but that might just be me getting older.

I've been through three other statins and had different degrees of problems, resulting in discontinuation of all. I'm currently taking ezetimibe and colestid while waiting to see if that does enough or whether my local Clinical Commissioning Group changes its mind and starts paying for any PCSK9 inhibitors.

[Atrebatus]

I was chatting in the hospital waiting room about my nightmares and 'narcoleptic' episodes, swapping symptoms as one does. Out of the blue she asked "Do you take a statin called Simvorstatin?" When I replied in the affirmative she advised me to come off it immediately!

I told the Doctor about this and she suggested I try a different statin called Avorstatin at a lower dose of 10mg rather than the 20mg I had been taking. Although the nightmares stopped, my dreams were still very tortuous and complicated, so I cut the pills in half. That helped but not completely.

I have been free of statins now for 3 months, and the hospital I attend has agreed to add a cholesterol test to my regular blood checks for my condition called 'Polycythæmia' to see if my cholesterol levels change. I have gentle sleeps now thank God, and don't feel sleepy behind the wheel.

[sos007 Ambassador]

If the muscle pain was caused by the statin drug, then the pain will dissipate in the coming weeks.

The cure for heart disease is a major lifestyle change, diet and exercise. Drugs and surgery buy you time and mask the cause of the illness. To eliminate the need for medications and in order to 'live' you must change your lifestyle.

Read this article on exercise:

athleteinme.com/ArticleView...

Also read this article to see an effective eating plan for longevity and elimination of heart disease:

pritikin.com/healthiest-die...

[paul1958]

Bezafibrate 400mgs

[paul1958 in reply to paul1958]

Re: Bezafibrate........................I have tried Simvastatin and then Avorstatin for about 2 years. Although they reduce Chol very well I was getting muscle pains etc. So I stopped taking them for 4 months and my chol had gone to 8.

My doctor then put me on Bezafibrate 400mg (not a Statin). I then went to Gran Canaria, "All inclusive" for 2 weeks. (It was ALREADY booked). I took full advantage and then came home and went on "The New High Protein Diet" by Dr Charles Clark. Basically it is similar to the Atkins diet, but a bit easier. I have about 10 grams of carb a day.No alcohol. No bread, pots, pasta, rice or anything "low fat" as it is full of carbs, no coffee as it produces insulin which stores fat etc, but normally 5 or 6 hard boiled eggs for brunch and for dinner i have meat with mushrooms onion, a little bit of mayo etc., or often with boiled leeks and carrots. If not working I have "full" English. No beans, no bread, no black pudding and only saus if very low in carbs (the expensive ones normally are). I have lost 1 stone 4lbs in 5 weeks and my chol has gone down to 6.5 in 7 weeks. Got another 2 1/2 stones to go. Dr Clark recommends 40 grams max of carbs to start with and then very gradually to up it to 60 ish g. I fully expect my chol to be 3 something by April. (I hope anyway, but I am sure it will be at a safe level.)

You may have trouble getting Bezafibrate, at first, as my chemist told me that the cost price to the NHS is about £12 per packet, from memory. Statins are about 30p a box. I saw my Dr write on my records that he was prescribing Beza because of my previous problems with statins, so obviously there are cost controls in place.