Statins

[crp709]

First want to say, I hope this is the right forum…but I did a little digging and this topic is really all over the place. 
 

Has anyone else had issues with statins affecting your muscles and joints? Did you come off them? If so how long did it take for that pain to go away? Around the time I started 20mg of Atorvastatin(Lipitor) I noticed not only muscle and joint aches but my strength begin to drop off. I talked to my doctor and we ran all kinds of tests and could not come up with a reason. Turning 50 this year we both chalked it up to just getting older. But the more I read and talk to others I am starting to think it’s the statins. An example of how bad it can be. This past week a walked nine holes with a push cart on a flat course. By time I got to hole nine my body was hurting to the point I could barely finish and getting up the stairs to my house was a challenge! Prior to starting the statin I could easily walk 18-36 in a day with very little issue. 
 

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Sure hope it’s age catching up with me that quick!   

[Pastit]

22 minutes ago, crp709 said:

First want to say, I hope this is the right forum…but I did a little digging and this topic is really all over the place. 
 

Has anyone else had issues with statins affecting your muscles and joints? Did you come off them? If so how long did it take for that pain to go away? Around the time I started 20mg of Atorvastatin(Lipitor) I noticed not only muscle and joint aches but my strength begin to drop off. I talked to my doctor and we ran all kinds of tests and could not come up with a reason. Turning 50 this year we both chalked it up to just getting older. But the more I read and talk to others I am starting to think it’s the statins. An example of how bad it can be. This past week a walked nine holes with a push cart on a flat course. By time I got to hole nine my body was hurting to the point I could barely finish and getting up the stairs to my house was a challenge! Prior to starting the statin I could easily walk 18-36 in a day with very little issue. 
 

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Sure hope it’s age catching up with me that quick!   

GP’s are general practitioners if you need statins at your age then get the best advice you can. Porridge for breakfast, low fat lunch and only one fried meal per day, if any.
 

There are scientific papers on statins you may look up. Thyroid patients may be prone to excess cholesterol levels despite healthy diets - I’m one of them.  

[garyt]

I've been on atorvastatin for about two years with no issues. 66 years old, still play full court basketball  and lift weights 

[driverwedge]

I've been on Lipitor and Crestor.  Either way, 10+ years on a statin until 4 years ago.  There was no real issue with them until my doc increased my Crestor.  Within a few days, my left Achilles started killing me.  I couldn't walk on it by the end of the day.  I then saw that they could possibly cause this, I stopped taking it then and there.  The pain subsided within a day or two. 

 

On a side note-  There was a reason I was on the statin in the first place.  Very shortly after my stopping the statin, my wife and I altered our diets.  I understand that it's certainly not for everyone- Plant based and whole food (no processed foods/processed sugars).  Basically vegan without the junk that vegans can eat.  Did blood work with my doc 2 months later.  I was down 25 pounds through diet alone and my blood numbers were/are better now than they ever were on a statin.  He told me to keep up what I'm doing but we check in at least annually.  I haven't needed a statin since.

 

Best of luck with what you're going through!

[JimmyC59]

I have tried two Statins, Atorvastatin and Rosuvastatin. Both gave me terrible muscle pain. Switched to Zetia.

No problems and my cholesterol went down significantly.

[crp709]

6 minutes ago, JimmyC59 said:

I have tried two Statins, Atorvastatin and Rosuvastatin. Both gave me terrible muscle pain. Switched to Zetia.

No problems and my cholesterol went down significantly.

The muscle and joint pain is the worse!  My doctor gave me the go ahead to take a two week break to see if the statin was really causing my issues.  Been off it six days now and I feel so much better.  Still haven’t regained all my strength but it seems to be coming back. Will definitely ask about Zetia.  Good to know I am not alone with all the pain. 

[JimmyC59]

Just now, crp709 said:

The muscle and joint pain is the worse!  My doctor gave me the go ahead to take a two week break to see if the statin was really causing my issues.  Been off it six days now and I feel so much better.  Still haven’t regained all my strength but it seems to be coming back. Will definitely ask about Zetia.  Good to know I am not alone with all the pain. 

It's a known side effect with Statins.

[Argonne69]

I was on Pravastatin for a few years. I did some research on statins, so I was somewhat prepared for the pain and inflammation. A couple of Alleve each day helped, but never really eliminated the discomfort. 

 

I retired and started walking five rounds a week. Replaced the fast food lunches and dropped 40 lbs. With a little less grease in my diet I was able to get off the statins. Cholesterol is still a little high, but my doctor said because my good cholesterol is high I can stay off the meds for now. 

 

I have bad knees, and I'm probably going to wind up with knee replacements in the near future. I wear neoprene knee sleeves, and the heat definitely helps increase blood flow and reduce the inflammation. Unfortunately they don't make neoprene sleeves for every joint. Lol. 

 

Best advice is to modify the diet and try to get off the meds. They certainly help, but the side effects can't be avoided. 

 

[ChaosTheory]

Yes, I had to stop Crestor because of muscle and tendon aches.  Even at the smallest dosage. We tried Livalo, an expensive new statin that is supposed to be better in this regard.  It wasn’t.

 

Right now I’m trying Crestor every other day.  Beginning to get the tennis elbow again.  🙁

 

 

[TiScape]

51yo, eat mindfully (no added sodium, almost no processed foods, don’t add butter to anything, think about macro %s etc) Have worked out 4-5 days a week for the last 35 years, ~14/16% BF and have never been overweight in my life. I take a 10mg Lipitor every morning. Zero weakness or muscle pain and lift the same amount of weigh in the gym as pre Lipitor. 

