Presumably cholesterol result was higher before statins?
Vitamin D is slightly low.
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also extremely important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
I was given simvastatin a few years ago and within a week my muscles were agony, I went from being someone energetic to someone who could barely walk. We were camping in France and over the second week my husband said to stop taking them which eventually I did, I also felt seriously depressed on them - a side effect I had that took a while to discover other people also had. I saw a doctor when I got back and said I wasn’t taking them any longer - my theory being what’s the point of extending your life if it is utterly miserable because you can barely walk. Like you I was offered a ‘better’ statin but I refused.
Unlike you things went back to normal as soon as I stopped. I also discovered that statins deplete CoQ10 so I startedtaking that. Also discovered that there is some kind of test they can do before starting patients on statins to see who will be susceptible to muscle damage!
I was eventually diagnosed with sero negative inflammatory arthritis about three years ago. I have always had a lot of muscular pain - I used to think it was fibrositis which I think it probably was. Eventually when my hands got so painful and weak I couldn’t pull plugs out of their sockets I went to see my GP who fast tracked me to a rheumatologist. I was started on a large dose of steroids for three months then given hydroxychloroquine. As soon as I started the steroids I felt like superwoman. Unfortunately I developed steroid induced T2 diabetes - managed to get rid of that fortunately- the muscle aches in shoulder and neck haven’t come back although other parts are still pretty creaky.
I take CoQ10 or ubiquinol - whichever is the best deal on Amazon. Doctors don’t seem to tell their patients statins deplete their CoQ10. I also top up my B vitamins, take sublingual B12 and a combined vitamin D and K2 - I know my levels of both can get low - that’s to help my thyroid because I’m in remission with Graves Disease.
To counteract the aching muscles I use Better You magnesium flakes it the bath and I rub on 75% magnesium cream - I’ve also got 100% magnesium gel but it feels sticky so I prefer the cream and the bath flakes.
It might be worth seeing a physiotherapist and get some gentle exercises you could do to keep your body supple. I do Pilates and go to a gym that is full of non Lycra wearing oldies like me. If I don’t keep moving my body feels awful.
I would never consider statins again or advise anyone to take them.
Thank you, good luck with yours too. Hopefully time and some CoQ10 will help you get back to better health. It’s hard to imagine how you can be affected by statins unless it has actually happened to you. Not nice at all.
Those are known common side effects of statins. Are you taking CoQ10 and B12? You might also need tests for arterial calcification as statins tend to increase that. Extra vit K2 might help. I don't know how long the side effects persist after stopping them. Are you optimally medicated for thyroid?
Thank you londinium for your comments
As far as I know I don't have thyroid problems
ANd I don't have joint problems, just muscle aches and stiffness since the statins
before statins, no muscle problems at all
I am a keen cyclist and pre statin was able to ride at 17 AV. (I'm 69)
Immediately post statin this dropped to 12 AV
Here are some related? results for your information
D 72
Serum parathyroid 21
B12 850
TSH 3.64
FT4 12.6
Anti CCP antibodies (CCP) 1.3
Rheumatoid factor less than 10
CA 239
Thank you
Alps Holiday (my favourite cycling hol!)
Forgot to mention that I tried a 12 week course of Ubiquinol 200 mgs
The reason Londinium said CoQ10 should be taken with statins is those very dangerous drugs lower the body's own production of CoQ10 and that is a serious issue more for energy production and the ongoing beating of the heart. So for you to study the reason statins cause muscle problems which is a different but very common problem is that cholesterol is what is used to build and repair muscles and as you are a serious athlete, this is important to you.
Realize the effects also depend on dose which is why your doctor lowered your dose. But what I am saying is you can do better to take the antioxidants approach as I do and then you are free to make the cholesterol your body demands and not short change it and cause other issues, like painful muscles which is notably common with statin use.
Look at this from google ....
Which statins cause the most rhabdomyolysis?
Simvastatin was the most common statin medication reported in association with rhabdomyolysis (55 cases), most commonly taken at a dose of 40 mg/day. Atorvastatin was the second most common drug (20 cases), used in doses of 10 mg/day.Apr 25, 2014
You have a doctor I would suggest is very foolish. I have one of those too. My endocrinologist doctor is so proud that he takes a statin since they were invented, he bragged to me, and that made my respect for him drop even lower.
All you need to do is read one of the many books on the market about the statin scam and how bad they are for health.
