Statins
 

I have been prescribed Atorvastatin for around the past 12 months, amongst a mix of other things I started at the same time. During the time I have suffered lots of muscle cramps, but wasn't sure which med to blame, or even if it was just an age thing. Added to that, I had a feeling of a tremor in my left hand, but no visible tremor - such that I would sit on it to avoid the feeling.


I was recently doing a bit of work upgrading my heating control system and I was really struggling - each time I tried to use a screwdriver, my hand would grip the implement and soon the cramp would take over to the point where I would have to prise it out of one hand with the other.



A bit of research suggested Atorvastatin could cause cramp and cause tremors, so I got in touch with the surgery and the doc suggested to try stopping it for a month. I stopped, the next day the cramps and tremor feeling were completely gone.

hey up harry i take atorvastatin because i have type 2 diabetes . i take one every night they used to give me cramps (leg ache)but not anymore as ive been on them for over a year now but i would rather have leg ache than having a high cholesterol that can cause strokes etc rgds mark

Statins are notorious for muscle and joint pains. I've been on five different ones and they all had the same side effects, one was so bad I'd wake up in the morning like a 90 year old, hobbling around the house until I loosened up a bit. I'm now on Pravastatin which was heading the same way until I finally compromised with my GP and take it every other night. I don't wake up in the morning and run around the house like Linford Christie but on the other hand I don't have the same level of side effects.

My wife has been taking various statins for 15 years (was on Atorvastatin, currently on Pravastatin) and used to suffer from muscle cramps. She has not suffered since she started taking a 250mg magnesium tablet every night. She gets them from Holland & Barrett but I am sure that Boots etc stock them.
Her uncle has recommended her to take Co-Enzyme Q10 also to increase energy levels - no feedback on this yet.

I've been on statins now for over 20 years - one 40 mg tablet a night. I've been very fortunate so far in that I've never had a single side effect and they are doing a good job at keeping cholesterol levels nice and low.

Must be a real pain when prescribed medication causes issues :mad:, you have my sympathy.

Cliff

I take one 10mg of Rosuvastatin daily have done for about 8 years and no nasties. So far.
I'm a T2 on meds.

I started taking Simvastatin back in 2005 following a heart attack. I stuck with it for about 10 years, eventually suffering from cramps (especially in the calf muscles, whilst you were asleep - ouch), weird dreams (no - not that type!) and constant awakening during the night. About 4 years ago, I was switched to Atorvastatin and most of the side effects have now disappeared. I put some of the improvement down to being able to take the Atorvastatin in the morning now, whereas the Simvastatin was specified as "take in the evening" - but there seems to be no medical grounds for that to have any effect.
I do have Type 2 Diabetes as well - but that is controlled by diet only.

The suggestions I have read on line, suggest trying other statins to see which do not cause issues. Now I know it is the atorvastatin, I can see what else they can offer me - yes its to help with T2.



The docs supposed to be ringing for some as yet unknown reason, I will discuss alternatives then.


Friday I have to go in hospital, for a camera down the neck (OGD??) at last. It was supposed to have been six weeks after the first time, when I was rush into hospital on B&T's, after a sudden oesophagus bleed and loss of a lot of blood - but the whole thing got mucked up between hospital and GP. The want to do a recheck, to ensure the blood leakage has stopped and if it has, I can stop taking the iron tablets which have been so upsetting my stomach since August.


A week last Friday, it was an ultra sound scan, to check my kidneys, aorta, bladder and prostate. I had to drink a pint and an half and hold on to it. I expected I would be busting, but I wasn't and she said my bladder was near empty :eek: I had lost sleep over having to drink that much and hold onto it for a full hour, even a glass of water goes straight through me. She said I was probably dehydrated and had absorbed it all. She said the result letter I would have in seven days, but I'm still waiting for that 12 days later. I will give them a dig, tomorrow as so many things are going wrong and being forgotten.


I've had a couple of serious episodes in the past few months of going light headed, dizzy, hot sweats and very weak, plus a few minor ones. One nurse suggested they sounded like hypo episodes (low sugar) so I got some dextrose tablets to try next time it happened, to confirm it. Then another diabetes specialist said that was unlikely, unless I was on T2 tablets, which I'm not.


I put the first episode down to doxazosin, which I had started on that day and too large an initial dose, but I am on a smaller dose, been on them a while, yet still had a serious episode. Something else to be discussed tomorrow. The poor docs in for a ear bashing tomorrow. I felt absolutely fine, until they began feeding me all of these tablets :eek:

I watched a programme were a Doctor ripped Statins to shreds, he said you need a coating on your arteries to protect the wall, he said diet will only lower the 'bad Chloresterol by 10%.
He also said that a tribe in Africa because of their diet, had the highest bad cholesterol on the planet, yet had the lowest heart disease.
The big drug companies make billions every year from Stains, and Doctors get a 'bonus' for proscribing them. His opinion was you could have 19years with all the side effects or 18 years with a better quality of life, hard to know what to do, as the medical powers that be are split on the benefit of taking them.

It has always been thus!


Hospital consultant early last year with an MRI found I'd had a very minor stroke in the distant past and that I had a partially blocked artery feeding the left side of my head, so he proposed my BP ought to be kept between 150 to 160. GP's with prescriptions wanted my BP much lower, until I pointed out the consultants recommendation - then said '..your choice, your decision'. He suggested I ought to be on aspirin, GP agreed.


Then I had the oesophagus bleed and the consultant who dealt with that suggested stopping the aspirin, but GP never noticed that and they are still on my prescription despite not taking them since August..