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.  

[remar]

Jon. I so appreciate your concern and all of your help. Your such a caring person and have always answered all of my posts and messages. I really wish I did'nt have these side effects from the statins. My cholesterol numbers are a big concern to me and the last in the world I want to happen to me is another heart attack. I do plan to get with my Cardiologist soon to talk about other options and to get labs done again. I've been ever more strict about my diet and since being off the statins I can be so much more active. I'm still working on how I deal with stress, which is much better I'm happy to say.

[remar]

Dcordes, you are the first person I've heard from on this forum that has had the most debilitating side effects from statins the same as I did. Those side effects started the day after I took my first dose in the hospital and never let up.Tylenal and the couch were becoming my best friends. I've tried 4 times and every time it gets worse. This last time had me, my husband and my family very scared because I was so sick and could hardly function. Now that I'm off of them, it's taken almost 3 weeks, I'm slowly getting better and able to be much more active. Like you, I was having no quality of life because I hurt and was nauseous all of the time. I did see my family Dr last Friday and he told me he would not go against my Cardiologist but if it he were in my shoes and had been through everything I have, he would not try taking another statin. He talked about a condition some people can get from a statin that can be permanent.  

[erijon]

I'm sorry to hear of your issues, however your experience is the vast minority of those who take statins. A trained medical professional has weighed the risk verses benefit for this individual and determined statins were the best treatment given their overall risk. This individual has heart disease and a recent heart attack and still has high cholesterol, I think it warrants trying to stick it out as much as possible, many have a reduction in the side effects after a couple weeks.

Concerning Niacin, don't be too satisfied with your results. Recent studies have found that the HDL particles created by Niacin do NOT have the same protective characteristics as naturally occurring HDL particles. You may find this interesting;

http://www.nih.gov/news/health/may2011/nhlbi-26.htm

In short, you may have a false sense of security with your chemically induced high HDL and assumed high LDL. You should discuss this with your doctor.

Jon

[Dcordes71152]

Unless you have experienced the full brunt of side effects from statins, you can not state "just stick it out".  The side effects are unbearable.  I finally asked my doctor  if it was really healthier that i went from someone who worked out at the gym 5 days a week to someone gobbling pain medicine and laying on the couch.  I had no life on the meds and so, I opted to take the risk.  I very very slowly (to minimize flushing) worked myself up to 1500 mgs of niacin twice a day and my HDL is through the roof and my LDL, while high. is the less dangerous buoyant fluffy kind.  Ill have to take my chances with this improvement as on statins, I simply had no quality of life - and I had taken huge dose of COQ10 with them AND tried (and could not tolerate) the red yeast rice.

[Dcordes71152]

Unless you have experienced the full brunt of side effects from statins, you can not state "just stick it out".  The side effects are unbearable.  I finally asked my doctor  if it was really healthier that i went from someone who worked out at the gym 5 days a week to someone gobbling pain medicine and laying on the couch.  I had no life on the meds and so, I opted to take the risk.  I very very slowly (to minimize flushing) worked myself up to 1500 mgs of niacin twice a day and my HDL is through the roof and my LDL, while high. is the less dangerous buoyant fluffy kind.  Ill have to take my chances with this improvement as on statins, I simply had no quality of life - and I had taken huge dose of COQ10 with them AND tried (and could not tolerate) the red yeast rice.

[remar]

Thank you Jrbon. I really do like this forum because I'm learning so much from all of you, and I have learned a lot that I did'nt know about. I'll check out the website you gave me. Thank you.