There has been a class action lawsuit won where middle aged women on statins came down with diabetes and that is because hormones are also made out of cholesterol.
So as the body uses cholesterol to patch damage and you already have lots of need for that as an athlete. Given the body uses cholesterol on a first come first served basis, it will try and repair damage, but on a very high dose maybe it can't and so in time you got the muscle pains. Even people who are not athletes will get muscle pains with statin use.
Notice all the people who complain about fibromyalgia as if it is an issue of their responsibility, but what if it is because they are also on a statin? Doctors are really totally more often than not the problem and people better use the internet to learn about their own health situation, as you are doing, to save themselves from the malpractice of doctors.
So my approach is that free radicals can be better balanced with lots of antioxidants in food and supplements. A while ago I had an LDL very low and my HDL about the same level which proves I had a returning HDL close to the LDL level going out so that proves so little of my LDL gets stuck out in the arteries and that is evidenced by my blood pressure at the lower edge of normal after decades of intensive supplement awareness and use.
So all you need to do is learn more than your foolish doctor.
My doctor, just mentioned,, the endocrinologist teaches medical students and he told me years ago my explanation of cholesterol is better than his students and I said it is because I read a lot.
Ordered on January 14, 2011 (4 items)
The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth about What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It
Malcolm Kendrick
Sold by: Amazon.com.ca, Inc.
You will find that explanation in the above book about statins. But I had known many of the facts since 2000 as my GP doctor lectures on heart disease in his seminars which I helped him with for three years over 17 years ago. So the cholesterol scam has been known for a LONG time.
You could look up Dr Sinatra and his writings. His book is not the one I read, as there are several, but here is a vides which is quite accurate on youtube.... VIDEO: Dr. Sinatra Exposes the Great Cholesterol Myth | drsinatra.com
So note that Dr Sinatra said he was trained like the conventional doctors, but has learned more since then.
Information is worth getting and if you put this in youtube.....
rhabdomyolysis pathophysiology
You will see down the list this video....
title of video....
Statin Drugs are Poison
Raymond Francis Author
400K views
6 years ago
MIT scientist Raymond Francis discusses the ineffectiveness of Statin drugs. He sheds light on why they are used, what damage ...
So I continue to say if you use the antioxidant approach it will help repair you after all your exercise as exercise is good for you as we all know, but it does create free radicals and those are NOT gobbled up as the incorrect journalists say as if free radicals are bad as they are inevitable and are only missing an electron or more. So the providing of antioxidants gives the needed electrons to the free radicals to BALANCE them and that is all that is needed to reduce the internal damage that they could be about to produce, so those free radicals do not steal away electrons from otherwise healthy tissues.
So your providing the antioxidants to the body is a way to prevent the potential internal damage and then that satisfies the body and it will lower its own cholesterol production on its own. That is the correct away. The body says....Hey seems we do not need to produce as much cholesterol and it goes down on it's own, but it is STILL FREE to make the cholesterol it is signalled to make by the fact that the body functions with all sorts of signals and the body likes to reach homeostasis. You can look that up in wikipedia as homeostasis is a medical term.
Since you are an athlete I could provide a doctor's video about how he says taking testosterone is like cutting off the testicles. And here in this site run by lots of people who have a thyroid disease they are also trying to make you into a thyroid patient for life, just in the same way as I was turned into a diabetic for life which is why I am so adamant not to t let the same thing happen to me with the thyroid. So you should be careful about that too as I have found some of the people most listened to here are saying that reverse T3 is not important and that is incorrect.
Myself and two men friends of mine all three of us had mid range reverse T3 and NO antibodies which proves our thyroids could work fine if given the right inputs with which to make the thyroid hormone which is what i am doing. We did not have T4 that was too high.
I also got my rT3 down to the lower edge of the ref range and note that all test ranges are not the optimal range, but the 95% range of just what that lab usually sees so the ranges can vary by lab depending on their patient population.. So in the case of reverse T3, like homocysteine and other issues where lower is better, it pays to actually find out what the best rate would be for exactly what is being measured and for your objectives and age, and not just be satisfied because you are in the range that you are ok.
So the only good advice here is about the supplements and what they might say to someone who is already irretrievably a thyroid patient. So you have to be careful here and that is because if you take a hormone you do not need it will close down your own production in a slow manner which is why the expert urologist who wrote the book, "The Penis" advised against a man taking testosterone. He explained how the hypothalamus then does the checking and notices there is already enough testosterone so closes down it's own production. When I listened I knew it does take a while but he was saying it in a dramatic way for effect and it still is correct as the other doctor on the panel who deals with athletes was saying he noticed it too in his patients.
