if you react to one statin, will you react to them all?

[gardenmaniac]

Does anyone know if you react to one statin (took Zocor), what are your chances that you will react to another (Lipitor)? I don't suppose there are any official studies, as no one wants to recognize that you can react to them at all...

So...please, give me some feedback if you have taken more than one of these drugs..

thanks..

[Darrell]

I started Zetia a couple of months after stopping Zocor and had a major relapse of muscle problems and fatigue in just a couple of days. Zetia is not a statin, but it had the same effect on me after Zocor had done the initial damage.

[bunnylady]

I was prescribed Lipitor 3 years ago and fortunately we couldn't afford it- 2 years later a doctor said my cholesterol was high and I told her that 20 Mg has been prescribed and never taken, and that I was worried about what I heard about it- she put me on it and I had good levels in a short time- About a year later I had all the classic symptoms and thought I was dying (I'm 58 and in good health) so tired I couldn't move and my husband and I fought a lot cause he thought I was doing it on purpose- he would beg me to get out of the house, get dressed and move- it was a real effort- then my arms started hemorraging under the skin-big blots of blood that everyone notices- my doc told me I was just getting old- sorry (this was a new doc as we had moved) I finally read all about Liptior again and told new doc I had taken myself of of it (he didn't say not to go cold turkey)
next office visit 10 weeks later he had the results of a blood test and said cholosterol was high (rebound effect I believe) and he wanted to put me on Crestor- I was stunned and dismayed but he guaranteed me at only 10 mg I would be fine and it was a "gentler" statin- oh, boy I stared at all those free packets he gave me and thought I'm killing myself if I dont take them- After 3 days (and feeling great after being off Lipitor I might add) I was hit with a club- slept for 9 hours a day and 12 hours at night- horrible pain in chest and back and the back of my arms- I told my doc I had gone to the hospital thinking I might be having a heart attack- they thought it was acid reflux-
My dentist even told me my arms weren't right and to fire my doctor- I told my doctor that and still he did nothing

I went off of that and haven't told him or seen him again

Now my right wrist is bloated and misshapen as I had put an arm sleeve on it- then my ankles each got bloated

I went to a weight doctor and told him all this and he said there are drugs that lower cholesterol and are not statins- that really piss me off and I am so mad at Dr. Toupin of Austin, TEXAS that I want to go in his office and throw a fit-

so yes- once a statin always a statin- and 2nd go around is worse

I'm trying the L Carnitine right away- he did tell me about taking Co Enzyme Q 10 but not why-

I want to know are they making money by prescribing it? Why else would they make a person so miserable

I do not understand his thinking and want an answer

[sos_group_owner]

Re: Does anyone know if you react to one statin (took Zocor), what are your chances that you will react to another (Lipitor)?

Hi "gardenmaniac",

The answer to your question is, "Very Likely".

Please read this article by Dr Graveline, "Statin Alternatives":
http://www.spacedoc.net/statin_alternatives.htm

Excerpt: " The usual course of action is to try another statin but only rarely does this resolve the problem for, regardless of drug company promotional hoopla, all statins are HMG Co-A reductase inhibitors and as such work only in one way – to inhibit the reductase step on the mevalonate pathway of cholesterol biosynthesis."

Fran

[shadoww]

[quote="bunnylady"]I was prescribed Lipitor 3 years ago and fortunately we couldn't afford it- 2 years later a doctor said my cholesterol was high and I told her that 20 Mg has been prescribed and never taken, and that I was worried about what I heard about it- she put me on it and I had good levels in a short time- About a year later I had all the classic symptoms and thought I was dying (I'm 58 and in good health) so tired I couldn't move and my husband and I fought a lot cause he thought I was doing it on purpose- he would beg me to get out of the house, get dressed and move- it was a real effort- then my arms started hemorraging under the skin-big blots of blood that everyone notices- my doc told me I was just getting old- sorry (this was a new doc as we had moved) I finally read all about Liptior again and told new doc I had taken myself of of it (he didn't say not to go cold turkey)
next office visit 10 weeks later he had the results of a blood test and said cholosterol was high (rebound effect I believe) and he wanted to put me on Crestor- I was stunned and dismayed but he guaranteed me at only 10 mg I would be fine and it was a "gentler" statin- oh, boy I stared at all those free packets he gave me and thought I'm killing myself if I dont take them- After 3 days (and feeling great after being off Lipitor I might add) I was hit with a club- slept for 9 hours a day and 12 hours at night- horrible pain in chest and back and the back of my arms- I told my doc I had gone to the hospital thinking I might be having a heart attack- they thought it was acid reflux-
My dentist even told me my arms weren't right and to fire my doctor- I told my doctor that and still he did nothing

I went off of that and haven't told him or seen him again

Now my right wrist is bloated and misshapen as I had put an arm sleeve on it- then my ankles each got bloated

I went to a weight doctor and told him all this and he said there are drugs that lower cholesterol and are not statins- that really piss me off and I am so mad at Dr. Toupin of Austin, TEXAS that I want to go in his office and throw a fit-

so yes- once a statin always a statin- and 2nd go around is worse

I'm trying the L Carnitine right away- he did tell me about taking Co Enzyme Q 10 but not why-

I want to know are they making money by prescribing it? Why else would they make a person so miserable

I do not understand his thinking and want an answer[/quote]

________________________________________________________

bunnylady, I can totally sympathize. Going thru the almost the same thing here. My hubby is a really great guy, one of the best, but I don't see anyway he can understand what I'm going thru, even though he tries. He's 3 yrs younger than me, (I just turned 59 Memorial Day) and he has never really been sick except for one time with thryoid cancer, which was cured. He's never been a smoker and I've been one my whole life, up until this past Jan. Have been a NON smoker since then. It seems like ever since I stopped, my whole health has gone downhill fast. I never had these problems before quitting. I'm not using that as an excuse, its just the way it seems.

My hubby is a real go-getter. He goes non stop, if not here at our house, then at one of the neighbors. We live in Fla and lost our fence last year due to the hurricane. Hubby is a do-it-yourselfer and consquently I always do my best to help him. Lately its all I can do to walk down the hallway, let alone help him trim trees or put up fences or whatever. He never EVER nags at me to help him. In fact, he knows how I've been feeling and tells me to rest and take it easy. I"M the one who feels terrible that he has to do it all by himself and so I get out there and do it too. Regardless of how I'm feeling most times. I just feel guilty when I can't keep up with him, and there's no way I can. I know thats MY FAULT and not his, but it still causes problems because I start to resent the things he's doing, specially if its things that absolutely don't have to be done then. He's just a workaholic and I guess I can't let that break up my marriage.

[sos_group_owner]

Hi BunnyLady,

Look for "Acetyl" L Carnitine:
ww.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/nutsupdrugs/ace_0013.shtml

Numerous articles from Life Extension Foundation:
ww.lef.org/prod_hp/abstracts/php-ab028.html

Fran