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Statin-type cholesterol-lowering drugs have become a contentious issue for both physicians and patients. Many doctors feel it is their duty to follow the American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) guidelines. These strongly recommend every man over 63 and all women over 70 take a drug like atorvastatin, rosuvastatin or simvastatin, regardless of risk factors for heart disease. Health care professionals are adamant about the benefits of statins, particularly for people with heart disease.
What About Statin Side Effects?
Even if patients develop statin side effects, many health care professionals encourage them to continue the drug. This sometimes makes patients unhappy. They feel they have not been heard. Physicians also get annoyed when they think people are dwelling on the downsides. There are actual side effects, though. Here is one reader’s experience.
Q. Because of a total cholesterol level of 200, I was put on simvastatin for 18 months. I couldn’t understand why I had trouble going up stairs. I had shock-like aches and pains in my legs that would make me jump just sitting watching TV.
Then I was diagnosed with diabetes. My blood sugar was 499 and my HbA1c hit 12, which is way too high. With diet and medication, I was able to bring my glucose levels back towards normal. I wonder if the diabetes epidemic is partly caused by statins.
My doctor switched me to a different statin, saying that it probably would not affect me. It did. I cannot tolerate these drugs, so what else can I do?
A. It is not surprising that many physicians believe statin side effects are uncommon occurrences. An analysis of randomized controlled trials (European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, April, 2014) concluded only a tiny number of adverse reactions are actually caused by statins. The authors concluded that: “almost all would occur just as frequently on placebo.” In other words, complaints about muscle pain, weakness, memory problems, cataracts or nerve pain are psychosomatic in nature.
What Patients Say About Statin Side Effects:
One problem with randomized controlled trials is that the sponsoring companies can restrict the definition of muscle pain and weakness. The definition may have relatively little to do with actual discomfort. Instead, the side effect might count only at a specified level of muscle breakdown. Elevated enzymes in the blood (creatine kinase or CK) indicate this problem. Even when someone reported muscle pain or weakness, if CK levels were normal, the discomfort might not have been counted as a statin side effect.
Elevated Blood Sugar and Diabetes:
More than 15 years ago, readers of our syndicated newspaper column started reporting that statins were either causing diabetes or making it harder to control. We initially doubted this statin side effect because there was nothing in the official prescribing information about elevated levels of blood glucose. Eventually, though, the reports became overwhelming and we began thinking that diabetes just might be a statin side effect. That was finally confirmed in 2008 in the JUPITER trial (New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 20, 2008), though the significance seemed to be played down.
Readers feel caught between a rock and a hard place. Here is Jannelle’s story:
“I have been on statin-type cholesterol drugs for five or six years now. Within a year or less, I developed border line diabetes.
“I have been on simvastatin and more recently rosuvastatin (Crestor). Since I have been on Crestor, my blood glucose has really gone up. I have been trying to get it down but it is really hard. Blood glucose went up to 215 a few weeks ago.
“I am very concerned becuase I think the statins have caused this to happen. My cholesterol level was brought down on the Crestor, but my glucose went way up. I feel I can’t win for losing. As one number gets better, the other gets worse.”
How Bad is Total Cholesterol of 200?
A cholesterol level of 200 is no longer considered a tipping point for treatment unless there are other risk factors. Sadly, age is now considered a primary risk factor and the AHA and ACC want virtually every senior citizen on a statin. That includes people without any history of heart disease, vegetarians and those who exercise vigorously five days a week. One wonders how our ancestors survived without statins.
Our guide to Cholesterol Control and Heart Health recognizes that there are many other risk factors for heart disease than total cholesterol. There are a great many things that can be done to improve your odds. For one thing, a Mediterranean-type diet may be as good as statins in preventing death from heart attacks (European Society of Cardiology annual meeting, Rome, Italy, Aug. 28, 2016).
Please discuss the new research with your doctor, but do so diplomatically. Statin side effects have become a “hot button topic.”
Confused
I am looking for a new endocrinologist. He is pressuring me to take a statin. My blood fats are low normal. I am 59. I take Ozempic to moderate borderline blood sugars down to normal, A1C 5.3. The ozempic has helped me maintian a healthier weight, too. I have tried statins and got terrible muscle pain. Statins are clearly not indicated for me. Yet, he is pressuring me to do a heart scan. It is not covered by insurance; I have no symptom;, and will not take statins regardless of the result. Welcome to “Wonderland.”
