Tendon and ligament inflammation

[Charles Wilson]

On page 50 of "Statin Drugs Side Effects" (old edition???) there is reference to inflammation and rupture of the tendons. I had to have the tendon in my left arm reattached as it ripped loose while lifting about 30 to 35 pounds. This is not much weight for me considering I was lifing several tons a day while working in the garden department at Home Depot. This was before I was diagnosed with PN. In any event, what do I do to correct this problem? Will Q10 in a doasage of 300 mg a day help turn this around and how do you test for tendon inflammation?
Chuck Wilson

[dwarr]

Hi Chuck....I was just curious if prior to your tendon rupture...have you ever taken a quinolone antibiotic...these are sold under popular names as cipro ..floxin..levequan..and many other names..
as this drug and all its sisters can cause tendon rupture along with a miriad of other disabling complaints..

these also cause Perif. neuropathy.. and all work on the central nerv system..
so you may find some answers in that website..
[quinolones@yahoogroups.com]
hope this gives you some more avenues for info..
good luck..
Dwarr

[Charles Wilson]

Dwarr,

Thank you for responding to my message. To my knowledge, I haven't taken any of the family of quinolone antibiotics. I will check with my pharmacy to see what I have taken in the past. I know that any antibiotics I have taken in the past was for a short duration.

Chuck

[tex62]

Chuck,

Public Citizen, the consumer health and safety group has encouraged the FDA to require more studies on the association between tendon ruptures and statin drugs. You can find their letter to the FDA at this link: [http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/DOCKETS/06p0371/06p-0371-cp00001-01-vol1.pdf]

The first part of the letter references the association of tendon ruptures and fluoroquinolone antibiotics. At the bottom of page 3 of 7 of the letter is a reference to the association between statins and tendon ruptures. In Table 3 there is a list of tendon ruptures by drug class (including statins).

When my husband was taking Zocor and Tricor, he developed a host of symptoms including the typical muscle pain, and many other symptoms, and what appeared to be inflammation of the rotator cuff, as well as carpal tunnel like pain in both arms/hands. After stopping the drugs and taking large doses of CoQ10, most of the symptoms went away after a few months. The pain in his shoulder (rotator cuff) continued as well as numbness in the tips of some of his fingers. Within a week of beginning to take L-Carnitine, the shoulder pain went away and complete feeling returned to his fingers. I don’t know if this was a consequence of continuing to take CoQ10 or adding the L-Carnitine, or just the passage of time. It’s been over 8 months and there’s been no reoccurrence of the pain.

[Charles Wilson]

tex62,

Thanks for the information.

In addition to 600 mg of Q10 a day, I am also taking L-Carnitine (ALC) 1,000 mg, Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) 600 mg, Benfotiamine 150 mg and an assortment of other supplements. The Benfotiamine seems to reduce the pain in my feet. I have been taking that for about six months. Several letters have been posted through my support group recommending its use and I was able to confer that it did. I have not been a scientific as I would wish, because I have lost track of when some of the supplements were started. My pain has been reduced to almost none at all. However I ran out of the ALC and in a few days I noticed cramping in my lower legs. Peripheral Neuropathy also brings with it fatigue. I have found the prescription, Provigil to almost eliminate it entirely. Regretfully, it is not cheap. My cost for three months was $180, but it kept me from being overwhelmed most of the day. NOW, all we need to do is find a way to regenerate the nerve endings. ANY ideas on how to do that would be most appreciated. Maybe I could walk right again.

[tex62]

Chuck,

Recovery from PN seems to be slow, at best. I continue to be frustrated that drugs are allowed on the market with so little information to doctors regarding ways to recognize the side effects and stop the drugs at the first sign of problems.

In addition to the statin side effects, are you also diabetic? It sounds like you have made some progress in your recovery - that is a good sign. My husband's PN continued to get worse for about 3 months after he stopped taking statins and started taking about 900 mg of CoQ10 a day.

Best wishes to you.

[Charles Wilson]

tex62,

Yes, recovery is very slow and sometimes not at all. From what I have learned, if you wait too long the damage is permanent. That may be my situation, but I am going to try everything I can.

No, I am not diabetic. I have looked at every possibe cause. I even went to a family reuinon armed with information to see if anyone knew of someone in the family who had PN. Nothing. No diabetes or anything else that would be suspect.

Went to the drug store this morning and got what I could regarding the antibiotics I took. One is a cephalosporin antibiotic and the other is a macrolide antibiotic. I could only go back two years as that is as long as the records were kept. I would have liked to have gone back six or seven yars but that appears impossible. The doctor that prescribed my Lipitor retired six months after I was diagnosed with PN and for some "mysterious" reason ALL of my records disappeared. Interesting.

[sos_group_owner]

Hi Charles,

Your local pharmacy may only go back 2 years, but they are required to archive 5 years (in the USA). It takes awhile to get the records, but ask your pharmacy for a contact number to the archive office.

Fran

[Biologist]

For what its worth, I see a relationship with my recent doxycycline use (from the tetracycline class) as having something to do with my recent acute statin problems after six years of statin use. I did a little online research that showed these particular antibiotics affect gene expression for a number of lipid-related proteins and enzymes. That just sounds suspicious to me. There may have been some kind of interaction. I would not be real surprised to see warnings in the future about that combination being bad news. We already know that cyclosporine and statins do not mix, if I am not mistaken.

Biologist

[sos_group_owner]

Hi Biologist,

Re: We already know that cyclosporine and statins do not mix, if I am not mistaken.

You are correct! In addition... Statins (specifically Lipitor) should not be used with the following medications because very serious, possibly fatal, interactions may occur: certain azole antifungals (e.g., itraconazole, ketoconazole), certain macrolide antibiotics (e.g., clarithromycin, erythromycin, troleandomycin), nefazodone, telithromycin.

For sometime I've been aware of 'Pharmacogenetics' (drug metabolism)... most don't understand the significance of CYP3A4 (or CYP2D6, etc) or cytochrome P450 (substrates) in drug package inserts. I list several articles at [http://www.freewebs.com/stopped_our_statins/drugmetabolism.htm]

BUT just came across this article... very interesting... 'Role of P-glycoprotein in Statin Drug Interactions'
[http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/549252]

Fran

[Biologist]

Thanks, Fran.

I'll check out your links.

Hey, you never answered my question here:



http://www.spacedoc.net/board/viewtopic.php?p=2954#2954

Biologist

[Biologist]

Yep, good links.

The genetic factor sure answers a lot of questions regarding differences between people in responce to statins and other drugs.

This URL is pretty amazing:

[http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/prescription/dna_drugs.html]

Aside from drug interactions, my other theory about my sudden statin situation ("statin attack") is that I was building up statin as time went along -- all the more reason that overdosing should be such a major concern to prescribers. Less is better for that reason alone. (Zero is better still.)

Biologist

[sos_group_owner]

Re: Hey, you never answered my question here: :)
http://www.spacedoc.net/board/viewtopic.php?p=2954#2954

Hi Biologist,

Go to this link for the answer:
[http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/n/nothing-harvey.htm]

Fran

[Biologist]

:lol:

Biologist