Erectile Dysfunction . . . and more wierd side effects

[tbach]

Four years ago, at age 62, I suffered two heart attacks within a 12 hour period. Even though I'm great with denial, it became apparent that a doctor needed to be my next stop. Failed my treadmilll test and ended up with a stent implant - 95% blockage in my left anterior descending artery. I took this "gentle nudge" to turn my life around, loosing 65 pounds and becoming an exercise freak over the next 2 years. Before the implant, my cholesterol was over 280. In addition to Altace, Plavix, Low Dose Aspirin and Toprol, my physician prescribed Lipitor . . . nasty stuff for me! Although his office kept assuring me that my liver enzymes were completely normal, I found it hard to even move around during morning hours. Joint and muscle pain was intense. Having forgotten to take a dose of Lipitor one night, I woke up the next morning free of pain . . . a miracle perhaps? As soon as I began taking Lipitor again, the pain returned. When I stopped it, the pain went away. I finally convinced my doctor that I wasn't crazy, and he changed my medication to Provacol. I experienced no pain with the 40mg dose, but cholesterol was still not low enough, so dose was increased to 80mg. I seem to tolerate Provacol fairly well. After taking Provacol for a little more than 3 years, my physician changed me to Crestor in an attempt to lower cholesterol and LDL to the "new standard" The test results were remarkable - Cholesterol came down to 153 and LDL plumetted to 73 when my Crestor dose was raised from 10 to 20mg. I thought I was tolerating it well, but that's difficult to evaluate since I am currently an avid weightlifter, biker and swimmer and encounter the "post-exercise-muscle-pain fairy" almost every day. I started taking Crestor in November, 2005. Shortly thereafter I started experiencing severe foot pain . . . plantar faciitis and ankle . . . on a daily basis. Oddly, it was just in my right foot, but the pain was identical to the pain I had suffered a couple of years before while recovering from a nasty tibia/fibia/ankle fracture from a bicycle accident. I treated it the same way - daily "therapy" exercises, ice and ace bandage. The pain, however, never got better. It just disappeared for short periods of time and reappreared without provocation. I never even associated this pain with statin use - that realization came much later. Also noticed at the same time that I was experiencing some erectile dysfunction, but (again with the denial) chalked it up to age, low testosterone, etc. Well . . . 6 months later, the ED had become almost complete. Meanwhile, liver panels had been within normal range. When I discussed the problem with my heart doctor, he gave me a prescription for Viagra and sent me on my way. Luckily, I mentioned the erectile problem to my regular doctor the other day while I was there for treatment of a minor virus. He said that his research indicated less than 1% chance of ED being cause by statins, but suggested that I discontinue my Crestor for a week and see what happens. Within two days, my ED symptoms began to subside . . . and at the same time, I noticed that the pain in my right foot was almost undetectable. Another surprise came when I noticed that I could actually sit and watch a TV program without dropping off to sleep - something I attributed over the past months to toprol and my exercise addiction. I will be talking with both doctors soon on what course of action to follow at this point, but I don't think it will include Crestor!

Again - thanks for your site. I was almost beginning to believe that I had become just a whiney old man until I found that others have experienced the same side effects with statin use. It doesn't seem to be common knowledge in the medical community.

[sos_group_owner]

The medical community is wearing "blinders" and I think most need
hearing aids, as they totally ignore statin adverse effects complaints.
Most say, "To just suck it up!"

Fran

[kimsuoil]

tbach, I was only 44 when I was put on statins. I too had back and neck aches after exercising and it was my left foot and ankle that would never heal...that is until I quit the statins. I was on Pravachol for about 10 months with only a couple of very bad back and neck aches. However, my doctor switched me to Vytorin and the aches and pains were pretty much daily and the ankle and foot pain was terrible. I finally quit the Vytorin after 8 months. My foot, ankle and neck pains went away after about 2-3 months and now that 10 months have passed since I quit I no longer have any of these wierd pains.
I also remember having eye twitches while on the statins as well.
Did you have anything like that? (the eye twitches are gone as well)

[Darrell]

I didn't have an eye twitch, but I had a twitch on my upper leg that made me think my cell phone was vibrating in my pants pocket the first time it happened. I was quite surprised to find out that my cell phone wasn't there!

[carbuffmom]

While on Vytorin, I too, had occasional eye and muscle twitches and buzzing.
I had an EMG which really exacerbated the twitching and buzzing for almost two months. I have been off of the Vytorin for about five months.
I still have some twitching especially after exercise. The doctors want me to have another EMG, but I am scared to death it will happen again.

[tbach]

You mentioned in your post that much of your pain disappeared after discontinuing Vitorin - - - did you go back to Provacol, or did you nix statins altogether?

I stopped Crestor, but returned to Provacol, which my body had tolerated for a couple of years without a problem. Crestor must have left e-mail for Provacol somewhere . . . although my foot and ankle pain is not as bad, it is still there.

Thanks for your reply - it's comforting to know that you're not just going crazy . . .

tbach

[sos_group_owner]

Hi "tbach",

Re: "I stopped Crestor, but returned to Pravachol" (didn't cause problem before, but now have some foot and ankle pain).

"tbach", It's not uncommon for increased incidence of side effects when someone stops, then restarts the same statin or is changed to a different statin.

Example: When Dr Graveline took 10mg of Lipitor, he experienced TGA. He surmised it was Lipitor and stopped. One year later his doctor insisted he restart Lipitor to control his cholesterol. He decided to restart, but at a lower dose. Just 5mg of Lipitor caused Dr Graveline to experience TGA again, and an additional twist, retrograding back to his high school days.

If someone experiences muscle pain from one statin, they will most likely experience muscle pain from all statins (including red yeast rice). The primary cause is CoQ10 deficiency.

Please read Dr Graveline's article ~ "Statins and CoQ10 Deficiency" ~ ( Also known as Coenzyme Q10 - Q10 Co-enzyme Q10 – Ubiquinone )
http://www.spacedoc.net/statins_CoQ10.htm

Dr Graveline's wrote an article about his earlier book, "Lipitor - Thief of Memory". He describes his personal experiences with Lipitor.
http://www.spacedoc.net/lipitor_thief_of_memory.html

Fran