This is always going to be difficult. It's a known fact, no conspiracy, that statins prevent the uptake of CoQ10, which is required by muscles to function. Some people have the muscle pain and some people don't, some people take large doses, some people take low doses, some take simvastatin, some take atorvastatin, some take . . . . . . . . . Basically different people taking slightly different formulations and slightly different doses.
This isn't new either, Merck were aware of the muscle pain problems and their cause back in 1990 (
http://www.functionalmedicineuniversity.com/statin-CoQ10.pdf). I did try the "OK, I'll take the statins if you can get rid of the muscle pain". That got me nowhere, seems low cholesterol is more important than being able to walk properly. I even tried taking CoQ10 to hopefully alleviate some of the pain, but it never worked for me. The GP couldn't even recommend how much to take when I asked her. Not her fault entirely, it was my idea to take it not hers.
It was lowering my carb intake to 80 gms a day, and I fully recognise that it's not for everyone, but my cholesterol dropped to 3 and baring in mind the side effects, I stopped statins 2 years ago. Although the side effects lessened, they've never really gone away and I'd be interested in what the long term damage to my muscles really are. Problem is nobody cares, not the GPs who prescribed statins in the first place. Even now when I have a Creatine Kinase the numbers are high, showing that I have damage to muscle, fortunately they can tell it's not my heart.
I had started on Atorvastatin and have to say that side effects were not too bad, in fact the difficulty I had in getting up from a chair without groaning I had stupidly put down to old age, until I took simvastatin and then I really felt it.