Statins - side effects

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Mick F
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Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Mick F »

Alan O wrote:
Bonefishblues wrote:Makes mental note to read the thread as I've been on them for 6 months or so

Do bear in mind that the this thread will disproportionately represent people who have suffered such side effects. I've been taking statins for 12 years, and have never had any adverse effects at all.
I got to ten years before I thought about it.

If you go back through my thread, you'll see I'm on injections of Repatha every fortnight now.
I starting to feel that I'm suffering like I did when on statins.

When I get an appointment with my specialist - maybe later this year - I'm going to mention it.

Aches and pains include:
Neck, shoulders, back, arms, ankles.
Indigestion too
..................... but no nose bleeds though it runs a lot, and no throat aches .........but mainly like I said right at the beginning of my OP.
It's all very familiar.


Mick F wrote:If you read about the common side effects of taking statins, it reads like a list of what I'm suffering from.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cholestero ... fects.aspx

I have a large familial cholesterol problem and have been taking huge rugby balls of statins every day for maybe 10 years. As I've become older, I'm obviously feeling my age, but headaches are ever present (some of them are severe), I often get indigestion, my joints ache especially ankles and elbows, I get the odd nosebleed when I blow my nose, and my nose seems to continually run a bit, plus often I have an achey throat.

I've decided that for the whole of June, I'm not going to take my daily dose of Atorvastatin 80mg and see how I get on.
If any or all of the above symptoms disappear, I'll have to make my mind up about quality of life vs cholesterol reduction.

I see myself as a fit and healthy person as I'm certainly not a couch potato, overweight slob. :D
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Bonefishblues »

I can't say I have noticed anything over the last few months.
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Mick F
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Re: Statins - side effects

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I never noticed anything for years and years, then I felt that there was something wrong but couldn't put my finger on it.
Some months later - maybe a year or two? - I read the leaflet, and it all made sense, so I did some research.

Stopped taking the things and the symptoms went. Started taking them again, and they returned. Stopped again, and they went, so stopped completely and then asked to see a specialist.

Been on injections of Repatha for the last two years. No issues until recently, but I'm not sure as yet if they are "issues" and it's not just me getting older. :oops:

If I stop taking them, it could be months and months and months before I could tell if there's any improvement, as my injections are fortnightly so the stuff must be in my system for a month or more so will take some time to fade away.
Mick F. Cornwall
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georgew
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Re: Statins - side effects

Post by georgew »

Mick F wrote:I never noticed anything for years and years, then I felt that there was something wrong but couldn't put my finger on it.
Some months later - maybe a year or two? - I read the leaflet, and it all made sense, so I did some research.

Stopped taking the things and the symptoms went. Started taking them again, and they returned. Stopped again, and they went, so stopped completely and then asked to see a specialist.

Been on injections of Repatha for the last two years. No issues until recently, but I'm not sure as yet if they are "issues" and it's not just me getting older. :oops:

If I stop taking them, it could be months and months and months before I could tell if there's any improvement, as my injections are fortnightly so the stuff must be in my system for a month or more so will take some time to fade away.


Well, it's a shame that the symptoms have returned with your new regime. I did have every one of your side-effects and more, when on Stains, but am happy to report that all these have gone after giving these up and I feel human again, albeit a very old human. This may come with an increased risk of heart/stroke problems of course, but at my age I feel it's well worth it.
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Mick F
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Re: Statins - side effects

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georgew wrote:Well, it's a shame that the symptoms have returned with your new regime.
I'm not sure about them. They are different to the statins side-effects, but seem to remind me of them. Maybe I'm being paranoid?

If they are indeed side-effects, they're not so marked or severe as they were. I did have neck-aches for a few months earlier in the year, but those seem to have gone now.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Statins - side effects

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Mick F wrote:I'm not sure about them. They are different to the statins side-effects, but seem to remind me of them. Maybe I'm being paranoid?

It's not paranoia when they're out to get you ;)

Given that Repatha lasts a lot longer in the body than statins and it's taken us years to get statin side-effects taken seriously with stop/start usage and correlations with side-effects, I fear that any Repatha side-effects will be denied for decades :-(
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Re: Statins - side effects

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I don't have a leaflet to hand to read, but you can find the list of side-effects online.
What are the possible side effects of Repatha®?

Repatha® can cause serious side effects including: Repatha® may cause allergic reactions that can be serious. Call your healthcare provider or go to the nearest hospital emergency room right away if you have any symptoms of an allergic reaction including a severe rash, redness, severe itching, a swollen face, or trouble breathing.

The most common side effects of Repatha® include: runny nose, sore throat, symptoms of the common cold, flu or flu-like symptoms, back pain, high blood sugar levels (diabetes), and redness, pain, or bruising at the injection site.

Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.
I"m very good at injecting my thigh - swapping L/R each time - but once I hit a vein and had good bruise that lasted a week or more. You need to squeeze the flesh so it raises high away from blood vessels. I hadn't squeezed hard enough! :lol:

Also, the pens need to be kept in the fridge. I get one out in the morning, and stick it under my arm or somewhere nice and warm. :wink:
Give it ten minutes and it's at blood temp. Do it straight from the fridge and it aches terribly - not recommended at all, and I only did that once I can tell you!
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Re: Statins - side effects

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Could it be dangerous to reduce the dose and stop altogether?
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Mick F
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Re: Statins - side effects

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Dangerous?
Dunno at all.

If you want - and I don't think you would - to go back through ALL this thread - my brother in law Richard went for a routine blood test when in his 40s and found he had high cholesterol issues due to genetic inheritance.
After finding this out, he got his three daughters to check theirs. As it happened, they were ok.

The daughters got onto their mother - my sister - to get checked out. She refused initially as she wasn't "related" to her husband, but she relented and got checked out anyway.

She was even higher! :shock:
She got in touch with me and I got checked out, and I was even even higher. :shock: :shock:
Had Richard not been checked out, I'm not sure if we would have ever known ............. and does it matter?
I really really don't know.

The rest is history.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Statins - side effects

Post by thirdcrank »

I don't think anybody has mentioned Dr James LeFanu or his book Too Many Pills: How Too Much Medicine is Endangering Our Health and What We Can Do About It
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Too-Many-Pills ... 1408709775

Loads in there about statins but don't ask me what he says because I've not read it.
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Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Winged wheels »

What if you have proven dna risk? Untreated I naturally hit 14+. That’s on fish veg fruit nut diet and occasional meat. I have great concerns and therefore monitor bloods for muscle wastage. Agree it’s not simple and I don’t trust international Pharma without evidence.So far so good.
It is a conversation worth having and likely we are over using.
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Re: Statins - side effects

Post by ianrobo »

Winged wheels wrote:What if you have proven dna risk? Untreated I naturally hit 14+. That’s on fish veg fruit nut diet and occasional meat. I have great concerns and therefore monitor bloods for muscle wastage. Agree it’s not simple and I don’t trust international Pharma without evidence.So far so good.
It is a conversation worth having and likely we are over using.


whether you believe in statins or not what you have shown here is key and that is for every patient to be informed about these things and then you make a decision based on yes Doctor's advice but your own investigations.

Yes there is a lot of contradictory evidence out there but who is to say a standard GP is right ? how much training do you think they have had on heart disease/food/statins etc .... it is general practice after all and no patient has to take what the doctor says.
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Re: Statins - side effects

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ianrobo wrote:
Winged wheels wrote:What if you have proven dna risk? Untreated I naturally hit 14+. That’s on fish veg fruit nut diet and occasional meat. I have great concerns and therefore monitor bloods for muscle wastage. Agree it’s not simple and I don’t trust international Pharma without evidence.So far so good.
It is a conversation worth having and likely we are over using.


whether you believe in statins or not what you have shown here is key and that is for every patient to be informed about these things and then you make a decision based on yes Doctor's advice but your own investigations.

Yes there is a lot of contradictory evidence out there but who is to say a standard GP is right ? how much training do you think they have had on heart disease/food/statins etc .... it is general practice after all and no patient has to take what the doctor says.

Winged wheels posted about seeing a consultant already.
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Re: Statins - side effects

Post by softlips »

ianrobo wrote:
Winged wheels wrote:What if you have proven dna risk? Untreated I naturally hit 14+. That’s on fish veg fruit nut diet and occasional meat. I have great concerns and therefore monitor bloods for muscle wastage. Agree it’s not simple and I don’t trust international Pharma without evidence.So far so good.
It is a conversation worth having and likely we are over using.


whether you believe in statins or not what you have shown here is key and that is for every patient to be informed about these things and then you make a decision based on yes Doctor's advice but your own investigations.

Yes there is a lot of contradictory evidence out there but who is to say a standard GP is right ? how much training do you think they have had on heart disease/food/statins etc .... it is general practice after all and no patient has to take what the doctor says.


I had to read my own ECG and explain to my GP. He is actually a very good GP but unless you’re looking at ECGs every day you can’t go much beyond the very basics.
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Re: Statins - side effects

Post by Cyril Haearn »

softlips wrote:
ianrobo wrote:
Winged wheels wrote:What if you have proven dna risk? Untreated I naturally hit 14+. That’s on fish veg fruit nut diet and occasional meat. I have great concerns and therefore monitor bloods for muscle wastage. Agree it’s not simple and I don’t trust international Pharma without evidence.So far so good.
It is a conversation worth having and likely we are over using.


whether you believe in statins or not what you have shown here is key and that is for every patient to be informed about these things and then you make a decision based on yes Doctor's advice but your own investigations.

Yes there is a lot of contradictory evidence out there but who is to say a standard GP is right ? how much training do you think they have had on heart disease/food/statins etc .... it is general practice after all and no patient has to take what the doctor says.


I had to read my own ECG and explain to my GP. He is actually a very good GP but unless you’re looking at ECGs every day you can’t go much beyond the very basics.

That is the thing I think
GPs have a very broad training
Anyone who has suffered an illness and read up about it might know more than their GT
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