I’m looking for some advice (before waiting a month to see my Gp lol).
I’ve been taking Atorvastatin 20mg for 13 months and have suddenly started with pain in some of my joints. According to various websites I’ve Googled, any pain should happen when commencing starting with statins and peter out as time goes by. Am I an exception to the rule?!! Lol
My diet is very good and I’m an active person, it’s thought my high cholesterol is familial (previously 12.6, now down to 4) so stopping taking statins isn’t really an option,
Thank you.
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Greyeyes
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I was on Atorvastatin 10mg for well over 10 years with no noticeable side effects but after starting Flecainide and Diltiazem over 5 years ago I started having bad leg pains , reduced the Atorvastatin to 5mg but the pain did not go away so I stopped taking statins totally.
So there is no hard and fast rule to how statins cause pain .
I was never anywhere near your starting point just around 5 to 6 so I had no compunction about stopping.
I read the reverse to what you have read - the side effects do get worse and seldom improve once they begin to cause injury.
Statins block CoQ10 - which is needed for energy function within every cell of your body.
K2 is also blocked - which prevents the build up of calcium in your arteries - sigh !
I replied to you 9 months ago but did not receive a response 😥 When cholesterol is raised it can be due to poor thyroid function. The NHS website does mention ensuring the thyroid is correctly treated before starting statins.
Firstly I apologise for not replying, unless I do something straight away it goes completely out of my head!! 🤦♀️My thyroid has been tested many times & I’ve been told that it’s fine.
Thank you for you response ! Yes we all want to hear the words Fine/Normal/OK when receiving results. Sadly those words mean you are in range ! - however it is where you are in the range that is so important.
Also the NHS mostly only tests the TSH - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone - which is secreted from the Pituitary Gland so is NOT a Thyroid hormone - sigh ! So does not tell you anything about how your thyroid is performing !
I have been a member of Thyroid UK - here on HU since 2011 - and have learnt a great deal from others. You can click onto my username above and read my Bio and check me out - Posts and Replies.
The Tests you need are TSH - FT4 - FT3 and Anti-bodies TPO and Tg. - the last two will rule out Hashimotos which is the most common thyroid problem globally. Sadly the NHS are failing patients by only testing the TSH. Of course there are many symptoms that need treatment if undiagnosed or undertreated ... !
The T4 is secreted by the thyroid and is mostly inactive. It must convert into the Active T3 which is needed in every cell of the body. If low in range - it can be cause of over 300 symptoms - including raised cholesterol. Many people on Thyroid UK have raised cholesterol which lowers when having the thyroid optimally treated.
You are legally entitled to ask for copies of all your test results with ranges - so I do suggest you ask for your results so you can monitor your own progress and check what has been missed. I write on each test sheet the dose - supplements and how I am feeling !
We are the very best advocates of our own health and need to keep a check on how things are organised within the NHS today Private Testing with Home Testing Kits is available from companies detailed in the link below - Click onto - About Testing for details. Medichecks have offers on Thursdays ! - and throughout February I believe.
I was taking it for two years before my muscle pain and leg cramp started, so maybe we're both an exception. I was put on fenofibrate after that, and the same side effects started again after two years. Im having a two month break now, and after feeling the best I have felt for the last five years (enough energy to resume exercise in earnest) I'm hoping the doctor will concede, and admit that I can survive without cholesterol lowering drugs.
I would love to be able to stop taking statins, as it appears to be familial I doubt there’s much chance. I eat very healthy & am not overweight. Good luck to you 😀
In the last few months, I've been listening to lectures and reading papers on statins, heart disease, etc. What I've learned is very concerning - especially about statins. Most of the published studies were funded by pharma. Most of the researchers have refused to release the raw data. Non-pharma sponsored research studies reveal that there is virtually no benefit in taking statins - even for people who have had a heart attack. Cholesterol is a symptom of the problem, not the cause. What I've learned is the cause is chronic inflammation and the primary cause of arterial inflammation is insulin insensitivity which is most often caused by years and years of elevated insulin as a result of diet and other life style factors. Since the primary treatment for this condition is NOT drugs, the big pharma companies are not interested. Check out Dr. Ekberg's YouTube lectures on the subject (youtube.com/watch?v=xcQUghF... or Dr. Aseem Malholtra's - youtube.com/watch?v=mAoTwfx... to learn more.
If you follow these guidelines you bring your body in balance, and your weight to its natural level. Once this happens, it will potentially eliminate your need for medications assuming you don't have any other complicating medical conditions or factors.
Unless your doctor did a specific blood test for Familial Hypercholesterolemia, then he just used an unusually elevated cholesterol value to make an assumption.
Cholesterol elevation is a 'marker' of CVD, but it isn't necessarily a 'cause'.
Statins treat the symptom and not the cause of the disease.
From my experience, most people I speak with think they have a good diet, but they do not.
Self assessing your diet is impossible to do. It is best to see a dietitian or Naturopathic Doctor to assess your diet.
Simple Greyeyes IF IT GIVES YOU PAIN STOP THEM DON;T WORRY YOU WILL NOT DIE NOT YET ANYWAY, I STOPPED STRAIGHT AWAY I GOT THE JOINT PAINS WHICH WAS IN THE FIRST MONTH. SO DON'T WORRY
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Private Testing with Home Testing Kits is available from companies detailed in the link below - Click onto - About Testing for details. Medichecks have offers on Thursdays ! - and throughout February I believe.
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