My mother has been put on and taken off of 3 different statins (including Baycol!) and has also tried red yeast rice (not realizing that it contains the natural form of statin). Each time she had severe muscle pain with in days of starting. Her doctor kept her on each of them for months saying that it was probably just an injury or Bursitis. :confused: When going off of them the pain gradually lessened but she is still left with soreness in her upper arm and shoulder area. Is it possible that she has permenant muscle damage or scar tissue within her muscle fibers that is the result of the statin?
Has anyone had or heard of a similar problem existing months after extended statin use. Is there anything natural that she can take to help this?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Helmi... please tell me your husband changed doctors

The same thing happened to me. I still suffer with pain in my shoulder. I was on lipitor for 3 yrs. My gp insisted i had arthiritis, but once i stopped the lipitor most of the pain went away. Sometimes my shoulder hurts. Lipitor also screwed my liver up too.

BTW, if they would take me off hctz, a thiazide that increases glucose and cholesterol, i would not be having a cholesterol problem. It is coming down slowly with out meds.

Unfortunately, medications often pose such problems. First you start with one drug, and when side-effects occur, the doctor then prescribes another drug to treat the side-effects, and so on. It's like a chain reaction. Before you know it, you're up to 3 or 4 prescriptions.

Have you tried taking some CoQ10? That may help speed your recovery. Three years is a long time, so it may take a little longer. I certainly hope the pain goes away, and stays away.

Anyway, I'm just a little curious about one thing. Of all you people out there who were prescribed a statin, has your doctor ever advised you to take CoQ10? My suspicion is that hardly any doctors do. On top of that, many doctors probably prescribe too high a dose. This combination will only compound the frequency and severity of side-effects.

Hi

..."Is there anything natural that she can take to help this?"....

Pretty much the same thing happened when I took Lipitor(10MG)---but caught it after 3 months(6/04 thru 8/04)---would have figured it out earlier---but was in Phy Therapy for an arm/shoulder injury---just thought it was part of that---until it moved to hip/back etc...areas---I just stopped it---pain just about all gone---except for hip area---but even there it is greatly diminished & intermittent now---sked to see Doc next week--to talk about it---should be a short conversation!

The one thing I did was start taking Q10---when I stopped Lipitor---other then that I'm not sure what "natural" things might help....

The Doc never recommended Q10 in any of our conversations about the side effects.....

:cool:

My gp nor my endo thought to mention it to me either. Not until i found this board that i learned about cq10. But then again, they never told me thiazides (hctz) can increase your cholesterol.

I had muscle pain that started shortly after starting Lipitor.It was getting worse and
affecting more of my body.
I started taking 100 mg of gel cap Co-enzyme Q10 with my 10 mg dose of Lipitor and the pain has all but disappeared.I still have some slight twinges but they are disappearing also.
If your mother tries this method ,make sure to get a good quality Coenzyme Q10 in a gel cap formulation.
Hope this helps.

I took lipitor for almost 3 yrs. and then zocor for a few mos. and out of the blue I got terrible muscle pain in my right thigh. I went back to lipitor and the pain did not stop . Instead it spread to my other thigh , arms, neck , ribs . It was horrible pain 24/7. I stopped all statins and it took almost 6 mos. for the muscle pain to go away. I will not take statins again, ever. I'm taking my chances. I will have a blood test 10/7 at my annual physical and I expect it to be high , though I eat a very low fat diet , am not overweight and have no family history of it. I simply cannot take them . What good is low cholesterol if you cannot even move . Good luck to your Mom , I think with time her muscle pain will go away if she stays off statins. Lia

These drugs stink! They're rotten to the core! You can bet the house on that!

I started getting back pains when I was prescribed 20 mgs of Zocor. I was taking 10 mgs with no problem. Then the doctor presribed me Zetia tabs and that was the worse. I had back pain for 6 weeks and I only took them for 3 days because my back started hurting so I went back to the 10 mgs of Zocor with no problems. I'll have to see if my doctor has a problem when I see her in a couple of months