New on statins and experiencing a new muscle pain I Que quads about 2 inches from knee cap. I’m going to try to get a PCSK9 prescription, but might have to jump a few hoops with the insurance.
Does anybody have the same issue?, Any mitigating therapy?
These are probably true, true, and unrelated. Statin-associated myalgias range somewhere from exceedingly rare to non-existent (there is far too much literature and debate on this to provide references). It founds like you either have IT band tightness or patellofemoral pain syndrome.
That said, what statin are you on? Typically, rosuvastatin (Crestor) is better tolerated than atorvastatin (Lipitor). Start on a low dose (5 or 10 mg) and increase as guided by your doctor/LDL.
I am often asked about when we’ll have “miracle drugs.” We have them, and they are called statins. Statins reduce the chance of cardiovascular disease (define as fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, sudden cardiac death, coronary artery revascularization, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease) on average by 30% regardless of baseline LDL. If you have a higher LDL, your risk reduction is greater. Yet the US’s compliance with statin recommendations is utterly abysmal…
Spoken like a fellow primary care clinician?
No No No
Guilty as charged, depending on the week.
Speak to your cardiologist about supplementing with up to 400 mg of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) to stop the muscle pain as a result of statins.
@oldandfast Try a whole food plant based diet and take AMLA and drop the drugs. I have been mostly plant based for 5 years and added AMLA and also Brazil nuts once a month starting last year and don’t take statins. My numbers dropped considerably with a whole food plant based diet and went even further when I started AMLA and the Brazil nuts. A bag of powder will last a while and it is pennies a day versus the drugs.
Other great foods for helping with high cholesterol: beans and other pulses, cabbage, kale - either cooked or raw, English walnuts, green or matcha tea, oatmeal, barley, red onion, flax seed, black cumin seed.
Depending on your current diet you may have a period of adjustment to the uptick in fiber so go slow with your transition.
Diet has been optimized to the max. I’m only taking 2.5mg of Rosuvastatin
…
I tried. brb, finding my degree and lighting it on fire.
@oldandfast your decisions to take medications are yours to make. Everyone has different reasons to take or not take something. What I will say is that when statin-associated muscle symptoms occur, they typically occur a proximal, symmetric pattern that takes week to months to develop. Not a focal, unilateral discomfort. Your symptoms, along with your itty bitty dose of a typically well-tolerated statin, indicated to me that that statin is not the culprit. But, talk to your doctor, not strangers on the internet.
When I counsel patients on statin-associated muscle symptoms, I ask them if they’ve seen Inception. If they have, I reference this scene: https://youtu.be/H1Dyp3jexA0?si=xzpbcIlZvWZ4EBIX&t=75
Interesting. The first symptom I had after a big ride was pain in the back of the knee area, one day left leg, next day right leg.
I’ve been taking statins since October, so your description fits.
Never felt anything remotely similar.
I understand why the system loves Statins, but they are for people without means, or with no side effects symptoms. If I can’t get the insurance to cover my PCsK9, I might just pay for the damn thing.
I feel bad for these poor souls. Seriously.
I’m not for everyone. But I work on the inpatient side as well and I routinely see the effects of people who should be taking statins not taking them. And it’s heartbreaking.
I haven’t gone digging into this for a few years, but here ya go…
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.120.007793
https://www.jacc.org/doi/pdf/10.1016/j.jacc.2021.07.022
I was aware of this evidence. And believe me, I want the Statins to work. I asked for them!. It could be an extraordinary coincidence.
However, my cardiologist told me “10% patients report muscle pain”?
This was my experience. Lipitor was awful for muscle pain.
I’m on 10mg rosuvastatin. No muscle pain. I thought I did for a while. It went away and was likely caused by overtraining at that time.
When I asked my doctor about the supposed pain, she said to not take it for 2 weeks to see if the pain went away. If so, she could try a different medication.
@The_Conductor Hey buddy. This is a public forum and the OP asked a question and I have every right to provide my perspective and I don’t appreciate the cartoon and snarky comments directed at my post.
I have worked hard to get my numbers to within guidelines over many year through a process of trial and error. I don’t expect to be ridiculed by someone who purports to be a doctor.
Where are you going with this foolish query?
Your advice to drop the drugs is dangerous
I know I’m going to regret wading into this topic, but…
I started taking statins and began to feel a variety of symptoms, including muscle pains. These went away with time and I’m now at my highest FTP ever. I don’t know if these symptoms were from statins or because I’m getting old and more suggestible 
I took Q10 for a while, didn’t seem to do much. I looked at PSK9 inhibitors too. They certainly lower your Apo B levels, but I think it’s too early to say they don’t have side effects that are comparable to statins.
Not that it is relevant beyond providing a bit of context, but I’m both an exercise physiologist and a physician. I did a very deep dive on all of this data and on balance think statins are usually the right choice for most people like me (fit, good diet, high risk history and high cholesterol). I very much agree with the advice to get diet and weight 100% sorted, but for lots of people (me included), that wasn’t enough.
It’s clear that being fit and having a high quality diet provide as much benefit as medications, but it also seems there is an incremental benefit to medications even in this fit/good nutrition cohort.
@brenth The OP can make up his own mind in consultation with his physician. The forum is for the purpose of exchanging ideas and I have provided mine along with some research to back up the claim. Your post just tells me I am wrong but provides no basis for your statement.
If someone is able to use Amla and/or other diet changes to get their numbers back to accepted guidelines and also is having issues with the drug in the 1st place then why would they want to take the drug?
