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Poll - side effects from statins?

If you have used statins, did you experience significant side effects from using them?

  • Yes, side effects that made me discontinue or want to discontinue

    Votes: 164 65.1%

  • No, either no side effects or side effects I tolerated easily

    Votes: 88 34.9%
  • Total voters
    252
I had leg problems with the simvastatin was changed to atorvastatin but the tablets are still sitting in the pharmacy bag they came in as it put me right off. I spoke to my dad when I was put on them as he has been on them for years, he'd heard of the side effects but never had them, he was put on them after a heart attack however he says in all the years he has taken them his cholesterol has reduced by only 0.5 that was soon after he changed his diet so who knows what actually made the reduction, I don't know if it altered his ratio tho but I know it's not changed for the past 5 years, he continues to pop them quite happily tho lol I'm not sure how much they do for him considering he still smokes and has done since his attack but as they told him at the time he'd be dead within 2 years if he didn't have bypass surgery and he refused, he's not doing to bad considering that was 25+years ago!
 
sunday1980 said:
I had leg problems with the simvastatin was changed to atorvastatin but the tablets are still sitting in the pharmacy bag they came in as it put me right off.
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I wonder if there are some people who are prescribed pills and do not take them but tell the surgery that they do. The surgery could think that they are being taken and not causing any problems in this event.

I suppose that they are bright enough to notice that the customer is not coming back on a repeat prescription. I would like to think they noticed this but there might still be some room for error.
 

Lol this made me think of a story from the book confessions of a gp, little old lady tells her doctor he has given her the wrong pills, he says no, they are the same just made by a different company, she says "no they definitely aren't my pills, they don't flush down the toilet the same as the other ones you gave me..."

Makes you wonder hehe
 

Well with the wonderful (sic.) new software linking pharmacies and surgeries that automates all repeat prescriptions this must be the case. What could possibly go wrong?
 

That has made my day brighter. I can't stop laughing at that one.

I will explain why the subject occurred to me. I have an older sister (she may be your little old lady). If she feels ill she goes to see the doctor. When she comes home she says, "I'm not taking that muck".
 
Haha brilliant! That book is a great read, never fails to make me chuckle
 
Here goes - I have suffered all of the muscle and joint pains mentioned in this thread for the past 10 years. Those who know my problem with nocturnal leg cramps will know just how much I have suffered and damage caused to my kidneys with long-term use of Quinine Sulphate. Have just recovered from a whole left leg terrible experience 3 weeks ago which resulted in torn ligaments to the calf and thigh - the attack which lasted some 30 minutes was such that I truly wished that I was dead. Difficult to convey that death wish to one who does not speak English ha ha ha.

Right - I am currently on 2 x 20mg nightly Simvastatin and do not intend to take them for the next 3 months and will report back to this Survey if still here or, alternatively, under a heading such as 'Statin side-effects' and promise to faithfully report my findings because I WILL know whether it is Statins that have made my life so miserable especially at night.
 
Stopped my statins 2 weeks ago now and although I still feel bad I am a bit less stiff and have a little less pain. Ihad taken various statins for 9 years. I have just ordered Q10 as it seems that it may help with muscle problems. Not sure which dose would be best while off statins. Any suggestions?
 
I can only say what it says on my bottle of Q10 - 30mg each, take 1-3 a day, don't exceed the recommended dose.

Statins inhibit Q10 production anyway so you may not need much extra.
 
Beshlie said:
I hope they are very good. How on earth did you go that long with all that happening? Maybe you didn't realise what was causing it = so glad you do now!
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I started taking Atorvastatin (Lipitor) in 1997 and the leg thing was tolerable and for some time I didn't connect the two. In 2001 my GP changed it to Simvastatin because at the time at the time Lipitor was still in patent and cost 3 times as much as Simvastatin. That's how the GP put it, "I could prescribe three patents with Simvastatin for your one prescription of Lipitor". I should have had a go at him, but like a lot of people my age, we taught to respect doctors, teachers, policemen . . . . . . . you know what I mean. Simvastatin was the real pain giver. The GP just had a different excuse every time I mentioned it. It was my weight then I did too much exercise etc etc. I did enough research on the good old internet to discover that Statins prevent the uptake of Co-enzyme Q10 which is used to convert what we eat or store as fat to produce energy for the muscles. Explained the legs but a bit worrying when I thought of another important muscle, the heart. It was only a couple of years ago that I found a Merck patent that wanted to add CoQ10 to statin table to quote "overcome the impending muscle pain" so I was right all along and that patent dates back to 1990. Slightly different with sleeplessness and Brain Fog as I didn't relate them to statins for ages. I just wish my brain would improve.
 

Some pain does not disapear immediately. Mine took a very, very long time and then suffered the same when changed hospitals and got asked to try different ones again.

My pains have diminished significantly since having more fat, but reckon I will still have niggling pain for another year if it goes the same ways a s previous...



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graj0 said:
It was only a couple of years ago that I found a Merck patent that wanted to add CoQ10 to statin table to quote "overcome the impending muscle pain" so I was right all along and that patent dates back to 1990.
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Indeed, I think they dropped production when they realised that none of the other pharm companies were doing it. Just goes to prove that they all know exactly what the side effects are but won't publicise it. Instead we are the beta testers.
 
Hi ellie,
I tried taking CoQ10 before I stopped taking statins, it would seem that certain countries like Canada and Germany prescribe CoQ10 alongside statins as a matter of course. I tried to find out how much should be taken and it wasn't that clear, even my poor old GP didn't have a clue because it's not something GPs do in the UK. I did try 600mgs a day and there was no perceptible difference; I have been told that as much as 1200mgs is required to have any effect. I've been told that 3000gms per day is the maximum, but if you google "maximum coq10" there's plenty to cross check anything you hear or read. I've also been told that there's CoQ10 and there's CoQ10. Some types are better than others and I've been told that Ubiquinol is the best one to take. Hope that helps and I'd recommend Google just to get confirmation, you can't believe everything, I usually check things out in as many places as possible. Don't forget CoQ10 is something that statins prevent the uptake of, alongside cholesterol, if you've stopped statins you may not need it. The muscle pain will tell you.
 
Hi
There is a uniqinol coq10 now that is the best potency, but extortionate prices.... I have taken the strongest 200mg coq10 from Healthspan for nigh on 5 or 6 years.. It didn't help my muscle pain.... But has certsinly helped my brain fogs.


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I hope you've ordered the "ubiquinone" version as it is the most absorbable, though more expensive.
 
My MIL is a classic example, just didn't take them, GP thought she was, so when he checked her cholesterol and it hadn't changed, he upped the amount. I usually let my MIL get on with it but I reminded her that she was wasting NHS resources or something like that and anyway, she'd got to 87 without her cholesterol being a problem (no CVD or anything, she's as fit as a fiddle), why worry now? She summoned up the courage to tell GP she didn't need them, cheeky ****** tried to persuade her. If you check out the NICE guidelines to doctors (available online, interesting read, especially risk analysis that they should perform) the final step before prescribing is getting the patients approval, not insisting they take them. Is there a GP's bonus scheme for prescribing these things?
 
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