William
I had a terrible time with atorvastatin (Lipitor). The physician who prescribed it kept telling me the side effects were because I was getting older, including my A1C going up a full point over three months.
I diagnosed the side effects myself and stopped taking the Lipitor. My symptoms began improving the same day. That was 8 years ago, and I have had no heart problems.
Buzz
I was prescribed Lipitor when I was 44 years old. My cholesterol is inherited and is about 220 or so. The statin lowered my cholesterol. However, after a couple of years of taking Lipitor, depression started hitting me hard. My mind wasn’t as sharp as it used to be either.
Of course, the doctor prescribed me an anti-depressant and after another 2 years of taking Lipitor, I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. There is no history of this in my family whatsoever.
Well, I continued taking Lipitor for ten years. Suddenly, after lifting weights for 35 years, I had terrible pain in my left clavicle that had been broken 20 years earlier in a skiing accident. My shoulder blades were quite painful after lifting too. They seem to be weaker now.
I started doing research online, trying to avoid the conspiracy nuts, and found out that statins could be a cause of depression, muscle pain and high blood sugar. So, I decided to stop taking them to see what would happen.
Within 2 weeks my muscle pain went away, and I am now lifting the weights I lifted when I was in my 30s. I have ZERO muscle pain now. My depression took about 6 months to start fading away and has now gone away too, and I feel normal again. Guess what? I am no longer Type II diabetic either. My doctor didn’t even request an A1C measurement at my last blood test.
Cholesterol is needed for our minds and body to function normally. I thought age was going to be an awful thing with all these issues until I stopped the statins. I was switched between statins in an attempt to find one that worked — they ALL caused the same issues in me. I feel great and I am getting so much done now. On a statin, I just sat around thinking getting older was no fun.
Michelle
UK
This is in reply to ELLENDALLAS, TEXAS SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 AT 11:34 AM
I too suffered with the exact same symptom as you have described from taking lipitor. I wondered if you could tell me more, please. I developed trigeminal neuralgia from out of the blue after taking it. I stopped taking the statin and had no episode for 8 weeks. Then reintroduced it again (silly me), and it flared up again
Many thanks, michele
John
TX
I am a diabetic and I have been off statins for about two year now. My blood sugars have improved, the muscle crams have almost disappeared, and my depression is better . However my physician still wants to put me back on statins. I have refused. But I am getting weary of the battle between my doctors insistence and improved condition. It would be a blessing to find a well educated doctor.
Louise
TX
I was put on Crestor after having a total cholesterol of 260 but my LDL was very low and my HLD very high. After being on the drug for only 2 weeks I noticed that I had a terrible taste in my mouth that wouldn’t go away. I contacted my Doctor and she indicated that this was not a symptom of statins and said that I should see a Dentist.
I have had perfect oral hygiene for my entire life. The bad taste continued and I just happened to have bloodwork done for another procedure. It turned out that my liver enzymes were out of the ordinary. This has never happened before. My GI Doctor was concerned and took an ultrasound of my liver and kidneys, all fine. When I did some research myself, I found that statins can cause liver issues.(I was never told this by my Doctor) I immediately stopped taking the statins, and within 2 days the taste in my mouth was gone.
I then decided to change my diet and add exercise 4 times weekly and after 8 months, I have lost 35 lbs. my total cholesterol is now 230 and my liver function which has been checked 3 times, it back to normal. I hope this helps someone in a similar situation.
Deb
Canada
After taking Lipitor (40 mg/day) for nearly a year and reporting worsening side effects to the prescribing Doctor I finally went to another physician and was told to stop immediately as my symptoms indicated liver damage. I am awaiting the results of a lipid panel and liver enzyme tests to determine next steps. I am a 63 year old woman; I’ve had high cholesterol levels for many years, but have always been told that I’m not a high risk because I have high HDL along with high LDL and, apart from my age, no other risk factors.
When my family physician retired, I started seeing a new doc and he insisted I needed to be on Lipitor, and like an idiot I went along with it. It wasn’t long after I started taking the drug that I noticed weakness in my legs and a feeling of being sort of disconnected from them. It reached a point where I was so afraid of falling all the time that I started having panic attacks at the thought of having to leave the house — what if I fall?
