{"id":31,"date":"2016-08-30T17:00:28","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T17:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dellin.org\/?page_id=31"},"modified":"2022-05-30T03:38:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T03:38:25","slug":"personal-saga","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/statinvictim.com\/?page_id=31","title":{"rendered":"Personal Saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is a bit more about my saga. \u00a0I’m telling it not to dwell on my situation, but to help you see possible warning signs related to your own condition.
\nWhen 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. \u00a0We, 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. \u00a0OK. sure, I’ll take the lowest strength statin, 10 mg of Pravastatin. \u00a0 \u00a0I was a very active guy who ran, went to the gym, and played soccer with my kids and friends\u00a0often.
\nA few years later he switched my to Vytorin, a combo low dose simvastatin with zetia. \u00a0It was all over on nightly TV commercials. \u00a0I didn’t worry because I was on low dose.
\nMeanwhile, 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.
\nBut, gradually I felt like I was getting older faster. \u00a0I had unexplained tendinitis. I also started wearing sneakers to work since wearing shoes hurt the bottoms of my feet. \u00a0I felt like my arm strength was declining even though I was going to the gym five\u00a0times 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?
\nThen in early 2012 (at age 56), \u00a0a dozen years after starting statins,\u00a0things really took a turn for the worse. Why was my blood sugar always getting higher each time I had my blood tested? \u00a0I was swimming a mile a day and was at a reasonable weight. \u00a0I was cutting down carbs yet it was still going up. \u00a0And the burning feeling in my feet was now all over my legs. \u00a0The Doctor tested my CPK level (an enzyme secreted by muscles} and it was high. \u00a0He said let’s stop the statin for two weeks and see if it helps. \u00a0The CPK and the pain was about the same after two weeks,\u00a0so it must be something else. Back on the statins I went.
\nIn hindsight, stopping statins for two weeks (after a dozen years) was a ridiculous test. \u00a0Can you imagine if someone said let’s stop smoking for two weeks to see if your hacking cough goes away. \u00a0Oh, it didn’t go away, so it must not be due to smoking. Ridiculous.
\nThen an MRI at my local ER showed that I had a slightly bulging lumbar disc. Aha, said the Doc, that must be it. \u00a0Well after two years of physical therapy and two surgeries, the pain got even worse.
\nI finally did my research. \u00a0The two most common side effects (a.k.a. adverse effects) of statins are muscle pain and diabetes. \u00a0Gosh, that fits me to a tee. \u00a0I 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.
\nMoral of the story:
\nDoctors push pills for almost anything<\/strong>. \u00a0I have no family history of cardiovascular disease. I was very active, I had no other risk factors. \u00a0But I was given statins for slightly elevated LDL.
\nDoctors<\/b>\u00a0don’t recognize the side effects<\/strong>. \u00a0The only time I went to my Doctor prior to 2012 besides routine checkups was for random muscle pains and for gradually rising blood sugar. \u00a0He just told me to watch my carbs. Nothing else.
\nDoctors don’t watch for drug interactions.<\/strong> \u00a0I challenged him\u00a0that my\u00a0pain must be due to something I’m taking. \u00a0I thought it might have been the Norvasc blood pressure pill he started my on (in 2012). \u00a0Well. I found out later that Norvasc interacts with simvastatin. \u00a0The FDA warns that it amplifies the serum level of the statin by 70%. \u00a0My low dose statin was almost doubled in my blood.
\nDoctors don’t listen to their patients<\/strong>. \u00a0In 2014 I went to a renown institute: The Johns Hopkins Myositis Center. \u00a0I 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. \u00a0Well, they kept going back to my feet. \u00a0It must be that bulging disc I had, not the statins. \u00a0Go get a nerve block. Wrong.
\nYou have to do your own research<\/strong>. \u00a0There are plenty of research papers and other well documented studies to review. \u00a0See my useful resources<\/a> page.
\nahead to Useful Medical Tests<\/a>
\nback to my welcome page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a bit more about my saga. \u00a0I’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 … Continue reading Personal Saga<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/statinvictim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/statinvictim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/statinvictim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statinvictim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statinvictim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/statinvictim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355,"href":"https:\/\/statinvictim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31\/revisions\/355"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statinvictim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/statinvictim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}