Advice on taking Statins

Reluctantly accepted Dr's recommendation to take statins pointing out that he said that a side-effect could be muscular pain, and he's been treating me with steroids for polymyalgia for over a year now, adjusting the dose monthly.
After 5 weeks, I asked him if I could stop the statins because like many posters above I felt really agonised, it felt as if I'd been screwed up into a ball then left to ache. Swollen feet and severe pain in one ankle as added extras! Also felt more "confused elderly" than usual.
I told Dr I am on 6 medications and the statins were reducing the efficacy of them all-diuretic, anti gastric reflux, 2 x eyedrops for glaucoma, anti-gout and the steroids. He has stopped the statins, is allowing a month to readjust my system then will reconsider trying another statin. I hope to persuade him not to! My recovery has been in fits and starts but I am so, so much better now. Oh-sleeping better too.

Have any of you ladies who have stopped statins noticed that you lost weight
I ask because my friend stopped taking statins mainly I think because her persvription ran out
Her pains in her arms stopped almost immediately and now it is very noticeable that she has lost a lot of weight . She says it’s through watching what she eats but she already looked a lot slimmer before . She never weighs herself

I have tried most varieties of statins, and am able to tolerate them every couple of days . Ten years ago I stopped taking them all together and ended up with a Stoke, so be carefully if you do stop and insist on regular cholesterol tests if you do. I have found out a lot of my aches are not down to statins but onset of arthritis so may be as well to get bloods tests done.

Q10 capsules, 300mg. My husband used to get awful leg pains and cramps because of statins and this stopped it. It's not a crank thing, it really works. Try googling it. Q10 is produced naturally in the body and decreases as we age. It's good for general health too. You could also try a magnesium supplement for cramps.

My husband started statins and the leg pain was bad. GP changed to another tablet and seems ok now. I suspect (but no proof) the original pill was cheaper than the one he now has.

My GP once told me that’d you’d need to drink gallons of Benecol or the like for it to make any difference to your cholesterol levels ?? ?

I started statins about 18 months ago and my cholesterol has dropped from 7.5 to under 5, but I’m not sure that’s entirely down to the medication because I modified my diet as well and followed the diet sheets supplied by the practice nurse. I had horrible symptoms after a couple of weeks but after discussion with my GP we found one that suits - they don’t all cause side effects and I think it’s a matter of searching until you find one right for you.

@LovelyLady. I think you may be right. Some of the coatings used on the cheaper pills are more to blame than the drug itself. I remember receiving a box of generic tablets from the pharmacy instead of my usual branded ones. I had some unpleasant new side effects and as soon as they switched back to the usual branded packs, things went back to normal.

I had to try different ones, I take mine in the morning only because it's the only pill I need to take at night and kept forgetting. Have you changed your diet as well, that might help reduce cholesterol and therefore reduce dependancy on statins? NOT A MEDICAL OPINION

i have been taking statins for a few years with no side effects my GP has this week said my cholesterol levels are up why ? have not changed diet etc, so has changed the statin i am taking, now have to wait and see if i start getting side effects if so will ask to go back onto current one

Husband taken for years; once he took Co-enzyme Q10 no probs with pains and cramps. Good luck

I was prescribed statins, and although I was reluctant, I had no preconceived ideas about what the side effects would be. I took them for about a week and quickly developed muscle pain in my legs and a feeling of things moving about in my legs. On the advice of the doctor I stopped taking .them and the side effects lasted at least 3 months. He suggested trying a different type of statin, but that experience was enough for me to refuse that option!

I remember reading a few years ago that GPs were saying that EVERYONE over a certain age (50's?)should be prescribed statins, regardless. Why?!
I'm not on statins, but had a similar experience to TheoddBird in relation to blood pressure pills. I was prescribed them, and they made me feel absolutely awful, lethargic, tired, slow to react when driving, and I suddenly put on a lot of weight. I compared notes with a friend on the same brand of medication. Her blood pressure was much higher than mine, yet was on a much lower dose. I went home and gradually halved my dose and then left them off altogether and didn't bother renewing the prescription. On a visit to the GP in later years, it seems I suffer from white coat syndrome, so that subsequent readings at a single visit to the GP got higher and higher. The blood pressure pills episode was in my 30's, and now in my mid 60's it seems I am fine without a hastily prescribed unnecessary medication, or one at an inappropriately high dose.

Some years ago I took statins for high cholesterol, two courses, cholesterol came down, doctor happy. However, three months after stopping them, cholesterol levels had returned to prior statin levels. I had put myself at risk for literally no gain. It was a different doctor who then told me a side effect is stroke! Now I have a practice nurse recommending I take them again despite the history. I have refused. He’s not happy pulls a face. Threatens me with heart attack if I don’t, there is a thirty year difference in these events.
Me no, oh hell no.
Question, have the drug companies offered incentives to peddle these dangerous medications? Food for thought.