Before I started taking Lipitor I walked 3 miles a day. The weakness was soon accompanied by numbness in my right leg. I told my doctor, but he assured me the side effects would go away and he was jus so worried about my lipid levels. I started to experience episodes of numbness in my left leg (by now the right leg was numb in spots pretty much all the time) and the skin on my face was drying out and extremely itchy.
I told him about the new side effects and he told me to just hang in, they’d go away. As I write this I’m sitting in my home with large patches of red, inflamed, scaling, itchy skin across my forehead and around my eyes. Because my liver is compromised, my reaction to seasonal allergies is off the charts. My eyes are so sore dry, itchy and watery I have difficulty seeing well enough to read or drive my car. And as I said at the beginning of this post, I had to see another physician to get any help dealing with these symptoms because my own Doc won’t admit that Lipitor has real side effects. I’m done with him and with statins.
JP
NEWRY CITY
don’t take either statins or steroids they are a con and side effects are serious illness, I got swollen lips and headaches result of steroids when I also had two strains of flu.
The Drs make money out of these drugs and also pharmaceutical companies and they won’t tell you the truth when they should discuss diet and natural medication plus life change of life style. However do refuse as one cannot be forced legally to take those drugs and consider change of GP and do not be pressurised.
Take control of your own health
Tauni
Washington
I am a 53 year old woman who until 6 months ago was very healthy. My diet is very healthy and I do not have any unhealthy habits as smoking or drinking. I have had genetically high cholesterol (total near 300) for several years but because of other “risk factors” being very low, my general practitioner did not see the immediate need to put me on a Statin. Two months ago it was discovered I have a Carotid artery blocked 50%. After additional scans, it was found I have no other blockages anywhere else. My cardiologist immediately put me on Lipitor at 40mg. I could not tolerate it.
I had difficulty in focusing and memory issues. The dose was lowered to 20mg to which the memory effects lessened but after 6 weeks I began to have severe symptoms of Trigeminal Neuralgia. After investigating dental causes all of which were negative, I notified my cardiologist as possible reaction to the Lipitor. He immediately dismissed the possibility but it was caused by the drug but with my persistence, conceded to taking me off the Lipitor. One week after stopping Lipitor, the severe nerve pain subsided. I will not go back on Lipitor. I have begun to incorporate more exercise, adding some supplements and dietary changes. I know genetically high cholesterol does not respond as well to these changes, but with only on artery clogged, I am skeptical if it is truly due to the high cholesterol, or is it a defective artery? Still searching for answers.
Karen
Chapel Hill, NC
Was on Lipitor for several years and one evening lost my sense of taste. Ice cream tasted like cold wall paper paste, steak like eating cardboard, etc. Initially thought I had a brain tumor but persistent google searching led to a similar patient complaint and there in the package insert side effects section was “ageusia” the medical term for loss of taste.
Who would know? I’m posting this to help others find a link to this troubling side effect that went away 6 weeks after stopping Lipitor and has never returned. I think it is important to have your physician check lipoprotein particle size using NMR tests that any good lab can do. Large particles can reduce risk dramatically and are genetically based.
Wendy
Victoria
Statins destroyed 10 years of my life as I suffered with extreem side effects but no doctor was willing to discuss side effects.
My doctors lied to me.
They seemed to put their head in the sand and refused to listen to my problems.
I no longer take the drugs and never will. What a lie and a medical disaster and how dare doctors prescribe drugs to perfectly healthy busy people and turn them into miserable cripples who are unable to exercise and end up with lots of other medical problems.
Since I discovered the side effects (from my friends not my doctor whio ignored my complaints) and stopped taking the drugs most of the side effects have disappeared.
What a scam…
Alice
Indiana
I would rather have high cholesterol than crippling pain which had gotten so bad that I could hardly walk. Another side affect that went away after I stopped taking Lipitor is pixilation of the eyes which had gotten so bad that I was having this problem several times a day. By the time I stopped statins my blood pressure was Severe Stage 3 hypertension and I had developed heart disease. Today my blood pressure is back down to normal and I feel better than I ever did with my artery blockage gone and breathing better and I’m 70 years old.
I’m not about to start taking statins again since my health has improved so much where I’m feeling so much better. In fact I’m in better shape by far now than in 2009 when I went off statins. I never even knew statins existed until around 1970 when I was in my late 40s even though doctors was aware of high cholesterol. Back than doctors didn’t even prescribed it.
