Statins and hypothyroidism

[tcpace]

Interesting paper here:

Asymptomatic hypothyroidism and statin-induced myopathy

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Note that it warns that "use of statins in hypothyroid patients is dangerous" and recommends that all patients should be assessed for hypothyroidism before being prescribed statins (not sure that any GPs actually do this).

Personally I'd stay away from statins anyway but anyone already taking them may want to bear in mind that any pains and aches they have could be attributable to the statins.

[shaws Administrator]

I'm surprised you haven't, as yet, had a comment.

I do believe that the link is correct but it is amazing how many doctors might prescribe statins to a hypothyroid patient due to their higher cholesterol level. They don't know that thyroid hormones, when optimum, will reduce cholesterol level. In fact, if they think the TSH is 'in range' they will prescribe 'other medications' for any other symptoms rather than increasing dose of levo or whatever thyroid hormones they take.

[tcpace in reply to shaws]

It was of particular interest to me because my wife had problems with statins. With hindsight we suspect she had an asymptomatic thyroid problem at the time. The statin-induced problems immediately resolved when she stopped taking them. But she went on to develop overt hypo problems shortly after (maybe they had been masked by the statin-induced problems) and ended up having a hemi-thyroidectomy. She only came off statins because she thought they may have caused her weight gain, not suspecting that various issues (e.g. severe aches and pains) she had were caused by the statins. Had she been checked for hypothyroidism before taking statins, it would have avoided a lot of problems and may have resulted in her being treated for hypothyroidism a lot earlier. She may even have avoided having to have the hemi-thyroidectomy.

Incidentally I've flagged the paper up to Dr Kendrick as it may be of interest to him if he's not already aware of it.

TonyC

[Mamapea1 in reply to tcpace]

Yes, my dad was diagnosed with hypothyroidism after he had complained about the side effects of statins. GP blamed being hypo, but he knew it was the statins, as symptoms only improved if he stopped them.

Unfortunately, GP scared him about heart attacks, so he continued with them, in addition to the Levo. He had always been active, but couldn't walk due to the muscle pain and his health declined rapidly. 😕