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Atorvastatin. Restless legs synrome

alliebee

Well-Known Member
Hi. Has anybody had any experience with this?
Its a horrible feeling whilst in bed at night of constantly having to move your legs and can go on for hours and keep you awake..not a pain as such but you literally have to move your legs..
 
alliebee said:
I should add I'm concerned its the statin causing this
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No experience, but you could try stopping the statin (with your Dr's consent) and see if the restless legs improves, if it does then your gp may prescribe you an alternative statin.
 
It was restless leg syndrome and sweats that alerted the Dr to the fact I was diabetic, I was on hrt at the time so the sweats were not age related and had to stop the hrt which was a shame as it kept me level, anyway the restless leg took a while to settle but I rarely get it now, usually in really hot weather, I take simvastatin which may or may not have something to do with it but rather have restless leg than another quad bypass.
 
Thanks. I've looked a google this morning and apparently this can be a side effect of diabetes. So maybe not the statin...I'm going to check with my gp
 
Hi alliebee I suffer from RLS ( also known as Ekbom Syndrome) I have suffered with this for years now, but not due to any medication. It is unfortunately more common in females and also diabetes related. I take medication for RLS, during the day and before bed, it is a horrible condition. Best to have a word with your GP as there is help. GP may advise a blood test for iron deficiently and it may be treated with iron tablets , which didn't help my symptoms, but the tablets work and I couldn't do without them. All the best and good luck..
 
Hi,

Interestingly, I think I read a link today, on this forum, about how restless leg may be exacerbated by magnesium deficiency.

If I come across the thread again, I will link to it.

May be worth you trying a supplement...?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
alliebee said:
Hi. Has anybody had any experience with this?
Its a horrible feeling whilst in bed at night of constantly having to move your legs and can go on for hours and keep you awake..not a pain as such but you literally have to move your legs..
Click to expand...


Hi...I had a similar problem with simisvastin. I was put on 10mg a day for a slightly elevated cholesterol level.
2 weeks in and I would start with incredibly itchy legs at around 7pm for a few hours every night.That was only the half of it... It then progressed to an extremely painful stabbing sensation just above the knee cap...no stamina ( I took to fell walking to help with the control of my BG levels...and could hardly walk 1/2 mile whilst on the statins) noticeable muscle loss and extreme mood swings. I stopped taking the meds, hoping that the symptoms would go, which they did. I then restarted with the regime and the symptoms returned., so it may be safe to say that the meds were creating thee problems.I spoke to a friend who actually works for the company who make the drug and he suggested that I was wise to stop. As did the doctor and also the chemist, who wanted to talk to me about my current meds regime.
The doctor then put me on 10mg of Atorvastatin and the symptoms returned..so I have binned them.
I am NOT suggesting that this is a good idea but I'm not at sure that I had much choice, given what potential damage the statins were doing to me.

I wish you all the best and hope that you get yourself sorted .
 

I too take tablets for RLS. Had chronic pain in top of legs for years on and off. Back to meds again now, but also have my pain management team at hospital that send electronic messages through the nerves in my legs to help them too now.
The pain is excruciating and GP's do not understand just how low the pain can make you feel. Sitting down or lying down can be agony.
My GP gives me ropinirole but I have to be careful about when I take them as the only side effect I get is immediate dropping off to sleep once they hit my bloodstream... They certainly don't last 24 hours either.

What do you have prescribed? Any side effects?

Mine in the last two years disappeared without drugs then came back last March, went away and has just reoccurred in last 3 weeks which is now why I have these drugs. I just can't fathom out why it has reoccured again?
 
Hi DD, so sorry to hear of your awful leg problems. I do take Ropinirole x 2 ,1 hour before bed, and 1 /12 late afternoon now. I did have side affects of vomiting ( I seem to have done a lot of that over the years !) for quite a few months at the start , but don't get that from Ropinirole. anymore. I do know there was another drug that can be prescribed but I can't remember the name., if its still available.?
I don't get pain from my legs, they jerk ( nearly kicked a woman whilst sitting at a table travellling on a train, so had to move away and walk about.the carriages. People do get different sensations, feeling of burning/fire in the legs, feeling of 'ants' running up and down the legs. I get a peculiar 'jerky pulling' as well. It also can affect the arms, I get this too but its milder.

Reading your post again, I have a feeling in the back of my mind that you could possibly be suffering from CRPS, Complex Regional pain syndrome. You do seem to have the agonising pain symptoms and this is what I now have in my arm from the broken wrist.
It's not a common condition and is often overlooked or not understood by the medical profession.
I would go to your GP and ask about CRPS, even if it is just to rule it out
Good luck DD, I do feel for you ,as pain like yours is happening because of a reason and it may not just be RLS ? I dont' know if this will help DD and I hope you don't mind me mentioning CRPS.
Take care RRB
 
Thanks RRB for the info and advice. The tops of legs have always felt as if the muscles were sort of shrinking and pulling too tight. Always when sitting down or in bed when it occurs... My gp when I saw him last... I actually described the pain as being so bad during night that I wish I didn't have to wake up the next morning. So then he said, so you're having suicidal thoughts... So I said" no, you are misinterpreting what I said".. Repeated myself and then he said "yes, RLS people can get such bad pain that it does make them depressed." So he is now the first GP ever that has realised that the pain is misery.. Not the misery causing my pain. He sees me at the Practice acting in behalf of Patients etc so he knows I am normally happy.
They have ruled out diabetic neuropathy and amyotrophy and fibromyalgia now.
How do they test for CRPS?

Sat night after 4 hours driving was really bad.the pain was so bad that as soon as I got to my parents I took 2 x tablets (0.5mg each tablet) that I then felt so **** tired that I went to bed after just arriving an hour before!!

I will ask GP about CRPS. I haven't had any tablet ever that took away the pain totally when it occurs, just wish I could identify what triggered the pain to come back again..
 
I have had this kind of problem well before Diabetes,
Sounds daft but my legs get tired before I do, then it is up to bed to watch tv or something,
then the restless leg thing kicks in a few hours later.
Haven't given it much thought until I saw your thread, I am not on medication.
I have blamed many things, The moon, clock going back or forward, weather, leg accident 50 years ago,lack of exercise that day,etc;
Over the years I have had many change in diet etc;
Lucky for me it has never got worse or better, so I am going to stick to thinking it has something to do with " changing tides as the reason why our behaviour may be somewhat different "
I know it is mad, but I am a member of this forum and strange things happen to us.
 
I certainly don't blame my diabetes. I would love to find out what makes it go away and then come back. If I knew that I could get rid of it permanently.

All sorts of things are blamed on diabetes. This isn't to me a contributing factor as so many non diabetics get it too. So I still count myself as complication free. I had thought that more fat in my dist had helped but then bham!! The pain just comes back to prove me wrong!
 
i suffer very badly with rls and the dr has put me on pramipexole. a drug normally used for parkinsons disease. it worked for a while and now they have just hsd to double the dose. it drives me insane and dont think i have had a full nights sleep in a very long time. mine is partly to do with ckd level 3(chronic kidney diaease) a result of the diabetes. hope you get it sorted
 
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