So I hope you start believing our horror stories about the effects that statins have on us instead of the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology. The way I feel about it is the more statins doctors can get patients to take the more money they make from BIG PHARMA. In fact I even have a website where I can look up a doctor and find out how much doctors make from BIG PHARMA, pushing statins and some of the other cholesterol lowering meds. I really hope you educate yourself as to the dangers of statins and other cholesterol lowering drugs.
James R
Pa
It is much worse than you are indicating. New studies are showing that in the elderly, the more cholesterol in there bodies the longer they live. Cholesterol is protective of the brain, eyes and many cellular and glandular function but double the stakes in the elderly.! Due to reduced cellular regeneration due to age.
Martha
Abingdon,Va
I am a 78 almost 79 woman with no heart problems. I was started on simvastatinZ approx 8 years ago. Lately my legs don’t seem to have any strength and I have developed Plantar Faschiitis (sp). Stairs are quite difficult and I seem to be out of breath with little effort. Because of several moves in the past 15 yrs I have had three different Drs who only want to prescribe statins as an automatic answer because of my age. I told my dr I now have that after doing research on statins, I am stopping them. He didn’t like it but said, “well since you don’t have heart risk we can see how you do.” It has been 6 mos. and my plantar foot pain subsided after 3 weeks, I don’t wheeze as much but I think I have a long way before I can regain the strength in my legs. One of these days I think you’ll hear (after so many are harmed) the truth about these “medicines.”
Bette
Oklahoma
After reading your column for several years, then having my doctor diagnose high cholesterol and prescribe a statin drug, I refused to take it. In subsequent visits for yearly check-ups he never had any lab testing done and told me that at my age (73) I didn’t need a pap smear or mammogram any more so I had to change doctors. He thought since I didn’t do what he told me to do there was no use in doing any of those.
My new doctor found that I also had high blood sugar count but was okay with me trying to control it with diet and exercise at this time. Thanks for your tip about sipping vinegar before meals. Some of you might also find that your doctor loses interest in your overall health if you don’t follow all his directions.
Abigail
NW USA
A doctor tried to put me on statins every time I went to her office, even though I told her I would not take them.
Thanks to Peoples Pharmacy, I was aware of the side effects of taking statins and thought taking them might aggravate the aches and pains of Fibromyalgia.
I changed doctors. Thank you Peoples Pharmacy for for all the good work you do keeping up on research and informing the public.
rob
I experienced back pain one morning that reoccurred several mornings in a row and I stopped taking the atorvastatin 20mg that I had been taking for over a year. After a week or so, I did not experience the same pain. I contacted the Dr. and was told to reduce to 10mg and take 200mg COQ10. That did work and was ok until I was out for a walk about 2 months later and got very fatigued after a short 15 minutes. I stopped and rested.
I had experienced similar results after being on another statin, Simvastatin. I decided to just stop the Atorvastatin. About 4 months later my blood test showed much higher lipids and Dr. suggested Crestor 5mg, but insurance and cost kept me from using it so I started taking Prevastatin 20mg and 200mg COQ10. I’ve not been on it less than 2 months and starting to notice a little more backache. I’ll give it a little more time.
Deloris
Whether it’s muscle pain or diabetes, the powers that be in health care claim that statin side effects are reversible. However, I quit simvastatin more than five years ago, and some of my side effects (primarily muscle pain and weakness) have steadily worsened. I have electromyelogram and muscle biopsy results that show that I have been irreversibly affected with denervation atrophy and peripheral neuropathy. I was also diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in the mean time. Doctors merely tell me that I’m out of shape, but I’ve become exercise intolerant because of the persistent pain that gets worse after any physical activity. They will not blame the statin.
Christopher
Wausau,WI
The reason SO MANY CANNOT TOLERATE these drugs, is because, Cholesterol is an absolutely essential molecule, present in each and every one of the trillions of cells in the human body. Most abundant in the Brain and Central Nervous System.
I think it is crazy why amongst the most educated people in the world, cannot remember Biochemistry from their Pre Med schooling, where they learned the critical need for Cholesterol and how it is essential in order to manufacture Vitamin D, Dolichols, Steroid Hormones, Testosterone and Estrogen, to name but a few. And when Statins block HMG CoA Reductase Enzyme at the beginning of the Mevalonate Pathway, every other essential molecule produced in that pathway is blocked.
