Beware of Statins!!!!

[Rareboy]

I have been on warfarin for about 25 years and in November, may have had a small TIA...which led to full cardiac screening and the discovery that my cholesterol had nudged into the above normal range.

So I was put on Crestor about 10 days before Christmas........

This is without a doubt the worst drug I have ever been on and the only one that I had severe reactions to....but the same reactions are apparently shared by many, many other people.

If you look up possible side effects....I had almost every one and three days before Christmas was almost in the ER with Pancreatitis. Fortunately or unfortunately, by that date, the pain in my joints and the loss of muscle strength in my right arm also had become so acute that I realized that I was having severe side effects from this drug and just stopped.

Two weeks later, I still only have about 50% of the strength in my right arm and the pain is so persistent that it wakes me during the night. Fortunately the pancreatitis symptoms have disappeared.

During this time, statins also wreaked havoc with my INR levels and I am now in the lab every other day to get them back into the therapeutic range....urghhhhhhhhhhh

So if your Doc thinks that statins might be a good idea, see what other alternatives you have and if you do go on one....monitor them very carefully for the first week and stop them immediatley if there are any side effects whatsoever. This week, my doc told me that in cases where people persist in taking them, death can be one of the side effects.

[princealbertofb]

Thanks, Rareboy, for this warning... I daresay that one of the side effects of being alive is that death is one of them.

[Rareboy]

^ I believe that death would be considered the long term prognosis....and not only a side effect.

[Bhp91126]

Ugh, that sounds terrible, good thing you had the sense to stop taking that shit. I've been on Lipitor for about 4 months, and I don't seem to have any negative side-effects. (Knock on wood)

[East]

Wow...I am so glad you caught that Rareboy. My doctor wants me to take Simivastatin for cholesterol...but I won't do it. Five years now almost since my heart attack and the thing is...I had so many cardiologists that no on ever noticed that cholesterol was NOT a contributing factor...they just assume it is. I take plavix everyday......both my good and bad cholesterol are under the levels and are good....and they always have been

I don't remember what side effect it was for me but I remember having a bad one soon after I started taking the simivastatin so I just stopped. I don't want another one....

I had one blood pressure med that made me cough..all the time...i couldn't stop. I was in line in store and the cashier said "I RECOGNIZE THAT COUGH! Are you on _____?" I was. I stopped and so did the cough.

I learned to research everything myself after I had my first heart attack which felt like bad heartburn and when I went to the doctor the next day he was irritated that I was there since my heartburn was gone...idiot...did he think I was going to make an appointment for stupid run of the mill heartburn? I said it was beyond severe and it felt like an elephant was on my chest...and it didn't occur to him to send me to the hospital...two weeks later I had a heart attack that needed three stents. He apologized next time he saw me...and gave me acid reflux medicine that had MAJOR SIDE EFFECTS with Plavix. UGH...but he taught me a lesson. Take responsibility for my own heath....

[LJay]

This is all a good reason to make friends with your pharmacist. He is the person probably most able to see where there may be drug interactions. It is also a good idea to lean on your GP to review your meds regularly. One thing about having umpteen doctors, as seems to be the style these days, is that it can be easy for one doctor to miss what the other is doing. Makes me nervous.

[Borg69]

I hardly ever go to a doctor... for ANYTHING. I know... shame on me... esp. at my age...

... But any more when you watch TV ads these new "wonder drugs", their side effects are 20x worse than what they're trying to c̶u̶r̶e̶ cover up the symptoms for. They're not even trying to CURE you anymore... they just want you on a lifetime supply of these heinous drugs with a zillion side effects that might kill you.

I think I've made it this long by NOT seeing a doctor.

[East]

^^^^ You know what is weird? I now go to EarthClinic.com to help myself before I make the appointments.....

It was due to the damn kidney stone that got stuck in me after leaving my kidney and causing me to bleed ALOT...it was supposed to pass but instead it got stuck...so they threw massive amounts of vicodin at me and I had to keep going to the emergency clinic as the pain was harsh...it felt like a razor everytime I had to urinate as it traveled back and forth with the flow OUCH!!!!!!.

I was desperate so I found the EarthClinic and read stories of people...LOTS OF THEM..w.ho had the same thing I did ...even worse and longer...and they all said to take two ounces of pure olive oil and two ounces of pure lemon juice and drink like a cocktail. I did it...it was gone the next day...RELIEF at last...and under a couple bucks since I already had the olive oil...but I am guessing maybe 1-2 dollar per "treatment". Now when I feel one coming on...I down lemon juice...it breaks it up to sand....

I told the lady in the X Ray department afterward when she was doing that sonar thing on me to make sure I didn't have anymore and she told me they aren't aloud to tell patients that kind of stuff...

I think it is the massive amounts of lawsuits that kinda drive all of the costs through the roof....

NOW...they won't prescribe vicodin because they say they have discovered it has the same addictive effects as heroin ....

Uh...olive oil and lemon juice...DOH! I probably downed 200-300 of the vicodin....

[Pcolakuntryboy]

Rareboy, I don't have high cholesterol, but I take Colestid (colestyramine) off label for another issue. No side effects that I know of, other than possible constipation, but that can be counteracted with the right diet and psyllium fiber. It might be worth a try.


East, my BF and I both have had kidney stones, and still have them. I had lithotripsy on one of mine, and somehow the nurse accidentally pulled my stent out when she removed the catheter. They sent me home and a few hours later I needed to vomit, which then sent my ureter into spasm. After sitting in the ER lobby puking into a bag for an hour they finally took me to the back and have me Dilaudid. I swear that was the worst pain I have ever experienced.

[Rareboy]

mmmmm nothing like kidney stones.

On the pain scale of 1 to 11 I put them at 6 compared to a pulmonary embolism, though.