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Anyone else had side-effects from tablets taken for high cholesterol?
Moll Flanders
Posts: 1,392 Forum Member
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Quite a long time ago now - I can't remember exactly when - I was prescribed Simvastin tablets because my cholesterol levels were a little bit too high.
At the beginning of this year I started to have some strange symptoms. I had a permanently upset stomach. And I started to get really bad muscle weakness in my legs. I live at the top of a steep hill; it's a ten minute walk from the shops back to my house. Previously, that was no problem. But for several months now, I've been having to get a taxi back, even though it only takes two minutes. My legs feel like jelly.
I've kept going back to the various GPs at my surgery, and they didn't know what was wrong with me. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, a doctor said my problems were classic side-effects of Simvastin. I'm sure I read the leaflet when I first was prescribed them, but must have forgotten what it said.
Anyway, I've not been taking them for just a fortnight now and don't feel any better yet.
Sorry to ramble on. I'm just really worried about it. The doctor said I'd feel an improvement after about two weeks. I really hope it happens soon.
At the beginning of this year I started to have some strange symptoms. I had a permanently upset stomach. And I started to get really bad muscle weakness in my legs. I live at the top of a steep hill; it's a ten minute walk from the shops back to my house. Previously, that was no problem. But for several months now, I've been having to get a taxi back, even though it only takes two minutes. My legs feel like jelly.
I've kept going back to the various GPs at my surgery, and they didn't know what was wrong with me. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, a doctor said my problems were classic side-effects of Simvastin. I'm sure I read the leaflet when I first was prescribed them, but must have forgotten what it said.
Anyway, I've not been taking them for just a fortnight now and don't feel any better yet.
Sorry to ramble on. I'm just really worried about it. The doctor said I'd feel an improvement after about two weeks. I really hope it happens soon.
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it IS a worry, i know but hang on a bit and i read somewhere that permanent damage is uncommon.
Ask your Dr for Pravastatin. Known to have much less side effects and a couple of pharmacists have confirmed this to me. It costs more than Simvastatin for the GP to issue it, which is why you really need to insist on it.
i was advised to stop them immediately [though i already had anyway], i don`t know if that`s dependant on cholesterol level?
I was told I needed them about 10 years ago due to very high cholesterol. I believe it was over 9. I don't like taking any medication so I went away and did my own research and chose not to go on them.
I quit smoking, took more exercise and avoided stressful situations. It took several years but my cholesterol levels came down and down until they are now normal and my CRA (Cardiac Risk Assessment) is now less than 10%. And I have never taken a single statin.:)
What you are describing are classic side effects of statins and thousands and thousands of people are experiencing the same. My friend was only on statins for a week and they damaged her liver in that short time and she was told by her GP she must never take them again. She was taken off them immediately.
What you need to know is that GP practices are paid big bonuses for patients who are treated with statins so its in their interests to get as many people as possible on them. Look up QOF payments (statins).
You could get a copy of this book (Ebay, Amazon etc) The Great Cholesterol Con" by Dr Malcolm Kendrick who is a British GP who also works with the European Society of Cardiology. He really knows his stuff.
If you search on here you will see several threads on statins too.
Hope you feel better soon. Just wondering whether they've done a liver function test on you since you've been on statins.
Mine did, as I presume most do? - but do people pay attention?.
Specifically she told me to look out for the most common problems, and to go straight back if I had any of them - she also booked me an appointment to go back a few weeks later to see how it was going.
As long as that was on Dr's advice then it's ok. I can't work out if OP has stopped taking them for 2 weeks on Dr's advice as GP seemed to think symptoms should improve after 2 weeks. If cholesterol tablets are needed i would have expected GP to try another type eg Pravastatin rather than none at all.
mine didn`t, nor did the chemist. when i went back to the doctor he sniggered in disbelief [because they never take what i say as real] and then told me to stop taking them straight away.
i asked about alternatives and he said there wern`t any. i did later find out that was bollox.
Yep, the GPs keep it quiet. My relative already has back pain and arthritis, yet still they let him suffer aches from Simvastatin rather than switch to another type. Pharmacist told me that as well as Pravastatin; Atorvastatin is another one to try with less side effects.
I found out that Lipitor (Atorvastatin) were the best and went to my GP and told him that I want him to change my medication to Lipitor (Atorvastatin) immediately; I also told him what my research revealed.
He changed them and I am fine now.
Simvastatin is the work of the devil, I had awful problems with that
The next one I had I don't remember the name, but it gave me nightmares, very vivid and horrible!
I've been on Lipitor for 7 years now and all appears to be alright....I have a full checkup every November.
While I didn't go to my GP and sak to have the statins changed, I wasn't dong very well on Simvastatin. So they changed me to Lipitor.
They volunteered the information that they start everyone on the cheapest tablets, as the majority suffer no ill effects,. However those that do are moved up the scale to different tablets.
I have had those side affect, muscle weakness in legs, more so with my calfs, my doctor took me of them, only after I started going to the gym, but the damage is done, 3 yrs later, and my right leg isn't any better, my toes are starting to go brown, lack of blood/oxygen
Now I only get prescribed Statins for 2 months at a time, and only when I need them
edit:
your feet prompted me to look up neuropathy and tendon problems, the former i think i have, the latter have always had but is worse and more frequent since.:(
Oats are great for lowering cholesterol. I eat a bowl of oat bran porridge every day. Avoid the muesli ..... Most are full of sugar and won't do you any good.
2009 I was on statins for around 16 months, my cholesterol was very high, think it was in double figures at the time
I have taken Simvastatin for a number of years (I am only in my 20s but have a kidney problem) and I don't think I've had any problems with it
I suppose when I have a random ache and I blame sleeping position/something else random it could actually be my medication though...
I'm wondering what daily dose some of you guys take and if that is significant? I think I take 10mg a day
i don`t know about anyone else but my aches were constant and severe and it just got worse and worse until i stopped them, i still ache almost all the time but not as bad.
i can`t remember what my dose was now, 40 sounds familiar but i could`ve been anything, it was last year or the year before.
roland:
16 months is a long time to ache:(
i was only on them for 8 weeks and then the doctor said i don`t know why your on them amyway, your cholesterol`s `s only 5.6.
They like it to be less than 5 these days. This has crept down over the years so more and more people are now being labelled as having "high cholesterol".
I know a nurse who has just retired and she told me this. She also said that they are checking more and more people than they did years ago because they get extra payments for doing so.
Interestingly, she also says that in the past few years or so she has met scores of people who have been called in for blood tests who she has never met before (and she's worked at that practice for donkeys years.) They are elderly people who are so fit and healthy that they have not needed to see a doctor but guess what? On testing many of them have been told they have "high cholesterol". Go figure that one!;)
I am surprised that so many people have suffered the same problems as me, and just wonder why, if they're so prevalent, it took my GPs months to work out what was going on. They're a hopeless bunch. (But I can't change to a different practice. I live in a small town and they're the only surgery. I've phoned other surgeries in nearby towns only to be told I'm out of their catchment area.)
I'm alarmed to hear that for some people the damage is permanent. I hope to goodness that won't be the case for me. For those of you for whom it is permanent, I have every sympathy.