I was 34 years old when my 3 years of Lipitor ended life as I knew it. I was a healthy critical care RN, with a zest for life, when out of nowhere I was akin to a 90+ year old with advanced alzheimers disease, I could not walk, speak coherently, I could not feed myself, could not communicate the need to use the restroom so I was incontinent of bowel and bladder. I did not know my parents, nor siblings, nor my wife nor 2 year old son. MRI of my brain showed multiple scattered lesions throughout the white and grey matter of my brain, Brain biopsy revealed Holes in my brain (Neuronal Apoptosis) whereas my neurons were committing suicide because of the lack of Ubiquinol (CoQ10) also blocked my statins, and is largely responsible for controlling Apoptosis, the diagnosis being considered was “New Variant Creutzfeld Jakob Disease” or Mad Cow Disease, invariably fatal within 1 year of diagnosis.
Electron Microscopy of my brain biopsy, revealed Mitochondrial DNA mutation most closely resembling MELAS (Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy with Lactic Acidosis and Stroke Like Episodes) and I was to transfer to a nursing home, pending Bed Placement..When they were awaiting my transfer, a visiting professor from Johns Hopkins was asked to evaluate me, he assessed me and recommended I begin a Mitochondrial Cocktail, (14 vitamins, Amino Acids, Acetyl L Carnitine and a robust dose of CoQ10) within 36 hours of starting this Mitochondrial Cocktail, I began to be able to recognize my wife, I could speak simple words, and I could verbalize the need to use the restroom.
Within a few days I was discharged home with a diagnosis of “Viral Encephalitis”… I went through several months of aggressive rehab therapies, (Physical, Occupational and Speech) After this time, my wife and I happened to be watching Good Morning America where Diane Sawyer was interviewing Dr Beatrice Golomb MD, PhD of the UCSD Statin Effects Study, and I enrolled in the study whereas I learned that my Mito DNA mutation and the Holes in my brain, were a result of my taking lipitor.
I am an admin in a facebook group, http://www.facebook.com/groups/statins which has nearly 2000 members from around the globe, most of whom have the same story when they address their concerns to their doctors, they hear “Statins dont do that”….I am here to testify that yes, statins do do that! And more, what they do not do very well is prevent heart attack, to the tune of less than 1% Absolute Risk Reduction
Susan D.
I am on homeopathic drugs because I cannot take statins. I take Carcumasorb, Prescription of fish oil with Ethyl something, and Bergomet Pro. I just went to my doctor and he said that he didn’t know what I was doing but my cholesterol was perfect! It was way high before taking the meds!
William Pew
Camano Island WA
I was treated for Heart trouble in 2006. An artery had a Kink in it reducing Blood Flow. They put in a stent and started Me on Lipitor. I have Three members of my family on medicine for Type Two Diabetes. I was checking my blood sugars regularly. My readings before the Stent and Lipitor were 99 to 110! Three months after the start of Lipitor my blood sugars had risen to 240. My Dr.s answer was to increase the dosage! I stopped the Statin drugs after a lay-off from work. My blood sugars returned to 99 to 110 after year. When I returned to work and Medical Coverage The Cardiologist wanted Me back on Lipitor. As My cholesterol levels were 173 and Blood sugar was good I told him NO More!
Christopher
William Pew…good for you!! So many of the people (docs) we blindly trust with our lives have no real knowledge of the devastating effects of the drugs they prescribe so easily. So many get much of their “knowledge” from the very people who make a lot of money, by selling the drugs…Pharmaceutical Sales Reps…who are quite skilled at boasting tedious benefits, and minimizing very real adverse effects.
It sickens me, literally and figuratively. I was a Critical Care RN of 12 years, when my career was ended because of the unpublished effects these drugs can and do have. Can I suggest, you read anything and everything you can find by the following cardiologists, Dr Peter Langsjoen MD, Tyler Tx, Dr Aseem Malhotra, MD, London, UK, Dr Barbara Roberts Cardiologist of 30+ years at Brown University, Dr Malcolm Kendrick MD, Scotland, Dr Dwight Lundell, MD, Dr Steven Sinatra MD, etc etc..I suggest you look into the very real cause of heart disease, SUGAR, Refined Carbs, and avoid them like the plague..they are what yield inflammation and inflammation is what ultimately causes atherosclerosis.
