Statins :: Depression And Lethargy
May 14, 2009
I had a TIA back in February which was terrifying.
I have been prescribed 20 mg Simvastatin daily but feel dreadful.
I am also taking an SSRI drug for anxiety & am currently unemployed so is this just depression due to circumstances or the drug?
I have been taking the statin for just over two months and am becoming increasingly lethargic, aching all over, headaches and a feeling of just wanting to go to sleep for ever..almost like I have not the energy to care anymore which is an irony as faced with the prospect of dying 2 months ago I was terrified now I don't care. My cholesterol was 5.9 which is not exactly high but in the circumstance I was advised to get it lower with meds. Is anyone else in a similar position?
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My last oxycodone 5 mg was Friday at 8am. I've been on them 11 years from my prescribing doctor. I've never gone longer than 24hrs before. Just started day 5. Was on 10-12 5mg oxy ir per day. Friday I took 3 tramadols I had left from a script,same with sat. Sunday I took 2 yesterday 1.5 and today I'll take none. Also taken 2 Imodium (imodium) when needed. Usually every 12 hrs. Didn't need any Sunday or yesterday. Took two an hr. Ago. I feel so lost,I'm not working,kids are in school and for the first time in years I don't know who I am?? Thought 5 days in I'd start feeling bit better? I cry...a lot. I'm just rambling I think? Any help of what to expect in coming days or when I'll feel normal again would be great. I can't go back. I can't go back on them evil pills. I want my life back.
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As well as severe muscle pain, STATINS are to blame for lowering the mood and causing depression. Why are the nation being prescribed them?
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Has anyone started taking statins or been offered them because their doctor has told them they have a 10% risk of Cardiovascular disease over the next 10 years? I think people get offered 20mg atorvastatin at this level? What are people's experiences at this level?
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Is clinical depression such as in bipolar disorder ever get better on its own or does it require lifelong medications?
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My cholesterol has been high recently and my doctor keeps putting me on statins..it was 300 and I went on Lipitor.. some time after started to have muscle aches so I stopped taking it myself and the pains went away...went to doctor and he put me on pravastatin 20 mg and I tried it for a while but again had muscle aches and pains..i stopped the pravastatin and the pain has been totally gone..i feel great...I need to go to the dr again in about a month but my problem is my doctor won't listen that I don't want a statin..he says a non statin drug won't help..told the dr I don't want to be on statins but he is not listening to me...I have now tried to modify my diet..i weigh about 150..cut out all pasta and sweets...can I really lower my numbers without statins.?
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I have reached LOW triglyceride and LDL cholesterol levels after 6 months of zero-bad-fat diet. I am now ready to ditched my prescribed statins. Is it safe to cold-turkey statins or do I need to wean off?
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I was diagnosed homozygous C282Y in 2001 and have managed my HH successfully since with therapeutic venesection as a regular blood donation. I have to take statins after a recent heart attack and I'm concerned about their detrimental affect on my liver. Does anyone have experience and advice on this issue, please?
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Though I suffer from many complications from liver disease, including diabetes2 (insulin) , my cholesterol is 5.6, with 4.0 and under being the preferred target, by doctors, in diabetics. Few years ago I was prescribed 20mg simvastatin, as the doctor said to me "they are the best thing since sliced bread" !
As I was frightened of the effect of this variety (heard horror stories) I asked for pravastatin instead, I was one them a week, when due to stomach pain etc, I stopped, never was concerned by what my doctor advised...I'd had enough of feeling bad. Nobody has the right to pressurise/frighten you into taking any drug, ultimately the choice is yours. Medics make mistakes!
now that I have diabetes, my diabetic nurse has asked me to try them again, I done this and still got pains and nausea.
she asked my liver specialist at hospital for advice, even he said it would be good to try a smaller dose. I have great respect for my liver specialist and tried (other day) new prescription for 10mg simvastatin, on second day, I got the stomach pains back, worse than before and instead of shoulder pains from them I past. I had bad aching all down my right leg, yes, I have stopped them again already.
I to, like others here, have spent days and hours studying all the evidence on statins, which amounts to real bad news, am now terrified of what long term, let alone short term damage they are capable of! I can't fathom why our doctors keep pushing these dangerous drugs on us, as I cannot believe they could PREVENT heart trouble. As one of the posts here says...your going to die one way or another, so why risk getting there sooner and in pain or great
discomfort.
Not enough medical research has gone into the effects, benefit or otherwise of statins. I feel sure doctors, especially for diabetics, create alarm for patients in for what is normal, good cholesterol, even with slightly raised readings, each patient's reading cannot be the standard ideal, with so many different factors, ie other medication one has to take that maybe conflicts, we cannot modify as in diet, so there answer seems to be force the numbers down by these badly researched drugs.
Because the nature of my particular situation, I doubt this post will be of any help, but it is another's view of this over prescribed disaster.
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I'm a 18 year old female, currently taking 20 mg of atorvastatin every day due to familial hypercholesterolemia. I have tried to control my LDL doing only diet, but it didn't help much, the reason why my doc prescribed me the pills.
I've been taking the medication for three or four months now and I didn't notice any side effects.
However, seeing people complaining about side effects on the internet, especially pain or muscle damage is making me seriously consider stop taking them. Nobody here has any good or tolerable experience with statins to share?