I am a diabetic and was prescribed statins. I suffer from cramp on a regular basis, many nights sitting on the side of the bed trying to get rid of it. This was exacerbated by statins and I think I was prescribed every one on the market. The cramp got worse, I was barely sleeping, Dr agreed me coming off them. I still get cramp but not as badly as when I was taking statins. My cholesterol level is raised but not massively. I would never take them again.

I was prescribed satins some years ago for no particular reason except my age. I started getting unexplained muscle pains and felt so weak that I struggled to walk. I had not heard that this could be a side effect of satins so didn't associate it. I then went on holiday abroad and forgot to take them with me. Within a few days I was a new woman. When I returned home I went to see my GP and said I didn't want to take them anymore and he agreed with me. Of course if anyone has been prescribed satins for a particular reason, such as having had a heart attack, they really must speak to their GP before stopping them as that could do more harm than good.

At the time I was prescribed I know that GPs were offered extra funding for all, I think, over 50s that they prescribed them to. I don't know if that is still the case.

have been on 40mg statins for more years than I can remember, recently had a stroke due to a build up of cholesterol in the neck, have had painful swollen feet and legs for years, now not sure whether to continue taking them, trying to see a doctor is a laugh

Advice. Don't! I am a size 8, work out at the gymn, do the garden and I became diabetic as a result, and was advised to attend a diabetic clinic. So furious about that when the people at the clinic were obese. Anyway I came off them and the diabetes disappeared. I was put on a different medication that has good results. My mother was put on statins and became disabled. They are a menace with more side effects than benefits. Cheap nasty trash.

I was prescribed atorvastatin 20mg and had terrible side affects. I now take pravastatin 10mg and no side affects whatsoever although it does not reduce my cholesterol by very much, but just enough to make a difference.
However, I’d suggest the best way forward is to see a nutritionist and let him/her make some basic changes to your diet. I did and it was money very well spent.
Let us know what the outcome is please. Any further information about statins is always welcome ?

20 years ago my husband suddenly found he had all kinds of weird symptoms and was sent to a neurologist who ran tests, concluded it wasn’t genetic and it was his medication. He asked to come off statins, but was told he would have a heart attack if he did. He was frightened into staying on them. After a couple of years his symptoms became much worse, but was STILL told he must take them. We did a lot of research, went back to the doctor yet again who this time said “Well you could take Benecol instead”. So he stopped the medication. His cholesterol levels are actually better now but he has Periphal Neuropathy and now can’t feel his feet and legs, uses a walker and has frequent falls.

Do read McNamara's 'The Cholesterol Conspiracy'. DH was prescribed statins, and beame like an old man within a month or so - he struggled to get in and out of bed, the car, and ached continually. After trying several brands the GP advised him to stop, and he needed a course of steroids to negate the effects of the statins. They are the most successful drug ever made, but financially, not for their medical effects. Statistics show that the majority of people having strokes and heart attacks do not have raised cholesterol.

My Mum always had very high cholesterol despite being a very healthy weight and eating a low fat, low salt diet. By contrast my Dad had very low cholesterol he fried everything in lard, love beef dripping and fat from meats. My Mum was given statins that did nothing to reduce her cholesterol significantly but she suffered for a number of years with chronic joint pain and migraines. Her GP tried to tell her the advantages of taking it outweighed her suffering. This was until she decided herself to stop taking them, her quality of life improved. I would never take them.

I took them for 3 years. During that time I became more and more highly anxious and obsessive about my heath to the point where I could barely function and went to the nurse in tears. I also had terrible restless legs, unbearable every night. It was suggested I stop taking them, and sure enough my symptoms quickly faded although it took months to get back to normal. I have always been so well balanced and positive I couldn't understand what was happening to me.
I tried a different type and it started again.
I did some research and found that a lesser known side effect is that the lack of cholesterol can affect serotonin receptors in the brain and cause anxiety and depression.
It was the worst 3 years of my life, and I couldn't bear the thought of it happening again.
The restless legs have gone too.

I had significant discomfort in my legs - including a sensation like water trickling down them - when I started on statins following an angioplasty to insert 3 stents in 2016. I had read that Co-Enzyme Q10 could be effective in reducing side effects from taking Statins. From past experience, I knew they can also boost energy levels. Ordered them from Nature's Best and have remained comfortably on statins ever since...but with more energy. Cholesterol remains below 5. Don't care if these are placebonocebo effects. It works for me!!