Statins Partkinsons and Diabetes

Well said about the term 'side effects' I fail to understand why every drug can cause so many similar negative effects on those taking them.

When I put down joint pain to warfarin the orthpaedic consultant said that nearly every drug can cause that.

what's to understand?  Not "every drug" causes negative effects, unless you mean every cholesterol lowering drug?  If so, I know many people who've been taking statins for years and say they have no negative effects from them, but that's probably true of a lot of other drugs as well.

I think it's rubbish that "nearly every drug" causes joint pain!  I've been on many medications for varying lengths of time since the heart attack 3 1/2 years ago and NONE of them caused joint pain except statins.  

I was sure I read somewhere a few years ago that warfarin was no longer in use, at least in Australia, because of its dangers but I keep hearing of people still on it - I don't know what that's about, does anyone else?

He said that every drug can cause joint point pain not that it does for everyone.

Well I reckon that's just him easing his conscience for prescribing dangerous drugs!   I didn't think you meant everyone, but it's obviously not true that every drug can cause joint pain, that's just rubbish, I could chuck you a list of drugs which never gave that side effect ...

The problem with the joint pain issue is that most of us being prescribed this sort of medication are getting on in years and would be likely to have joint pain anyway to some extent, so the only way to check if a medication is causing or exacerbating joint pain we need to to go off it

for a while & document what happens.    Lots of people are scared they're going to die immediately if they don't take every drug every doctor prescribes.   

 

I stopped statins when I got muscle pain and it went when I stopped it. I did this four times with the same results. I stopped warfarin soon after having a cardioversion and my joint pains went within weeks. When again in AF I had to take warfarin otherwise they would do another cardioversion. Again I had joint pains until I stopped it after another cardioversion.  The first time I stopped warfarin my GP sadly shook his head and said that I was the fourth patient that week to refuse to take it any longer.

Meantime my GP happily continues to take his simvastatin and obviously has no muscle problems as he still runs marathons.

It wasn't only joint pain that affected me when on statins, it was nerve pain as well - shooting/cramping/tingling/stabbing moving all over my body off and on 24/7;  exhaustion;  depression;  lack of libido.  On the last negative effect, I wrote to a lot of the internet websites pointing out that "erectile disfunction" excludes women and that we have libidos too!

To give some idea of the difference in my muscle strength:  last winter on stains it took me 2 weeks to stack a load of firewood on my verandah out of the weather and a couple of months later when I was off the statins it took me TWO DAYS to stack an identical load - proof enough for me.

The statins manufacturers were concerned enough last year after an ABC TV doco which was a bit hysterical and totally negative, to have special flyers printed for doctors' waiting rooms, asking patients to talk about statins with their gp if they were concerned - must've cost them a fortunte!  After the doco there was a lot of jumpting up & down and yelling that thousands of people were going to die if they went off their statins, but as far as I know the death rate didn't increase.

A friend tried statin after statin and between them they gave him muscle pains, nightmares and Plantar fasciitis.  When last one started ED he finally said no more ever.

My doctor listens and eventually agrees that it is to the patients lifestyle benefit to stop. It is cardiology consultants who don't listen and ask patients if they want to die. Other specialists are begining to be on the patients side.

I reckon I tried all of them too over a few years in all doses - same negative "side" effects.  What's ED?  I googled plantar whatsit, sounds horrid, I didn't have that fortunately.

I haven't been back to my cardiologist as I've now found a good gp close to home - my previous one was great but too far away, and she did used to say i was risking another heart attack not taking the statins, new one hasn't really mentioned it, seems to trust me to decide, which is how it should be.

Did the statins affect his libido?  Certainly affected mine, nearly as bad as Prozac years ago where you still get turned on as normal but can't come - who the f invented that for depressed people?  Some sadist ...Libido just vanished with the statins and at my age I want to hold on to what I've got left!

I've wondered if some of most of the sad grumpy old people I see around are on statins, a survey wd be interesting but I'm not hopeful the drug companies would do one

ED is erectile dysfunction rather than loss of libido. I can see those sadists working in Labs and whooping with joy when their guinea pigs get things like that. Imagine their regret when Viagra did not cure heart failure but their guinea pigs demanded more of it at the end of the experiment as did happen.

PPI's are also said to cause loss of libido mainly in females. 

I love the write up on the history of amiodarone that concludes that if the devil had invented it to harm people he would have said that it was not perfect but pretty good for a first attempt.

Sorry, I guess if I'd been a bloke I'd have known what ED stands for:  I can assure that just because women don't erectile disfunction doesn't mean our libido isn't affected, it's just obviously harder to assess and I'd reckon most older women would be too embarrassed to mention it to doctors - I'm not!

But you've done it again!  What's a PPI?   I googled the other drug, looks like it's for arterial fibrillation which my daughter has, I must let her know

Google should have found PPI. Proton Pump Inhibitor for stomach acid problems.

Amiodarone reacts with Warfarin initially and the Warfarin doseage needs to be adjusted. I found that out the hard way as  a young cardiologist was not aware of that nor was my GP nor the INR Clinic nurse. The pharmacist said that they should both have warned me but she had not either.

Glucosamine also causes problems with Warfarin. The maximum recommended dose for simvastatin in conjunction with amlodipine or diltiazem is now 20 mg/day also applies to Amiodarone, Verapamil

and Diltiazem. The lists are endless.

Was your doctor embarrased by you raising the subject of your libido?

The nurse at the practice when I have my annual diabetic review  turns away from me and looks at her computer screen before asking 'If I can still raise a smile'

Only one I found a problem with interactions was St John's Wort, which I'd been taking for ages for mild depression and i knew interacted with prescribed anti-depressants, but it turned out reason why I had no unwanted side effects from beta blockers & statins for some months after my heart attack was that the SJW was blocking their absorption!  

I was told when in hospital with pneumonia not to take it any more so I stopped ..... and along came all the "side" effects!

ANOTHER WARNING ABOUT PSYLLIUM HUSKS:  i forgot to mention in my earlier post and that's just reminded me, DON'T TAKE WITHIN AT LEAST AN HOUR OF ANY MEDICATION because it can prevent absorption - doesn't say on the pack & doesn't have to because it's classified as a food and not a drug ......

Re GP's embarrassment, current & previous one both ok with it, cardiologist ignored it so I didn't persist .... sometimes I wonder what century we're in:  years ago I had to have a small cyst removed from my labia and the surgeon decided he had to put me under rather than a local because I might be embarrassed because it was "down there".

I said I wasn't embarrassesd and it's called a labia and then was he embarrassed!  Went red, stuttered and stammerd and shuffled out, leaving the female nurses and me in fits of laughter ...  but he wouldn't back down about the anaesthetic so I had to make urgent phone calls to find someone to come to drive me home in my own car, which I'd driven there after being told it would be a local anaesthetic .........

The Berlin Wall was brought down. Perhaps the statin wall can be as well.

Too many people accept what comes with their meds. A neighbour says that he has to take them as all his relatives have died from heart disease. Many do not complain they stay silent and just don't take the pills. My GP reckons that 40% of patients either don't take what he prescribes or don't take the prescription to the pharmacy.