Muscle/Joint Pain with Statins?

munecasmom wrote: »

I'm not a doctor but I'm getting the same push from my new heart doctor. My numbers are worse than yours for sure. My prior cardiologist said if you're not experiencing any blockage then there is really no reason for the statins. Unfortunately he was older and is gone on medical leave. He was definitely old enough to retire but worked because he loves it. So now comes the new guy and one of the first things he said was your cholesterol is high (I think it was 230 or 250) it's been over 200 since I was 20 years old. I'm now 65. I said yes but I have no blockage and my previous doctor (in the same group) said I don't need them. Said I need to reduce my ldl which is caused by red meat - I only eat maybe every two weeks when I go to my son in law's, then he said fried foods - I said nope I'm gluten intolerant so I don't eat fried foods for the most part. Then he continued to push and said well eventually you're going to have blockage. I said yes and eventually I'm going to die so I really don't want to do them right now. Sorry for the book - my suggestion is to have them do a cardiac score test - that will show if you have any blockage and then you can take it from there. Good luck and don't let them push things on you unless absolutely necessary!

neanderthin wrote: »

Maybe a statin is justified for someone at high risk for a heart attack or have hypercholesterolemia but for most, it's just pure nonsense and it's just big pharma doing what it does best. I suspect and it looks like it's going to happen in the near future (soon) which is, they will lower once more the acceptable level of LDL to 70 where most children and quite frankly, most of the world will then be eligible. Besides the muscle problems there's other concerns as well, mostly liver and kidney and mucks with blood sugar levels and I would suggest people do more research and I don't mean documentaries. Look at cholesterol, particle sizes of lipoproteins as it relates to cholesterol etc. Knowledge is king and could save you a lot of pain, and in this context it's your muscle. As far as muscle aches go from statins take a look at CoQ10. Not medical advice just an opinion. Cheers

https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1567724907000591?via%3Dihub
https://healthline.com/health/coq10-and-statins

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

spiriteagle99 wrote: »

Since your numbers were within normal range, why did he think it was necessary to start statins? I don't think I would agree to do that, without a good reason.

My husband's doctor put him on statins because he is diabetic, so at higher risk of heart issues, even though his cholesterol and blood pressure are both good. But he does have family history of heart issues, so he agreed. He did change his meds for the same reason you are thinking about it. It is hard to know if muscle pain is part of aging or exercise or if it is due to the statins, but the fact that yours got better when you stopped taking them is a clue.

There was something on the news today (NBC) about a recent study that showed a different kind of drug to treat cholesterol that has fewer side effects than the statins and is very effective at reducing heart attacks. It may become common for people who have trouble with statins and muscle pain.

He gave the reason as my age, pure and simple when I asked.

That seems weird to me. My doctor was on me for years to take a statin, but never brought up age as a variable, FWIW. (I was in late 50s by the end of that.) My numbers were much worse than yours, until I lost weight. Since you don't need to lose, that's obviously not a solution for you.

I wonder if, in part, he's over-reacting to your BMI (27, mid overweight) and not taking on board your BF% (low for that BMI). Second opinion sounds like a good plan.

How is your diet? High triglycerides might respond to dietary interventions, if there's room for them. I'm not usually much in favor of dietary religions, but this is one scenario where reducing sugars and refined carbohydrate sources does seem to have the potential to help, if there's much of that in your diet; ditto for reducing sat fats in favor of MUFA/PUFA sources or things like fatty fish for O-3s. Maybe you've already done that, though. Alcohol can be a factor, but it seems like you've mentioned elsewhere not being much into that.

Thanks.

My triglycerides have generally been in the okay range looking back at 10 years of blood tests. Our church has a couple of nurses who volunteer once a month to take BP and answer questions so I talked to one of them (30 yr ER RN). She said the triglycerides can swing pretty widely with temporary diet changes. She said she is typically in range but one test she was over 400. She thought about it a bit and realized she had 4 glasses wine at a party 5 days before the test. She took it again and was fine.

I don't each much added sugars and refined carbs but do occasionally have a few beers on a weekend. May have spiked the reading a bit.

Yeah, that's part of why dietary interventions can work so well for triglycerides IMU. I had one test where mine hit over 400. I realized that pizza (lots) and beer a few days before the test - in unusual amounts for me - had probably thrown things off. On later tests, I'd make it a point to stick with normal eating/drinking routine for around a week before a blood test.

One of my friends was outraged that I was "gaming the test". That would be dumb. In my mind, I wasn't doing that . . . I was just making it a point not to do something unusual for me that would distort the test.

elovberg wrote: »

Having muscle pain with statins is a serious issue. There are specific genetic mutations that cause this. Unfortunately, traditional medicine doesn't pay attention to genetic reports. However, if you are having pain, your doctor is following the guidelines that suggest you try another type of statin. If that statin also causes you pain, then the doctor can appeal to your insurance company to put you on a PCKS9 inhibitor.
I also had statin caused muscular pain and had a Next Generation Sequence genetic report detailing my specific mutations that indicated that the specific statin was da m aging to me. Unfortunately, my cardiologist (from the best hearr hospital in the US), let me know that the genetic evidence was not enough to allow him to change medications. Instead he pointedly asked me "Have you quit taking these statins and why?" And when I replied "yes, because I have so much pain", he said "Bingo!" And now we will put you on another statin and I will ask you the same questions. He did just that..I had the same problem and told him so and within 1 week I had my PCKS9 inhibitor (which showed up on a mutated PCSK9 gene in many areas on my genetic report). I had a massive drop in LdL and TC and TG after taking the drug .....so....statin prescribing to everyone with high cholesterol numbers is just an insurance driven " tail wagging the dog" game to try to reduce costs. Pcsk9 inhibitor was phenomenal for me.

TaariniNeelam wrote: »

I am new here and all these questions and comments are very useful. My doctor has prescribed statins to me but my liver numbers were high. I don’t know all the details but they took me off statins for a couple years. Although I am officially back on statins my doctor appointments are irregular so I rarely get that prescription. I suffer from fatigue even without that medication.