simvastatin
Posted , 5 users are following.
I STARTED TAKING SIMVASTATIN 20 MG. ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH ANGINA .I WAS ALRIGHT TO START WITH BIT ISTARTED TO GET HORENDOUS CRAMP IN MY LEGS AFTER ABOUT 3 YEARS AND GRADUALLY GETTING WORSE .MY ARMS STARTED TO SWELL UP AND MY MUSCLES WERE LIKE CONCRETE I COULD HARDLY MOVE .IWENT TO THE GP SHE PRESCRIBED PARACETOMOL FOR THE PAIN .WHAT A JOKE .AFTER 3 VISITS TO THE GP I WAS SENT TO THE HOSPITAL FOR TESTS I WAS WIRED UP TO A MACHINE WITH ELECTRIC CURRENT ATTACHED TO MY FINGERS AND GIVEN JOLTS OF ELECTRICITY TO SEE IF MY MUSCLES WOULD REACT IT WAS SO BARBARIC I COULD NOT BEILIVE THEY WOULD DO THAT IN THIS DAY AND AGE THEY SAID THEY COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH MY MUSCLES I AM STILL IN PAIN NOW ALTHOUGH I AM OFF SIMVASTATIN NOW ISTILL HAVE LUMPS AND BUMPS IN MY ARMS AND LEGS AND STILL SUFFER FROM MUSCLE SPASMS I VISTED MY GP YESTERDAY AND TOLD HIM ABOUT THE PROBLEMS I HAVE HAD WITH SIMVASTATIN AND HE TOLD ME ITWOULD NOT BE THT DRUG THAT WOULD BE CAUSING MY ACHES AND PAINS I THINK HE SHOULD TRY SIMVASTATIN FOR AWHILE AND THEN TELL ME ITS NOT THAT
0 likes, 11 replies
Buzzard
Posted
Aged 65. Heart attack 12 years ago. On statins since 1985. Over the years have experienced muscle pain and cramps. Prescribed Allopurinol for gout (which I did not have and Voltarol which simply masked the symptoms).
After quite some time of pain demanded a CK check which had not been included as part of the normal statin LFT check. Result was a reading of 13609Ui. Normal is about 500Ui. Doctor took me off statins. Two months down the line my CK is 7805Ui. Symptoms reduced by half (muscle pain, myopathy, inability to climb inclines, liftt legs etc).
My advice. Don't stop taking statins without Doctors advice. Make sure your your GP is monitoring your CK levels as well as your LFTs if you are suffering muscle problems. Mine wasn't, until I insisted.
Potty_P
Posted
PLEASE do some research on co-enzyme Q10. As a diabetic, we are often prescribed statins to control cholesterol. Proven research shows that long term use of statins causes muscular spasms and, worst case scenario, these can affect your largest muscle - the heart. This is because they affect the liver's production of Q10, a co-enzyme responsible for many metabolic functions. Q10 is made by the liver but the liver produces less and less over time. By the age of 40 there is a noticeable decline in it's production. By taking statins you accellerate this decline, thus causing the classic muscular spasms, cramps, pains etc.
Although diabetic I have elected to treat my cholesterol problem with plant sterols and other herbal remedies, supplements and foods. I would never take statins unless I took Q10 with them. My diabetic brother takes Q10 and statins. Me, just the Q10 as I'm over 40.
My advice is to research Q10 and see if it sounds like a side-affect of the statins that's causing your ailments, then give Q10 a go. It could be that simple.
ian189
Posted
Buzzard
Posted
much better. Prednisolone now at 20 mg per day and Methotrexate at 7 tablets a week.
I have Statin Induced Myositis. Diagnosis proved by way of a muscle biopsy.
Buzzard
Posted
Feeling so much better, but any form of exercise brings back the aching muscle pain. Also have considerable muscle wastage.
Reducing Prednisolone by 1mg each month. Methotrexate? Who knows...
Buzzard
Posted
alzheimer Guest
Posted
I was put on it 18 months ago and within six months was reduced by muscle wastage, painful joints, cramps and vast generalised weakness... from a healthy 70+ year-old who could walk 3 miles a day in an hour before breakfast with my dogs, to somebody who felt like 90+ and could, on a good day, only manage to walk about 300 yards.... with the aid of two walking sticks.
Sadly the effect has been progressive despite discontinuing the simvastatin and indeed I have now been diagnosed with PPFG .... Which is now an apparently recognised syndrome in its own right ... And which stands for Primary Progressive Freezing of Gait. This is an idiopathic, progressive and irreversible syndrome.
It appears to be - because of the inability to move one's feet - to the uninitiated like Parkinson disease but is NOT. One almost wishes that it was Parkinsons as at least there would be something you could do/take for it.
I have been tried on a couple of the Parkinson's drugs - totally empirically - and the fact that they had no effect whatsoever - is apparently diagnostic of the fact that it is pure PPFG.
Many of the physicians that I have seen in the course of the past year or so ,of course do not believe/or do not want to believe that this is a result of the statins.... Luckily for me some of them do - and have warned me that I will be in a wheelchair within a couple of years at best.
