Statins and co-enzyme Q10

[goslow]

Hi Folks,

I have some muscle pain which is probably caused by the statins I take & I just put up with it. However, reading my wife's Prima magazine (as you do) there is a medical page with answers by a Dr Sarah Brewer. One letter asks if statins are safe and the good Dr comes up with the known fact that they can cause muscle weakness & aches and pains. The reason for this she says is that the 'statin turns off the body's production of an important nutrient, co-enzyme Q10'. She then goes on to say it is worth considering taking co-enzyme Q10 supplements. Looked on the web and sure enough these a widely available and are not too expensive.

Has anybody tried these??? If not I am willing to give it a go and will report back.

Cheers folks....

PS Just had my Hba!c, down from 6.2 to 6.0 & cholesteral the same at 4.4 but HDL up and LDL down -- You guys really know what you're talking about when it comes to lo carb, many thanks.

 

[Dennis]

Hi goslow,

Congratulations on the improved HBA1C result. I'd be interested to hear how you get on with the co-enzyme Q10 if you decide to try it. So many of our members complain of muscle aches and pains on statins (particularly simvastatin - the cheapest so the one most widely prescribed) that it would be good to have a personal recommendation for something that helps with the problem - always assuming that it does help of course!

An alternative solution is to ask your GP to switch you to one of the more recent statins because these reportedly have less side-effects, but they are more expensive so most GPs will be reluctant to prescribe them. Unfortunately that seems to be par for the course these days - you get prescribed whatever is cheapest rather than what is most appropriate!

 

[Trinkwasser]

Bongratulations of the A1c and lipids

OK I turned the light on

Congratulations on the A1c and lipids

I read somewhere that the original plan was to prescribe Co-Q10 along with the statins but this was never done as it couldn't be patented. Though to be fair this statement *was* on a site selling Co-Q10 . . .

IMO it's cheap enough to try, results seem varied, if it doesn't improve things you could trial a different statin if they will afford it, or become a statin free zone if your lipids are good enough. Or there are (rather expensive and hard to obtain) alternatives such as Pantethine (NOT Pantothenic acid)

 

[benniesmum]

I don't take statins (doing it 'naturally' with Benocol), but I have been taking Co Q10 for the past month, and it's reduced my blood sugar by almost 1.5! Bit of an experiment to see if would be better than fish oil for my arthritis (it works for that too). but wow, I'll be keeping on it. Not only did my BG come down from mid 6s to low 5s in the morning, but it's levelled the spikes as well!

Brilliant stuff!