Statins and tiredness

[MadMat]

Has anyone else had issues with tiredness when taking statins?

I was put on Statins a couple of months ago and have been having issues with tiredness and "lethargy" ever since. I can get out of bed, walk down the stairs and sit in an armchair and promptly doze back off!

I stopped taking the statin a couple of days ago, and woke up feeling much better today. So I'm pretty sure it is the cause.

Anyone else had this issue?

 

[jaywak]

Yes I have, I was on 20mg Simvastatin for years with no problems but a few months ago was told by my Dr that as I was at high risk because of my type 1 , even though my cholesterol was fine , my blood pressure is fine , I am normal weight and my TIR is usually in the 80 - 90 range he said I needed to be on 40 mg Artorastatin which I duly did for a couple of months and did I feel bad , lethargy and tiredness so I went back on my 20 mg Simvastatin which I had leftover ,I am due to have a telephone chat with my Dr tomorrow , which I booked up three weeks ago , to ask him to prescribe my old dose again .

 

[MadMat]

That's interesting it's atorvastatin 20mg I'm currently on.

 

[jaywak]

Sorry about the spelling ! I couldn't be bothered to go upstairs and look at the box . perhaps you are on a lower dose because you are lower risk than me , perhaps being 65 adds to the risk as well .

 

[ianf0ster]

Some people report no (noticeable) side effects with statins, some report side effects with a particular brand (or a high dose) , others (suspected to be as high as 25% based upon Prof Rory Collin's test, though he sold rights to it and now denies the figure is as high) suffer side effects badly enough to prohibit use of statins at all.
Personally, I got skin rash and muscle pain from Simvastatin, not sure if I got side effects (fatigue and loss of concentration) from Atorvastatin or not, as was also recovering from 3x bypass at the time. I no longer take them since reading more about Lipid Energy Hypothesis.
I urge people to do their own research since there is still much controversy and disputed studies around this subject.

 

[Dawn Tt]

That's interesting it's atorvastatin 20mg I'm currently on.

Hi, yes I feel the same lethargic very tierd all the time and on 20mg of atorvastatin.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

A lot of T2's are put on a statin as a matter of course, while statins often tend to up blood glucose, and they might not actually be needed... I was put on one, responded badly -at the time I was extremely fatigued anyway, so no idea if that made matters worse- but it did set my joints aflame. Went off it and was fine again. Adding to that, I went low carb, which lowered my cholesterol after a while. Takes a little time and it might go up a smidge at first though. (Cholesterol in the blood transports fats out, so when you go low carb and lose weight... They go up for a bit, then when there's less to do, they go down again. Oversimplifying of course, but that's how I've understood it.)

So... Do you actually need the statins? Do you see double digits in your cholesterol, have you had a cardiac event in the past, maybe familial high cholesterol? Because if not, you might not actually need them. But that's something to discuss with your doc. If you are having side effects that impact quality of life though, like fatigue and daytime sleepiness, I do think that's unacceptable and you are quite right to mention it. If statins are absolutely needed, you could try a different type.

 

[MadMat]

I'm not convinced the Statin is needed. I can't remember the exact numbers but my Cholesterol was "slightly high"