[ChaosTheory]

Recent studies suggest that statins cause this problem in people with a certain gene mutation.  So it’s probably not some personal failing or something that can be toughed out.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2023/06/the-gene-that-explains-statins-most-puzzling-side-effect/674542/

Edited June 29, 2023 by Snowman9000

[bladehunter]

17 hours ago, TiScape said:

51yo, eat mindfully (no added sodium, almost no processed foods, don’t add butter to anything, think about macro %s etc) Have worked out 4-5 days a week for the last 35 years, ~14/16% BF and have never been overweight in my life. I take a 10mg Lipitor every morning. Zero weakness or muscle pain and lift the same amount of weigh in the gym as pre Lipitor. 

Not to be contrarian.   But why ?  As in why did they put you on one ?  Is it just a genetic predisposition deal ?  

[TiScape]

3 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

Not to be contrarian.   But why ?  As in why did they put you on one ?  Is it just a genetic predisposition deal ?  

Yeah blade. I honestly can’t eat/live too much healthier and thanks to genetic predisposition my numbers are high. Same w/my blood pressure. Sucks

[bladehunter]

3 minutes ago, TiScape said:

Yeah blade. I honestly can’t eat/live too much healthier and thanks to genetic predisposition my numbers are high. Same w/my blood pressure. Sucks

Hmm. Makes you wonder ( or me wonder) if boxing us all up is healthy.   Meaning if yours  is high. It’s high.   My natural body temp is right at 99.  My whoop even confirms this as being high end of “ Normal”.    You should see. Some of the forehead scanners during the silly times ….. “99.1   Get the net “!  😂.  I just explained it away as “ alien blood “.  And laughed.  

Edited June 29, 2023 by bladehunter

[TiScape]

1 minute ago, bladehunter said:

Hmm. Makes you wonder ( or me wonder) if boxing us all up is healthy.   Meaning if yours  is high. It’s high.   My natural body temp is right at 99.  My whoop even confirms this as being high end of “ Normal”.    You should see. Some of the forehead scanners during the silly times ….. “99.1   Get the net “!  😂.  I just explained it away as “ alien blood “.  And laughed.  

Well since you hate ppl (crowds) you most likely didn’t go out that often which means those experiences were few and far between! 😂

[TiScape]

5 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

Hmm. Makes you wonder ( or me wonder) if boxing us all up is healthy.   Meaning if yours  is high. It’s high.   My natural body temp is right at 99.  My whoop even confirms this as being high end of “ Normal”.    You should see. Some of the forehead scanners during the silly times ….. “99.1   Get the net “!  😂.  I just explained it away as “ alien blood “.  And laughed.  

And yeah, I don’t have the education and expertise in that field to comment on your thoughts on this matter blade’.

[bladehunter]

51 minutes ago, TiScape said:

Well since you hate ppl (crowds) you most likely didn’t go out that often which means those experiences were few and far between! 😂

In general.  Yes.  All points of contact are few and far between.  But in context - it was a large uptick of side eye.  Part of me finds it amusing to be studied like a zoo animal.  But then I remember which side of the glass I’m on 🤣 and decide that turn about is fair play.  

[Jim53]

Been on a fairly high dose of Atorvastatin 40 mg. everyday and BP meds twice a day along with a fairly toxic Arthritis med once a week. 

Have pain everyday, get up and go and after a while it fades into the background. 

 

I talked with the Doc about the Statin as being a couse for some of the pain so I stopped it for a month and no change so back on it. A lot of it is just family history, high BP, heart disease and cancer is common on both sides....oh well 64 and fighting.

[Conrad1953]

My wife has been prescribed statins for well over a decade. They cause her such bad muscle and

joint pain that she refuses to take them. Her cholesterol is always a little high. Perhaps for her, it's

normal. She's 71 years old now and still small at 5'1" and 110 lbs. Her blood pressure has been fine

all this time so it doesn't seem the higher than "normal" cholesterol levels are clogging her arteries.

 

Just relaying some personal anecdotal stuff.   I am not a doctor or have ever played one on TV.....

and I don't want to engage in bro science or, in this case, bro medicine. 🙂

 

 

[TomScht]

Tuesday in the clubhouse I ran into Mike, a scratch golfer who played occasionally in our group. I asked where he'd been and he said he'd been house bound for 2-3 years because of statins. So weak he could hardly get out of bed.  Indeed he was pretty puny and scruffy looking.  I didn't ask him what he shot, or even if he played.  I was really shocked.

[TiScape]

Took a quick glance at the title and came to recommend 

[airjammer]

With all the new research coming to light recently, I’m surprised people are still taking them. 
 

To go along with that, now that it’s common knowledge that a lot of drugs cost the insurance company less than what you pay with your insurance.
 

One has to think do they really want you to go to the doctor for early prevention or are they really trying to get you on a “forever” prescription as soon as possible? Not only do you pay for the drug forever but your doctor basically blackmails you with a $200 “yep everything is the same…here is your script until I need $200 again” visit.  

[TomScht]

11 hours ago, airjammer said:

With all the new research coming to light recently, I’m surprised people are still taking them. 
 

Real research or As seen on the Internet "research?"

[airjammer]

41 minutes ago, TomScht said:

Real research or As seen on the Internet "research?"

You mean the “real research” that is funded by the pharmaceutical industry?
 

They would love for you to keep on eating sugar by the pound so they can put you on ozempic and tell you that frosted shredded wheat is better for you than a steak. 

[nsxguy]

12 hours ago, airjammer said:

With all the new research coming to light recently, I’m surprised people are still taking them. 
 

To go along with that, now that it’s common knowledge that a lot of drugs cost the insurance company less than what you pay with your insurance.
 

One has to think do they really want you to go to the doctor for early prevention or are they really trying to get you on a “forever” prescription as soon as possible? Not only do you pay for the drug forever but your doctor basically blackmails you with a $200 “yep everything is the same…here is your script until I need $200 again” visit.