Statin side effects

[remar]

I've tried statins 4 times since my heart attack last May. I was put on Pravastatin in the hospital and immediately started having muscle weakness, joint pain, bladder pain and urgency. This continued until I took myself off of it. Then the pain and urgency went away. I waited 6 weeks to have labs done and my numbers are higher than they should be considering I'm a heart patient. So, back to the statins and the side effects for the 3rd time. I asked to be tried on a different statin, Simvastatin. Started it on a Thursday and by Friday evening I felt like my lower back was broken. It continued to get worse to the point of me hardly being able to move off the couch for a week. Everything in my body hurt. Of course I quit taking it. My sister went through the same thing with statins and just can not take them. I'm wondering what I can take that's natural. I do take Plavix and a baby aspirin everyday. I know Krill Oil is out. Already checked on that. My Cardiologist is'nt being of much help. He keeps pushing the statins but I'm really afraid of what can happen if I try another one. I am on a pretty strict diet. I've been a vegetarian for many years, so no meat. Fat free organic milk, lots of veggies and fruit. Any advice someone could give me would be great. I'll run it by my Dr first before I try anything. Sorry this post is so long. I'm just at a loss as to what to do to get my numbers where they should be and it looks like I can not take a pharmaceutical statin.  

[oldie]

thank you. I've been on statins two years. I had a stent RCA 18 months ago. After stess test two weeks ago the Cardio took me off plavix and I begin to think anxiety is lessening.. Said I'm in good shape ( except for diastolic dysfunction Phase 2). As always when I see him I'm feeling better but I'm never with him   when I'm bent over with backache and all the rest of it and  general  malaise.
Anxiety (no evident cause) with iron butterflies in the tum  has pestered me for two years. I can almost always stop them with '50 Alprazolam under hte tongue. But there again, I don't want to get dependent. And it doesn't always work. Iput all of this to my cardio. He is a an interventiionist through and through. It goes like this: Him: Any pain in the chest?
Me, NO.
Good. come back in two months.

[remar]

I started off on 40 mgs of Pravastastin. It was way too high for me so my Dr said I could try 20 mgs. Still had the severe muscle pain and nausea. When I tried the Simvastatin It was 10 mgs. That was the one that had me on the couch for a week feeling like I was dying.
Plavix can cause anxiety, fatigue and dizziness. I did'nt even look the side effects up when my Dr put me on it because I figured I HAD to take it so why worry myself. But, when I could'nt figure out why I would have severe anxiety about an hour or so after taking it, I decided to look the side effects up. Sure enough, anxiety can be one of them along with dizziness and fatigue which I was also having..
The stomach and back pain your feeling could be from the statin. How long have you been on it? If it's not agreeing with you then you might want to tell your Dr and possibly change to a different one.  

[oldie]

I am beginning to feel the pains your describe. But my statin (crestor now, lipitor before that)) dose is so low , 10mg alternate days, I hesitate to blame it. Please, would you all state what dose you were taking and for how long. I have  several symptoms - anxiety gut pain, night sweats, fatigue, nausea, dizzy - and have searched through all the heart medications,statins, plavix, carvedilol, aspirin with no clear answer. Now the back pain too despite unfailing exercise and diet plus good lipid balance.. So your help to me please, is to know your dose.

[Occupant]

I appreciate the problems you experienced while on Statins, I had the same thing happening to me. I had been taking them for 12+ years and went to most varieties on the market. It was ok for a time then problems occurred - got off that particular one, on to the next. Doctors are adamant about it. During all this time I had plaque building up like crazy, my last Calcium Score was 1242 - I know, Statins are supposed to prevent that. I had Rhabdomyolysis affecting my kidneys, myalgia - constant muscle pain - until I finally decided, enough is enough. I don't even have that "false sense of security" that erijon mentioned, because I am through with Niacin and Red Yeast Rice as well.

[remar]

Thank you for the advice and concern Adiaguan. I do appreciate it very much.

[Adiaguan]

Sorry for hear that you are suffering with such a diseas .I know how you feel because i have a heart disease when i was 17years old .But now ,i'm 23years old and my heart disease have never relapse again .Do you believe Chinese herb medicine ? Do you know anything about honey bolus ? If you're not ,i hope you could try to know more about it .
Without any side effects ,Chinese herb medicine always build a whole body organize .Not just cure one disease ,bring back another disease .Build up your immune systerm frist when you use it for cure the heart disease .I have to say that i'm a Chinese ,i always trust our traditional medicine ,but the fact is it always working .I don't suggest that only use the herb medicine or western medicine ,mix them will be better .

Hope you could get better soon !

Best regards!