After resisting my PCP for years, I finally went to a cardiologist for a second opinion regarding a statin drug--in my case simvastatin (generic Zocor). In six months of low-dose simvastatin, I became disabled with a neuromuscular disease for the rest of my life.

Has this happened to others in this forum?

Immediately before simvastatin, I was trekking in the Himalayan mountains, doing tai chi, training to trek to Everest Base Camp, hiking 2 hours in the hills 4 or 5 times a week and lifting weights. Statins are so over-prescribed, based on no science, to have become a nightmare!

Does anyone know of experts in this area, possible treatments, anything at all? My symptoms, though I had no way of knowing what was going on, started within weeks of taking the statin drug.

Hello david x and welcome to NeuroTalk.

I took a statin for a year and a half. In that time I lost my quality of life. I became quite weak, difficulty walking, Fatigue, memory loss/cognitive issues (my husband thought I was developing Alzheimer's) and I had to quit driving.

Unfortunately, I have a disease which can cause these same symptoms. For this reason it did not dawn on me that the Statin was causing my symptoms and my PCP blamed the symptoms on my Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Through my own research and speaking to my Neurologist I decided to take myself off the statin.

Slowly I started to notice an improvement in my cognitive abilities and my fatigue wasn't as bad. The issue of leg weakness and mobility was something I had to work to regain. It took time, anger, frustration, and hard work but I was able to bring my mobility back to what is normal for me and to increase my strength. Fortunately, due to my disease, trying to regain mobility is something I have had to do several times in the past 29 years.

The FDA has since put a 'black box' warning on statins. I will never use a statin ever again.

I am sorry for your experience, david x.

Best wishes.

Same here. Feet now killing me and the Statins are the cause. I stopped taking them but I think the damage has been done! Just got to meddle on as best we can I suppose.

[QUOTE=david x;1066390]After resisting my PCP for years, I finally went to a cardiologist for a second opinion regarding a statin drug--in my case simvastatin (generic Zocor). In six months of low-dose simvastatin, I became disabled with a neuromuscular disease for the rest of my life.

Very interesting because I have been taking Zocor since November and have been having restless leg syndrome. My doctor wants to stop taking it to see if that is the problem. Are you saying there is no hope?

David,

It is great to have you come and be with us. You will fine a great number of dear friends to listen when you are in need of ears. Please let us know how we can help you out. You will find out we are supportive and relaxing place.

Please keep us up to date on your condition. Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Darlene

I'm just starting to look into statin drugs. I have a friend whom I try to diagnose because he is "happy" with the help he gets from his doctor which is... lots of pills.

I know my friend might be affected by his poor diet and the sedation of his other meds, but something strikes me as odd. His worst and almost abrupt decline started when started on simvastatin. I'm begging him to talk to the doctor about it.

He used to be quite bright and socially active. He used to know how to do things. These days he doesn't remember anything, he has no real interest in anything, also he is developing strange systems like foot drop. Doc is OK with his memory loss and foot drop. My friend is too. That is the scary part. He is fine like this.

I'm not fine, I miss my friend. I know the doc does not suspect dementia. But I wonder if it could be the statin since the perfect timing of the memory issues. He is very impaired now, been on the med for about 8 years. He never remembers what we talked about the day before, someone else has to control his meds or he will forget or overdose, we used to have a lot of friends in common, he doesn't remember any of them. He used to be good at computers, now he is wrecking them one by one because he doesn't know what he is doing and manhandling them.

I've been told by others it can't be the statin. But can it? Muscle weakness I would not know as he uses a wheelchair and only walks short stretches.

It's so sad to hear him speak, he says the exact things every day, day after day, and now for years and always thinks it's the first time he said it. I'm very upset the doctor is OK with this and refuses to see something is wrong. According to doctor my friend only has normal aging, he is in his 50s...

Hello fadetoblack,

Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups.

I'm very sorry to read about your friend and I hope that you can find information here that will be of help.

I have a friend who was having an extremely difficult time and the doctors decided she had a form of dementia. After being taken off her Statin medication, she's become well again. True story.

You can find other posts across various forums here regarding Statins if you use the forum search feature.

Forum Search Feature

There are a few posts in Neuromuscular Forum

Here's just one thread as an example -

Statin Therapy Inhibits Remyelination in the Central Nervous System

Statins affect memory.

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/Cons...cm293330.htm#2

Never mind the "rare" comment... I don't believe it is that rare.

Dr. Graveline MD, a former astronaut lost his memory to Lipitor
and wrote a book about it.

http://www.amazon.com/Lipitor-Thief-...hief+of+memory

and here is a more recent book by him:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/142...f_rd_i=desktop

Welcome fadetoblack.

Well this is weird Dr Oz just came on and he is talking about the bad side effects Statins have. lol
Hi David, here is my story
My doctor first gave me Zocor. It only took a month and I was not able to pick up a frying pan. The pain in my arm from the shoulder to the elbow was bad. So a month goes by and I'm back in the doc's office. She said we need to re-visit your cholesterol. She gave me Lipitor. Keep in mind my pain never went away from the Zocor. The Lipitor made it worse. duh She gave me another statin. Now I have permanent damage to my arm. The pain is worse for me at bedtime. When the brain and body wants to relax, so you can sleep the pain starts throbbing. Its like muscle pain but while massaging it I also feel a deep bone pain. Its hard for me to describe. My arm is so weak and in so much pain I cant move it at all while sleeping.
I want to know what that drug actually did to me? My doctor cant tell me and I cant find online information. Did it eat my muscles? Is it eating away at my bones? Another thing I think about is.... Did my doctor tell anyone? Is there registery out there that keeps track of our reactions to this drug? I would hope someone is keeping track.
I want to tell everybody, I just had a swab test done. It is called CYP450 . They swabbed the insides of my cheek. Finally I can see what drugs to AVOID. Statins was on the DANGEROUS list for me. I think every doctor should have to give this simple test to every patient before prescribing a statin. Had my doctor given me this test before I started statins we could have avoided this horrible pain that never goes away.
By the way ...I have saved 3 people from this pain. Yeah ME!! Every one of these people started telling me about the pains they were having. My first question to them was are you taking a statin? They all said yes. I told them to immediately stop taking the statin. After 2 days their pain went away. Oh I also told them to call their docs. But everyone has thanked me so many times.
Another bit of info I will pass on is....Chia seeds has lowered my cholesterol by 25%. I put them on everything. Salads, cerals , lasagna you name it.

To me the statin was a poision.