Martha
I forgot too in my previous post, I had HORRIBLE leg cramps prior to stopping my stating drugs. I mean blood curdling pain!!! In places on my thighs and legs where you don’t normally get “Charlie horses”!! This has almost disappeared completely. My dr gave me a prescription for “restless leg syndrome”. Ridiculous!!! Stopping the statins did it.
Brigitte
So glad that some people use common sense and listen to their bodies when the doctor says something!
Joanne
California
At 55 years old, I started taking simvastatin. Within 2 months, I felt like a 90 year old arthritic. My doctor said I could not stop taking the statin. He also had me on seven other meds. He sent me to an Allergist who said the statin was causing the problem.
My cardiologist requested him to prescribe a drug that would mask the symptoms of the statin. I chose to simply stop the statin and to take Red Yeast Rice. I am now 64 years old and take no prescription meds. I take a few natural supplements and my blood pressure averages 120/70. I also stopped eating processed foods, no longer cook using salt, and eat healthy in general. I now exercise 5 days a week. My health is greatly improved and I feel wonderful.
Lisa H.
Belmont NC
Statins seemingly continue to be the biggest profit drug for pharmaceutical companies. Sadly, greed takes preference over quality of life. What this drug does is exactly the opposite of what it is advertised to do. Heart disease remains the number one killer in women. (Scratching head).
It is not a black and white cure all, but that is exactly what people are told. I recommend doing extensive research on your own. The side effects alone should send off alarm bells to anyone thinking about taking them. As we have read and seen here, there are other natural alternatives in bringing down cholesterol.
The other side to this is cholesterol being made a bad omen. The body needs cholesterol, period. Yet western medicine dictates we get the number down to a two digit number. It is absurd.
Anne
PA
My doctor prescribed CoQ10 supplementation in conjunction with a Statin for my husband, and Red Yeast Rice w/ CoQ10 for me. I just read that other prescriptions (like Glipizide for lowering blood sugar) can deplete CoQ10, as well.
Bobby
PA
Why do doctors disregard statin side effects? The same reason they put people on statin drugs who go over the 7.5 score on the risk calculation even though they have no history of heart disease, do not have elevated cholesterol, do not have elevated blood pressure, don’t smoke and aren’t overweight. Because that’s what the drug companies want.
Virtually any male over the age of 60 will have a score over 7.5. The goal is to have everyone on statin drugs. My doctor claims that even if you don’t have high cholesterol, the drug will help your heart function. Just remember that although they have an MD, they also have a BS.
Carole
Sydney
This is a very American Point of View. But increasingly Australian.
It worries me that (as a podiatrist) I see so many seniors taking Lipitor. And other Statins. I have been taking courses in Naturopathy for years, and the college emphesises that you need to read the literature. I did a literature review for Statins, and it’s out there.
Statins do no good for anyone, particularly women, unless you have already HAD a heart attack, and are male over 65. Here in Oz, the oldest men are Greeks, they smoke, they drink, and don’t take any kind of medication and live to be 100.
My guess is the oldest women are Chinese, and they work like dogs, but any medication they take is herbal. I recently went thru the herbs taken by a middle aged Chinese woman, and since they had the latin names, I recognized them, and guess what, they are in Mrs Grieves herbal, and some even in Culpepper. None for high cholesterol! Australia started out with a UK diet, went a bit American, now is big on all kinds of Asian. It’s working for us.
Mary
You have it wrong. Doctors do not limit their denial to statin drug side effects.
One reason may be that they do not want to admit something they ordered for their patient(s) is causing problems with side effects or even being ineffective.
Shirley
Texas
My husband has been on Statin medication for many years and does have a heart condition. He has developed severe neuropathy in his lower limbs and has long been concerned about memory loss. He doesn’t have diabetes, but it has appeared to me that his various problems parallel those others have had on statins. I feel this drug should have a completely unbiased investigation before it is foisted on large swaths of the population.
John
Everett, WA
Your newsletter today included a section about side effects of statin use, but did not include osteoporosis as a side effect, even though it has bee cited in previous letters and has been supported by recent studies. In my case, long-term statin use resulted in osteoporosis and a cracked vertebrae.
jill
australia
Interesting that you mention osteo & back problem. My main problem has been leg muscle breakdown. But on reflection, my hip osteo & lower back problem have developed alongside statin muscular damage on the same timeline. Interesting….hmmmm.
Barbara
spokane wa
death is a side effect of life. I have found that many MD’s won’t even consider this idea. To insist I, a 74 year old woman with a recent mild stroke, am duty bound to “fight it” by taking statins, is asine.
