Ezetimibe

Hi, I have type two diabetes and my diabetic nurse was concerned about the 'bad cholesterol' I have. I cannot take statins as they make me very poorly. I was referred to a lipid clinic at our local hospital and was then prescribed Ezetimibe tablets. 10mg one a day. I haver now been on them nearly five weeks and cannot believe how ill they make me feel. It started with pains in my body, my neck, shoulders and then my back, my arms and down my legs. My legs can also cramp up quite badly. I have bouts of diarrhea and occassional stomach pains. Last night I couldnt sleep and just cried because I want to feel normal again and just not hurt or the time. I did a middle of the night google (which I know you shouldnt!) and the amount of bad reviews was astonishing. I have also been getting these weird pains around my heart the last couple of days which Ive tried to ignore. I have told my diabetic nurse and doctor about this and all they say is take normal painkillers for the pains and gabapentin too. My husband said this morning enough is enough stop taking them. I dont want to go against what the 'professionals' say, but I just cant live my life like this anymore. Please, has anyone else had this problem with this drug and what did you do? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

catinahat said:

Hi @mummycaz
I have not taken Ezetimibe so can't offer any personal experiences and I'm not qualified to offer any advice on medication, but I can offer my thoughts on your situation.
1/ medication is supposed to make us feel better not worse
2/ you don't need to Google what the drug can do to you, you already know that.
Try researching high cholesterol instead, you may decide that it's not the demon they make it out to be
3/ Dr's are not god's, they are just human like everyone else and quite often get things wrong, just like everyone else. What drugs you take is your decision not theirs, they can advise us of course but It's your body and your life

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Thank you so much for your wise words. You are echoing exactly what my husband has said. I did not take it this morning and I am going to inform both the hospital and the diabetic nurse that I am not going to go back on them as they make me feel so awful. Again, thank you.

pre-predb said:

Mummycaz, I would echo what catinahat says about medicine in general. I don't know much about Ezetimibe as a drug, but if it's used as an alternative to statins, it presumably acts in a similar way - and with equally unpleasant side effects it seems! There is a lot of literature/podcasts etc out there by renowned doctors, academics etc against the use of statins. Malcolm Kendrick's "The Great Cholesterol Con" says it all from the title! Also, the Cardiologist Aseem Malhotra is very good. One of his books is called "A Statin Free Life" and is directed at the layman, so not too technical.

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Thank you I will spend some time researching this all and not just take the 'experts' word for it. I have enough drugs that I have to put into my body for the diabetes, blood pressure. They have asked me to get more active and take this Ezetimibe, which in theory sounds marvellous until you can hardly get out of bed because of the pain and the minute you start to walk your legs cramp up! So, Im going to take back control and get myself fitter and eat healthier and they can keep their drug for someone else.

Oldvatr said:

I am allergic to statins (my medical record is marked as such). I have used Ezetimibe in the past, and seemed to tolerate it quite well. I have stopped it now since I have seen studies that show low LDL can be harmful and that is what the drug was doing for me. LDL is essential for us to function, so reducing it too much will indeed have adverse effects for us. There are many studies and anecdotal evidence that high LDL is not associated with CVD or stroke. I am minded that there is no evidence that familial hypercholesterolemia causes plaque biuildup in the arteries.

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Thank you for your reply, after googling in the night and seeing the terrible reactions people have to this drug and as you say not seeing much beneficial evidence I stopped it today. In fact a couple of the people who reviewed it called it the Drug of Satan! because they had ended up in hospital purely because of taking the drug. Seems to me that if I have to take copious amounts of pain killers to enable me to take another drug for cholesterol Im just going round and round in circles.