Statins are powerful anti-inflammatories

Statins are powerful anti-inflammatories

     I recently read that statins are potent anti-inflammatories. I perked right up and thought to myself that is just what I need.  I had stopped low dose statins when I got PMR just to prevent confusion, since statins cause muscle problems in about 7% of patients.   But restarting statins would require a lot of research.  Not one of my doctors had suggested it.  I am happy to say the results have been very encouraging.

    First, I found that the knowledge that statins are powerful anti-inflammatories dates only from 2002.  Since then a lot of research has been done on whether statins could help other diseases, not just cardiac problems.  So I would have to plough through a lot of research. 

        I remembered Eileen of this forum is down on statins since she had severe major muscle problems and was on crutches for a time.  But still the words “powerful anti-inflammatories” were compelling enough that I really wanted to look into it.  And I am very glad I did.

        I read about a clinical trial of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients on 40mg Lipitor (atorvastatin), and after 6 months “CRP levels and erythrocyte sedimentation rate reduced by 50% and 28%, respectively, relative to placebo.”  Also the swelling and inflammation of RA was greatly reduced.  This again sounded like just what I needed since my CRP and sed rates have been higher than ever recently, despite all the prednisone.

     In September PMR inflammation went to my lungs and in October I had to go on oxygen for a couple of weeks.  Just feeding the dogs would leave me gasping for breath.  It was a horrid experience.  Not being able to breathe is really scary, far scarier than muscle pain.   Since then I have been on 3 quick high dose prednisone regimens, but they only helped temporarily, and the problems would return.  So I wondered if statins would help my breathing.  More research, and indeed I found that statins help respiratory problems of all kinds. My respiratory problems were interesting because I had neither a cough nor wheezing nor crackles.  My lungs sounded and looked clear, but I could hardly breathe.  That's why they thought it was PMR inflammation in the lungs.

      Next I wanted to know if I could distinguish PMR pain from muscle pain caused by a reaction to statins.  I found muscle pain from statins is more likely to be in the major muscles like the thighs and not in the typical PMR bilateral shoulder girdle area as I had had.  Also the major muscles were weakened, which is not a trait of PMR.  And apparently taking CoenzymeQ10 at the same time as statins can alleviate the statin muscle problem.

       CoQ10 has definitely helped an Indian friend of mine who had to go off statins many years ago because of muscle problems. He had open heart surgery two years ago, and his doctors still wanted him on statins for recovery.  (Reducing inflammation is always important!) The CoQ10 has made the difference and now he is taking atorvastatin without a problem and is playing tennis.

     There was even one study some time ago that said statins might even cause PMR.  OK I looked at that one too.  It was a lousy study.  It was a retrospective data analysis on data collected for another purpose.  There was a lot of data manipulation, and it was the exact kind of study that so often yields spurious results.

     I still had a large bottle of atorvastatin left, and, since I am an incorrigible experimenter, I started it 10 days ago at 40mg. (I had been on 10mg the year before, so 4 pills did the trick.) I didn’t expect it to work quickly, but it has!  My breathing is vastly improved already.  Statins are pretty safe drugs, so safe that I read they are sold over the counter in the UK.  To me statins are an infinitely better idea than the methotrexate my pulmonary and rheumatology doctors wanted me to be on.  (Methotrexate, from what I’ve read, is pretty nasty).

With statins, I feel like now at last I can actually start reducing prednisone and still breathe. I can now hold my breath for 38 seconds ;10 days ago the best I could do was 12 seconds.  Also today I recovered normal breathing quickly; 10 days ago recovery was difficult and slow with prolonged gasping. 

    Now I have to figure out how to tell my primary what I did so I can get another atorvastatin prescription!  She really dislikes my self-experimentation, but this is the first thing that has worked other than high doses of prednisone.  And I have to restart some exercise!  Gladly!

      There currently seems to be a lack of ANY high quality clinical trials of statins with PMR/GCA, but if you have breathing problems in addition to PMR, it might be a risk you want to take as I did.  We know it helps RA.  

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