Brigitte
So funny — my thoughts exactly. Are we oldsters being used as guinea pigs with all these drugs that they prescribe or do they know we won’t say no because a bit of “extra time” (no matter the quality) means we’ll take any prescription? Or are we still thinking that doctors know it all and are to be listened to no matter what our bodies are telling us?
Thank God for common sense, this website and others like it, and the internet (our research library at home!) so we can look up alternatives and side effects of what may help our health concerns!
Just wondering
Jupiter
My cholesterol numbers were below 200 and my Doctor tried to put me on statins. I told him I wanted to do a little research before deciding and have avoided going back to see the doc…for almost a year!!! Instead I have cut hard cheese and other items from my diet, sold my car t force myself to walk everywhere, and added swimming to my daily routines!
Brigitte
:) Yes!!
Ellen
Dallas, Texas
It’s difficult to find a doctor anymore who truly pays attention and is willing to partner with his or her patient for a goal of better overall health and quality of life.
I have been refused that relationship for a number of reasons. One would not accept me as a patient because I refused a colonoscopy, preferring an upper/lower barium test or the new “at home” testing now on the market. I have severe, chronic diarrhea as an aftermath to gallbladder surgery and in addition to that, I have lost three friends from colonoscopies whose colons were punctured in the process.
I have been refused that relationship because I take clonidine and Norvasc for erratic blood pressure that is rooted in issues with the autonomic nervous system. After months in and out of the hospital some years ago, this is the only drug combination that has ever worked.
I have been refused that relationship because I will not take statins. My husband suffers memory problems, peripheral neuropathy, and muscular weakness that two of his doctors confirm are probably caused from the use of statins for five years.
I have been refused that relationship because I suffered a cardiac arrest from the IV dye used in kidney x-rays and will not take any injectable dyes plus I am seriously allergic to many medications. Levoquin caused hallucinations and five cardiac arrhythmias, one of which has never gone away.
So, at age 74, I have become dreadfully cautious about doctors. Right now I do not have a personal physician and have not had one since we moved back to Dallas in 2005. I was told 17 years ago that I “might” have MS. The basis for that is some strongly suggestive symptoms that include several bouts of trigeminal neuralgia in opposite sides of my face; double vision diagnosed as bilateral internuclear ophthalmoplegia; urinary issues; and gait and balance problems. Here, in Dallas, if I want to talk about treatment, I have to go to the medical school and agree to join the drug trials, which I refuse to do. So, I seem to be doing all right on my own. I am active, run two very active community organizations, and continue to publish a newsletter of 26 years and write for the Dallas Morning News now and then. I appreciate your work and have followed you for many years , often utilizing your information and honing my own knowledge as an herbalist. Thank you for your wonderful , informative columns and books. I have introduced a number of my friends to your columns.
Don
Bluffton SC
Why no mention of a liver effect from statins? Thirty years ago, after a month-long statin trial to control high cholesterol, I returned for a blood draw. The cholesterol was sharply diminished but the effect on the liver was scary. I stopped the statin immediately and embarked on diet and exercise to control cholesterol. Fortunately for me, my wife is an excellent cook who believed, way back then, in the Mediterranean diet. The cholesterol, particularly LDL, has remained in tolerable ranges since.
Bill
Katy, tx
It seems like People’s is forgetting their own report on the BMJ meta-study which looked at 68,000 people and found that for those 60 and older, increasing LDL resulted in a lower death rate. Statins lower LDL, don’t they?
Paul
As a Pharmacist I should have picked up on my muscle weakness while taking statins. For some reason I didn’t until they became very debilitating and I was having trouble on stairs to the point I was quite unstable. I finally brought it to my cardiologist’s attention, but he wanted to switch me to another drug which was just as bad. Finally I was switched to Crestor which proved to be the worst.
I had to tell the doctor that I was all done with statins. He wasn’t happy. During all this he never did a blood test which is ridiculous. It took about a year to get back to normal. I have heard of others who have never regained their muscle strength.
I am convinced that these are bad drugs with a much higher incidence of side effects than reported in studies.
Ruth
DC
I have used pravastatin for quite a while with no side effects however that’s not the case with everyone else it goes to show we are all different in so many ways. I assume taking a Statin when someone has other chronic illnesses makes the side effects even greater