Questions posted in the Heart Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Question Title: Intolerance to the "statin" drugs

Forum: The Heart Forum
Topic: Heart Disease


Why, after nearly 5 years, would I suddenly develop an intolerance to the
"statin" drugs? I'd been taking Zocor when suddenly I experienced muscle
pains, aches, stiffness, and fever. When I stopped the Zocor the symptoms
went away, when I resumed the symptoms came back. I quit the Zocor and after
about a month started Lipitor and had the same results... when I took the
Lipitor the symptoms came back and when I stopped they went away. Most
recently I've taken Pravachol and had the same results. What's going on?
This is very frustrating because the Zocor had been very successful, dropping
my total cholesterol count over 100 points. I'm also concerned that maybe
I've developed liver disease or something. My GP/Internist doesn't have
any answers. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Dear Paul, thank you for your question. It does sound like you are intolerant to the statin drugs. The common side effects of statin drugs include myositis (inflammation of the muscles) and elevated liver enzymes. Your side effects sound like these problems so you should ask your physician if you ever had a creatine kinase level (to look for myositis) and liver enzyme levels drawn to check into this. I can't determine whether you've developed chronic liver disease (although that's unlikely) although I doubt that statins would cause you to develop chronic liver disease. Although statins are highly effective at reducing elevated cholesterol levels, other medications that could be used include niacin and cholestyramine. You may want to check with your physician about using one of these alternative medications.

I hope you find this information useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.

If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.

[The Heart Forum]      [The Heart Forum Archives]