Here is a bit more about my saga. I’m telling it not to dwell on my situation, but to help you see possible warning signs related to your own condition.
When I was 42 years old, my primary care physician looked at my yearly blood test and saw that my LDL cholesterol level was a bit high. We, in the US, have been told for years that LDL was bad, eating eggs was bad, the food pyramid was the way to go, and we had to watch our LDL. OK. sure, I’ll take the lowest strength statin, 10 mg of Pravastatin. I was a very active guy who ran, went to the gym, and played soccer with my kids and friends often.
A few years later he switched my to Vytorin, a combo low dose simvastatin with zetia. It was all over on nightly TV commercials. I didn’t worry because I was on low dose.
Meanwhile, I had stopped running due to sore knees and started swimming (a mile at a time) or using the elliptical machine daily. I generally felt good.
But, gradually I felt like I was getting older faster. I had unexplained tendinitis. I also started wearing sneakers to work since wearing shoes hurt the bottoms of my feet. I felt like my arm strength was declining even though I was going to the gym five times a week. My feet would get hot and my hamstrings were always tight. And my blood sugar was creeping upward each year. Things happen as you get to 50, right?
Then in early 2012 (at age 56), a dozen years after starting statins, things really took a turn for the worse. Why was my blood sugar always getting higher each time I had my blood tested? I was swimming a mile a day and was at a reasonable weight. I was cutting down carbs yet it was still going up. And the burning feeling in my feet was now all over my legs. The Doctor tested my CPK level (an enzyme secreted by muscles} and it was high. He said let’s stop the statin for two weeks and see if it helps. The CPK and the pain was about the same after two weeks, so it must be something else. Back on the statins I went.
In hindsight, stopping statins for two weeks (after a dozen years) was a ridiculous test. Can you imagine if someone said let’s stop smoking for two weeks to see if your hacking cough goes away. Oh, it didn’t go away, so it must not be due to smoking. Ridiculous.
Then an MRI at my local ER showed that I had a slightly bulging lumbar disc. Aha, said the Doc, that must be it. Well after two years of physical therapy and two surgeries, the pain got even worse.
I finally did my research. The two most common side effects (a.k.a. adverse effects) of statins are muscle pain and diabetes. Gosh, that fits me to a tee. I stopped them in February 2014, two years after my ER visit and 15 years after starting them. My Doctor did not agree. He actually suggested I see a Psychiatrist.
Moral of the story:
Doctors push pills for almost anything. I have no family history of cardiovascular disease. I was very active, I had no other risk factors. But I was given statins for slightly elevated LDL.
Doctors don’t recognize the side effects. The only time I went to my Doctor prior to 2012 besides routine checkups was for random muscle pains and for gradually rising blood sugar. He just told me to watch my carbs. Nothing else.
Doctors don’t watch for drug interactions. I challenged him that my pain must be due to something I’m taking. I thought it might have been the Norvasc blood pressure pill he started my on (in 2012). Well. I found out later that Norvasc interacts with simvastatin. The FDA warns that it amplifies the serum level of the statin by 70%. My low dose statin was almost doubled in my blood.
Doctors don’t listen to their patients. In 2014 I went to a renown institute: The Johns Hopkins Myositis Center. I told two expert Doctors there that I had feet pain but that the pain generally follows whatever muscle group I use. If I use my arms then my arms hurt. Well, they kept going back to my feet. It must be that bulging disc I had, not the statins. Go get a nerve block. Wrong.
You have to do your own research. There are plenty of research papers and other well documented studies to review. See my useful resources page.
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