As I do not believe in medical coincidences - and I know that symptoms started when I was on the statins, I well believe - that once our GPs and medical professionals are properly informed - and not trysted by big Pharma etc into believing that statins are the panacea to all ills .... and their blinkers are off - those of us who have suffered agonies with these horrendous drugs will be believed.
In the meantime, as perhaps 90% of patients who are on this drug appear to be coping with it well enough or are too afraid to remonstrate with their physicians - the financial rewards for these pharmaceutical companies are of course more important than the 10% approximately of us who are suffering.
I just hope that in years to come statins do not turn out to be a horror story similar to that of thalidomide. I may not be around to see it.
Buzzard alzheimer
Posted
Your symptoms sound very like mine!
I have 'statin induced myositis'. Diagnosed after having numerous CK checks and a muscle biopsy.
Have you had these checks? If not, I really do suggest that you ask for them as your condition may well be treatable using steroids (Prednisolone) and methotrexate. I could hardly walk 2 years ago and can now get around the shops etc, although I will probably never walk 'for fun' again.
I am still In pain and take codeine when things get bad. I am seeing my Doctor next week to discuss long term pain relief. I met someone the other day who had the same problem and she had been prescribed morphine patches. I doubt if my Doctor will run with that...it's all a bit of a lottery!!
alzheimer Buzzard
Posted
I am actually due to be seen by a rheumatologist in early June this year... Our waiting lists in Scotland are horrendous and anything under 2 1/2 months is regarded as "normal"
I am not terribly hopeful of much help however as I do know that my creatin and ESR are entirely normal.... as are all the rest of my blood tests scans etc.
Pain is not my problem really - I have a very high threshold. My lack of mobility however is... and at times is extreme. eg at times it can take me half an hour to reach the kitchen from my bedroom - a distance of 30 feet at most.
Because of a concomitant back problem - to which most X-nurses are prone... I was seen initially by an orthopaedic surgeon who kindly injected my spine - with great effect. However at that point he recognised the fact that this could be the result of my statin therapy.... despite the fact that I had discontinued it some months before. As he said then - statins side-effects are frequently irreversible and progressive - even following short courses of them and their subsequent discontinuation.
If you care to have a look at the website of Spacedoc.com you will find a lot of information about the side-effects of statins.... And a lot more besides which I have been following closely
My surgeon apparently has dealt with many patients who have peripheral neuropathy as a direct result of statins. Indeed I have two very good friends who have advanced peripheral neuropathy - and whose neurologists have now recognised the fact that their problems date from their being on statins therapy - and have been caused by same.
So he kindly referred me to a neurologist - who tried to tell me that I had obviously had a stroke. When I remonstrated - he became quite frosty - and I walked out! I then insisted that I be seen at the stroke unit - where of course they proved unequivocally by various scans that I had never had a stroke.... And I requested that the report was sent to that neurologist!
I am now under the care of a Consultant Research Neurologist who specialises in gait problems. However he admits that there is no current medication that he can offer now - as the two drugs that I was tried on proved totally useless
I am happy to hear of your improvement however Buzzard - and indeed I had heard of the use of prednisolone/cortisone.... But so far nobody has offered that to me... I shall of course make enquiries forthwith.... Never being backward at coming forward - my GP will vouch for that!!!!!
Lest my problem had become an idée fixe ... I even involved a hypnotherapist - an NHS grandee I hasten to add - whose help is often invoked by GPs etc....LOL
He quickly reassured me it was not all in the mind...... but admitted that he could do little for me physically - however he has taught me to accept the situation - dare I say it - with a reasonable degree of equanimity!
Otherwise I can't imagine what life would have been like -as the frustration level increases day on day.
Buzzard alzheimer
Posted
I live in the SW of England. I see my rheumatologist every 6 months. He, at least, has got my CK down to nearly normal. Just the muscle pain to crack now! I will check out the link you recommended!
many thanks
mike76241 Guest
Posted
dyslipidemia & prevention of card.,disease, it is recommendedto be used ONLY after
other measures such as diet, excercise & weight reduction have NOT improved
cholesterol levels sufficiently, my Doc never gave the option of trying these measures, straight onto 40mg two yrs ago, after reading this forum I stopped
taking these ten days ago after severe cramp in legs, in a recent one wk holiday I needed a taxi twice a day to take me just 500yds to town centre,
but what has surprised me is the severe pains in my feet (plantia fascia) have subsided and for the first time
in twelve months I have been able to walk in comfort without insoles, would be
interested in other guests who suffer from PF, I told my Doc who said stay off
for four wks and then take statins again to establish cramp/feet pain returning
the cost to NHS ( correct me if I'm wrong) is just £1.50 month, pp which seems the reason for pushing statins, but are there more than 1% suffering with side effects
FDA est, 60 per 1000 suffer on 80mg tablets
according to Bloomberg new rules will put 33ml in line for statin therapy, twice the no covered by present guidlinnes, your views please