That is also why the body builder sites warn against anyone taking any hormone continually if they are using it to build muscle growth as they say it could cause a problem and I knew they were correct. I have been reading on health issues for 38 years since I was 24. So that is why I reduced my rT3 in an on and off again manner to keep my own ability as I am not yet incapable of making my own thyroid hormone.
So I wonder if you came here wondering if you have a thyroid issue due to lack of energy. When you say you do not notice any difference in taking CoQ10, I can sympathize as I take a small amount too and do not notice it. However I think as CoQ10 is more involved in the mitochondria and it is an energy issue, you might not be seeing it solve the muscle problem, but that does not mean it is not worth taking. I just think you could do way better with supplements of a professional grade that gets a rating of 5/5 in a rationgs book I have bought a couple of times, as health issues are important to me.
When I suggested that to a young woman of 21 in Portugal who had asked for help in neuropathy which I solved in myself in 2002 to 2003 just with supplements, so I had suggested this professional brand to her for healing the neuropathy. It seems to be keeping her well enough as she is living a full life and goes to university full time. What was notable is she had not told me her doctor had been upset that she had a TSH of 5 in Oct 2017 but he had not explained to her what that means and when she got her next set of tests in March 2018 all was fine and the TSH had come down and her other FT4 and FT3 were also fine. So the advantage of having taken the supplement that had 52 elements in it is that she had at least a little of all that is needed to be healthy and so it solved her thyroid situation which was just due to lack of what was needed. She had only been using by that time a half adult dose as she is slim. It is not sold retail as it is usually sold though doctors, but it is carried on some amazon sites as it is in the UK, but it is cheaper on a different site I noticed that also offers free shipping that is mentioned on the amazon.co.uk site.
So I wonder if you have decided to look into thyroid issues due to maybe feeling less than as energetic as you would like. Your profile does not say what your goal has been in coming to this site so i am just guessing.
If I come across any ideas, I will post it here, even if it is not thyroid related as I am most in favour of solving problems as that is why I came to this site.
My issue has only been reverse T3 related and I know how to deal with it after my three experiments in 2017 that worked.
I always believe in being positive. So since there is little time to read books for you at this point, perhaps I should only send results from internet searches to you in a private message as I fear the people here will say it is not relevant to thyroid issues.
Which brand name of statin were you on?
Since, as someone else already mentioned, your cholesterol was not high to begin with so why on earth is your doctor prescribing a statin in a dose that was about three times higher than even what my endocrinologist doctor who is so uneducated in this was taking himself. You are probably not that old asd you are very active. So how old is your doctor, as that seems to be the problem.
My GP who knows way more about this as he treats patients with heart disease has known of the issue since I first met him in 2000.
What was amazing is that a long while ago Dr Oz who is a heart surgeon was interviewing Dr Sinatra on his show and acted like he was also in the dark about the problem of how statins are not good. As I mentioned this issue has been known a long time. That is why there are so many books published on the topic.
Here is from google.....(these are NOT my words, but from google...and notice it is also from Mayo Clinic)
Is muscle damage from statins permanent?
Muscle pain and damage. One of the most common complaints of people taking statins is muscle pain. ... Rhabdomyolysis can cause severe muscle pain, liver damage, kidney failure and death. The risk of very serious side effects is extremely low, and calculated in a few cases per million of patients taking statins.Apr 26, 2016
Statin side effects: Weigh the benefits and risks - Mayo Clinic
From my own experience - my doctor prescribed ROSUMOP for my high cholesterol. Rosumop contains statins.
I felt mentally older, disoriented, I had blurred vision and muscle pain.
Then I read about statin substances and it is recommended to avoid them (brain damage, impaired thinking, memory, concentration, mental feeling older, muscle pain).
I told the doctor that I did not feel well after taking ROSUMOP and the doctor assured me it would improve.
I live in the Czech Republic and found a replacement for statins.
I replaced ROSUMOP after 3 months with a natural supplement - CHOLESTEN from Advance (contains red fermented rice and does not contain statins)
After half a year I had good blood results and I feel good again. I recommend finding natural dietary supplements for good cholesterol and not using statins.
If you are from England - find the web for example:
you can read in the answers here at the info forum about statins that are bad for the body and really take natural food supplements for high cholesterol without statins
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