Side effects with statin drugs

I have been having some highCholesterol level for 3 years now. I was on medication in and out as I develop side effects to the statin drugs. I was on Lipitor, then on Pravachol and lastly on Crestor. None of them had problems loweting the Choesterol levels, but muscle and joint pain even with Vit D and Co Q10 as prescribed my physician. However, I came off crestor yesterday as I started feeling Dizzy. I am normally a "healthy", active energetic person. Now my doc thinks we should try Zetia which is in a different family of drugs.
Has anyone experienced difficulties with this? Any thoughts? BTW, I have tried diet and exercise and did not get me anywhere.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
Muscle and joint aches is a common side effect of statins and may be seen with Zieta as it a common side effect of that drug too. Muscle ache often happens because with statins patients indulge in rigorous exercise. The exercise level should be raised slowly over a period of time. Some times dose adjustment helps. Starting at a very low dose and slowly building it up. The level of creatine phosphokinase enzyme should be checked. If this is raised then there is muscle injury and the drugs should b stopped. If CPK is normal, then the dose and exercise adjustment should help. Fat-soluble statins like Lipitor and Zocor cause more damage than water soluble statins like Pravachol and Crestor. Hence the latter should be tried at lower dose. Possibility of hypothyroidism and diabetes should be ruled out as the presence of either disease can complicate the muscle pain. Please discuss these points with your treating physician. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage.
Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!

[tpb]

Thank you for the post. As of today, I am not taking any drug. I feel normal and "healthy". Except for the backache that came with Crestor. It looks like my muscle pain is diminishing though. I am afraid to go on zetia either. I am helpless not knowing what to do. My doctor said I have to atleast take the meds for 3 months before the blood test. But then even with this horrible muscle pain he did not ask me to get the CPK tested. Should I ask him?
Thank you for the support.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Yes you should and the enzyme level should be tested while you are on drug.

[tpb]

I still got terrible pain time to time on my muscles. I am on VIt D3 1g/day. this pain started two days ago and is not going anywhere. should I still go on Zetia?