Too many statins? Help!

[nannipatti]

I have a dear friend who is going through a lot of muscle pain and is also having kidney attacks that come and go. This is a 77 year old lady who usually has more energy than a person half her age, she is awesome in her abilities in every day life. In discussing her problem with her I discovered that she is taking Vytorin 10/80 once daily,and Lovastatin 40mg twice daily, She is soon to be put on Atorvastatin 80 mg a day. she is on other medication as well as these statins including 75 mg of Plavix. She has been on these meds for years and I am concerend for this good friend and think that the statins are contributing to her health problems.
She did have a stint put in her heart many years ago which may be the reason she is on all these meds, she doesn't know what her cholesterol is at this point and is trying to find out this information.
Am I right to be concerned that the statins are contributing to her health problems? does anyone have any advice to offer that I can share with her.

[Allen1]

Hi there nannipatti,

I feel really sorry for your friend, statins are not believed to do any good for women in the first place, the stent may be a valid reason for her to be on them though in this case.

Vytorin which is (Ezetimibe and Simvastatin) has many really bad side effects and was found to be worse than taking Simvastatin by itself. On top of that she is taking 2 x 40mg Lovastatin every day, the question I would ask is, is her doctor an Alcoholic or someone taking drugs! he must be to prescribe all this cholesterol medication to one patient. Now he/she is going to swap Lovastatin for Lipitor (atorvastatin) at 80mg per day.

That doctor should lose his licence to practice in my humble opinion, I do not know the full facts and I am no doctor, but by the looks of it nor was the person prescribing all of this stuff.

Please get a second opinion for her, life is bad enough without someone taking away your quality of life through sheer stupidity or maybe incompetence.

would you please also ask this question in the "Statin Drugs" thread ie the first link in the forum as most of the people who can offer good advice will look there first.

All the best,
Allen.

[nannipatti]

Thank you, those are my thoughts as well, I was thinking of posting elsewhere and will take your advice and do so now.