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I've just been diagnosed with hardening arteries in my legs, the GP said I must take statins but I also suffer from fibromyalgia and chronic back pain so don't want to. Cholesterol is 6.4 with high LDL. Can I reduce this with diet?
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I have been diagnosed with Familial Hypercholesterolaemia at the age of 5, after around 30 years of battling with doctors over my diet. Up until now, my combined cholesterol has never gone below 7.0 (without statins which I took for a few months around 5 years ago - it went down to around 4.0), and doctors continually insisted that my diet was at fault.
After another round of insisting that I take statins, I refused and was sent to the lipid clinic, where they looked at my history and proudly announced that my diet was not at fault and it was hereditary.
They then insisted I go on statins, as in their words, I have nearly 50 years worth of <fat> lining my blood vessels.
They did no cardiac tests or ultrasounds or stethoscope on my neck, etc., to find out if I was "furred up", and they then referred me back to the GP.
The GP didn't get in touch with me, so I made an appointment to see him, where he put me on a low dose of steroid.
I asked him about whether I should find out if I WAS at risk of heart disease before he shoved me on them, as in my mind, if my cholesterol had been so high ALL my life, then why did I not have any of the associated symptoms of FH, such as early heart disease, fat deposits on eyes etc?
Also I have reduced thyroid function (not reduced enough to be treated under the current guidelines however).
So, a couple of weeks later, at a pre-op for an upcoming gynae procedure I am to have, I mentioned about not having my heart looked at in years, and the kind nurse did an ECG and listened to my heart with a stethoscope. I was told my heart was ok.
What I would like to know is, would that "OK" on my heart health be a good reason not to take statins, or would further tests need to be done to ascertain whether I am at increased risk of heart disease - other than my cholesterol level.
I have read recently that if your heart and vascular health is OK, it doesn't matter what your cholesterol level is, it will still lower your risk - is that correct?
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I have tried all the above. The cholesterol went down from 9 to 5 but at a price: severe leg cramps at night, muscle pain in legs (and arms?), heat sensation in lower legs, severe constipation, insomnia etc.
This has been going on for the last 6-7 years. Want to stop altogether. I am also on 75mg aspirin which I have to take with Omeprazole to prevent stomach bleed. Otherwise healthy 64yo. Does anyone have some wise words to share?
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I am a healthy 49 yrs. old man and usually very active. I do not take any medicines besides Ramipril (Tritace) due to my high blood pressure. Unfortunately for many years I have rather high cholesterol level – 6.1 mmol/l total, 1.2 HDL and my doctor wants to put me on statins.
I am not a physician, but I have been working with information for many years so I did my homework and now I am absolutely confused!
The fact is that I have used many online cardiovascular risk calculators and I found a few rather odd things:
1. I have a probability of developing cardiovascular disease in next 10 years between 8.0 and 10 % despite my with high level of cholesterol. I can not explain this!
2. I was playing with the risk calculators putting different numbers and I have found, that even extremely high cholesterol level like 7 mmol/l just slightly increases the overall risk to 11% in next 10 years I can not explain this!
3. The most interesting thing is that even if I would manage to reduce my cholesterol numbers with statins to recommend level, my cardiovascular risk reduce very slightly!
So I have to take statins during very long period of time just in order to reduce the risk up to 7-8% instead of 8-11! Could you help me to understand where I am wrong?
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Are there any tablets that can help with side effects of statins. In my case they are quite severe and have had to stop them. Now my cholesterol is very high. I have been on every statins over the last 12 years with the same effect. I've had a heart attack and stents. My diet and exercise is very good and I am not overweight but I need statins to keep my cholesterol down?
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Anyone feel that statin therapy has caused ED?
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Having suffered all the problems connected with statins I have requested to stop taking them as my life is so different without them for the better.
However I have a condition called Subclavian steal syndrome which is basically a blocked artery that cannot be operated on as its too dangerous. On the advice of my doctor I am trying Pravastatin. Has anyone been prescribed this drug and had any of the usual side effects with it. If it is just like all the rest of the statins I am prepared to give them up altogether whatever the risk as I cannot cope with the side effects.
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I have entrenched myself in a low-fat Mediterranean diet and now have much better lipo-gram figures. I now wish to wean off my statin tablets. Is this easy to do?
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I am trying to do a bit of research behind why is it difficult to keep patients on a prescription of a statin drug.
I am aware of all the side-effects caused by the statins, but i would like to know the reasoning behind the choice to come off your prescribed statin or to try and change drug;
Is this because you feel your quality of life is lowered on a statin.
Is it lack of evidence behind the efficacy of a statin to lower cholesterol etc?
I am trying to find out if there is anything that could be done to convince patients to continue on their prescription of statins, or whether they would prefer to be offered an alternative medication.
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Just been prescribed Simvastatin 40mg for my cholesterol (which is 5.1). I also have raised BP and recently diagnosed diabetic; although neither is high and I am not overweight.
My question is: I am 60 with a 45 year old partner. We have a very active sex life and I am paranoid that if I start taking the Simvastatin it will ruin that part of our life.
Does any Simvastatin user have experience of it adversely affecting their sex life.
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Saw doc yesterday my cholesterol is 248 I can't take statins he's given me niacin. I'm starting fish oil 100mg a day any other natural advice
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