Jury out on CoQ10???

[Bazza1234]

Spent a bit of time researching CoQ10/Ubiquinol. Seems to me that the Jury is still out on it. I can understand and go along with the theory of what Coq10 is, what it is for, its importance in the muscles department and elsewhere in the body, how it is produced in the liver? , how age and statin use deplete it. Studies seem to show reasonably confidently that CoQ10 supplements are seen to increase the level of CoQ10 in the blood but not really known about whether it increases in various body cells, Some studies have shown that from a practical point of view supplemental CoQ10 have improved athletic performance and peoples ills, while other studies have reported no improvement.

Anybody here with (once again) PERSONAL EXPERIENCE either negative or positive with Supplemental C0Q10 or maybe CoQ10 testing??? I kicked my toe on a rock yesterday and it hurts - don't know if it is the statins that I am taking that caused the pain - or the rock??

[mgdoble]

Only anecdotal evidence of course. I took statins for a year and stopped about 8 weeks ago. Symptoms included joint pain, skin dryness, low energy, coldness, especially at night even with lots of bedding. I felt liked i'd aged ten years. After six months i started taking 100mg of ubiquinol. There was a difference, my body temperature improved and I felt better in terms of energy levels though I didn't feel normalised and athletic performance was compromised. Whatever the mechanism statins definitely affect muscle energy production. I run and cycle. Although I could still cover reasonable distances I couldn't do this at speed. If I asked more of my muscles by going from a slow jog to a sprint then the muscle energy wasn't there, I literally found it impossible to raise my speed for more than a few seconds. Now I have stopped everything has flooded back. I can now run as fast as I want with nothing holding me back. My mental energy has returned and I feel like my old self again.

[Bazza1234 in reply to mgdoble]

Thank you for this - it is a close approximation to where I am right now Are you still taking the CoQ10? Did you take the Ubiquenone or Ubiquenol version? Problem is for me - that there may be some other factors in play . My current struggle to recover/restart from some injury, illness and time away from my athletic pursuits could be a result of those or an increase in dosage of CRESTOR from 5mg to 20 mg???

[sos007 Ambassador]

While on Crestor (30 mg) developed severe pain in my left rotator cuff that was so bad I couldn't sleep at night. This was in spite of taking CoQ10 - although I was on a lower dosage back then.

As you may know, I stopped statins in October 2016 by gradually weaning off of them over 10 months.

In spite of stopping the statins, I have continued taking about 375 mg of CoQ10 for nearly 2 years now. I cannot definitively say that it is helping me, but it certainly is not hurting me. I generally feel great.

If you hit your toe on a rock I doubt it is the statin that is causing the pain. It IS possible though that you may have triggered some gout. Hi doses of vitamin C will help relieve gout. How do I know? When I began to take Niacin daily I noticed that my uric acid levels increased during my routine quarterly blood test. Then I began taking high doses of vitamin C and my uric acid levels came back down.

Have you tried high doses of vitamin C to bring down your cholesterol in place of statins? There is evidence that vitamin C will in fact succeed as will Niacin which was the 'go-to' cholesterol lowering agent prior to the invention of statins.

[Bazza1234 in reply to sos007]

- I should have somehow indicated that I was being deliberately facetious re my question about the toe and the rock. I was basically saying that some people seem to automatically assume that their pain comes from the statins - when there is also a rock involved in their pain. So which one is the problem??? Some pain that people have is not so obviously coming from a rock - but other unknown causes.

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to Bazza1234]

I thought it was a bit of a peculiar comment - thanks for the clarification - sometimes I can be dense.

[Berthold in reply to sos007]

Clear enough to understand your point. If one reads about the mitochondria damage all statins do to all muscle cells even those not experiencing statin myopathy then there is another class of people who feel the damaging pain by any type of cholesterol lowering drug and this can be tested and explained by these measurements found in a pay walled article here.

annals.org/aim/article-abst...

So why is this not investigated? But it is intentionally suppressed and we are supposed to trust your doctors good judgment.

Those not experiencing statin pain will still have muscle damage but have other damage later. The heart muscle gets damaged even though the statin supporters try to prove they strengthen the heart which is not possible.

The problem is are so few case reports of statin damage, I found 6, that are investigated for cause and each of these raises serious issues of suppressed real issues and needs more wider study.

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to Berthold]

I had damage for statins and reported it to my cardiologist but it probably ended there.

[Berthold in reply to Berthold]

Yes if one takes statins one should take CoQ10 see point #14 but it is not established what dose is required and if it will actually work. I have seen research estimates of very high doses which seem extremely costly and impractical. Since it is not a patented substance there is no further research and studies which would take a lot of money and time to prove.

spacedoc.com/articles/50-fa...

[Berthold in reply to Berthold]

Sorry it is ref 15... then again the CoQ10 is within the mitochondria

spacedoc.com/articles/stati...

So even if replaced taking extra CoQ10 while on statins it seems of questionable value as it might have to be put back there to the extent that it was reduced?!

[Stu888]

I noticed a marked decrease (>50%) in my ability to swim long distances when using Atorvastatin 80mg (I was a competitive swimmer when younger) I have regained some of this ability whilst lowering Atorvastatin to 20mg daily as well as taking 200mg coQ10 but suspect it has more to do with the statin or anxiety.

[Kristicats]

I take a low dose of ubiquinol 100mg daily which I think has helped with my shoulder stiffness ( definitely caused through Statins ) I no longer take statins.

[Berthold]

Tried 600mg while on statins without results. I doubt mega doses will help. The American guidelines say if a patient asks the doctor about taking CoQ10 they are told to say they do not work and allow that they might try 200mg if the patient insists! I found this information in a Pharmacist Letter publication about doctors instructions. This is the likely source of the myth. If you are off statins I know of someone who went to see this CoQ10 specialist and he measures his blood levels and told him what level to keep it at so as to reduce oxidation of lipid particles and he takes 600mg. He has zero calcium score and is the most risky genotype APOE4.

spacedoc.com/articles/peter...

He explains why this is so in this video. You may also find that 600mg of CoQ10 was used unsuccessfully in a clinical trial of statin users. When mitochondria the power houses of our cells have their endogenous resources cut off by statins it can be never properly be replaced by supplements as shown by the doc in the diagram of the statin pathway.

youtube.com/watch?v=m3pHxF_...(Not working as expected?)