Ripped Tendons

[albiec]

I am 57 years old. Three years ago I was put on Lipitor. Within 2 yeras i had ripped both elbow tendons and had surgery. Last winter y doctor put me on Crestor for 8 weeks at which time i felt a twinge in my right shoulder. I quickly stopped taking the drug. However, 3 months later i tore my rotar cuff tendon having done nothing physical except playing two rounds of golf. Now I woke up last night and my left shoulder is hurting. In addition i get foot and leg cramping. Otherwise i feel fine and still do 30 minutes of cardio excercise daily.

Is there any evidence of tendon tears from statins? And can it still hurt you a few moths after stopping the drug?

[cjbrooksjc]

albiec: I don't know if our situations are akin, but I had NO elbow or shoulder probs before Lipitor/Zocor; now, after roughly 4 yrs on the drugs, both my shoulders hurt at night and my left crackles when I try to raise my hand above my head. Both my elbows are painful especially when I hold a dead weight or try to tuirn a shopping cart with some exertion. Before the Statains I was VERY athletic, and I know the Statins are responsible. Also, like you, my right elbow continued to get worse after quitting. Now, after nearly 9 months, the deterioration seems to have plateaued, and I'm now waiting now to see if things improve. I wish you luck.

Regards,

Brooks

[SusieO]

Albiec; while I have not experienced this personally I can tell you that my sister in law had has numerous injuries/surgeries to her knees and one shoulder from tendon tears and she is on Lipitor.

I quit Lipitor 3 years ago and she is still taking it. I have mentioned to her about having these problems and could it be the cause, but she doesn't agree with me.

I wish you a full recovery!

[xrn]

albiec, I have been having a look at the literature and have not yet found the specific answer. I have seen a few papers referring to tendon damage, as a consequence of muscle destruction. The problem is that if it is a mechanical cause, then the papers do not make that aspect clear. What you need to be aware of is that the pathway where cholesterol is synthesised (and inhibited by statins) also provides a pathway from substances that are vital to life at the cellular level.

With insufficient Heme A, it is likely premature aging and programmed cellular death occur readily. The ensuing weakness and destruction of muscle tissue is a given. Tendons are as likely as muscle to be affect beacuse all cells that require oxygen (all human cells) require Heme A. The references to tendons in the literature have been confined to the achilles tendon and it is quoted as a sign that cholesterol levels are high. (this is clearly voodoo wish fulfillment rather than medicine but I refer to it for what its worth)

I will keep looking in the medical literature but my gut feeling is that damaged tissue cells, whether they are in tendon or muscle, are bound to produce an effect and unless proven otherwise, suspecting statins is a sound judgement because of the damage they cause inside the mevalonate metabolic pathway. I can show you an illustration of the pathway here... *http://talkingstatins.com/page14/page13/page13.html

Yoou will need to remove the asterisk from before http, before pasting the address into your web browser. Note the word 'statins' appears in brown at the third point in the process. Then note the vital substance that all appear in green at the end of the pathway. These substances are all vital to life and all inhibited by statins.

Kind regards,
xrn

[Cat Mom2]

I have been off of Lipitor for almost 1 year and have suffered many joing problems since getting off. I have been having some pretty intense pain in my right shoulder since mid April (this past one) and I am wondering if I have torn something or messed up something but I have not done anything to have hurt it. I know if I see my PCP he will just give me pain medicine and not find why it hurts so soon as I decide what doctor I need to see, I am going to find out what this is. Moving my shoulder joint up and out, twisting it in any way about kills me and it hurts when I lay on it at night... I think my statin poisin has landed there and is there to stay!

My pain, in the months that I have been off of the stuff, has moved from joint to joint. One day it is the wrist, the next an ankle, the next a elbo but this pain is always there and no other joint hurts since this started.

[poohhel]

Cat Mom2: I had the same problem in my right shoulder along with a feeling of weakness, an inability to lift things or carry things for long periods, and a dull soreness from my shoulder down to my pinky finger. Sometimes I couldn't hold a pen or my hair brush... but mine was because of 3 tears in my rotator cuff, a stretched out muscle, and a bone spur. This was all diagnosed before starting statins. However, about the same time as having the surgery to fix my shoulder I did start statins and after 3 weeks was unable to endure the physical therapy.