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Simvastatin

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
nomorecakes said:
Yes, exercise, that's what I meant.. excercise exacerbates the effect, the pain. I'm not going to take anything as gospel Alan, just weighing it all up. just know that I hated the pains in my legs. It's good to knows the ups and the downside of anything really, it's just educating yourself about it all. It's still all so new to me and I didn' want to just get carried along with all these meds and not ask any questions.
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That's the best approach Susie, it is our health, and we need to understand the risks and benefits. Some doctors don't like it when you question things, but make them work for their money! 😉
 
What a Refreshing Approach!

nomorecakes said:
Yes, exercise, that's what I meant.. excercise exacerbates the effect, the pain. I'm not going to take anything as gospel Alan, just weighing it all up. just know that I hated the pains in my legs. It's good to knows the ups and the downside of anything really, it's just educating yourself about it all. It's still all so new to me and I didn' want to just get carried along with all these meds and not ask any questions.
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Dear nomorecakes,

I agree with Northie, your approach to this whole cholesterol thing is great! While you are considering the pros and cons you may wish to look at the wider issues. It is almost universally believed that elevated LDL, and hence total, cholesterol causes cardio-vascular disease (CVD) but there is solid evidence, from the World Health Organisation (WHO), that this is not so! Have a look at this U Tube Video. The presenter, Dr. Kendrick, uses WHO data to show that there is no correlation, between CVD and cholesterol. Also, there is evidence that Statins work - best results have been with men who already have CVD. However, there has never been a study that shows that women derive any benefit from taking Statins. In fact, there is a growing body of opinion that Statins do not work by lowering cholesterol (which they do very effectively) but because they are powerful anti-inflammatory drugs. If true, therefore, they should not be prescribed based on your cholesterol levels!!

Warmest Regards Dodger
 
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Just to add to this some members will know the problems my father has been having with his knee & gout. He still has pain behind his knee progressing up his thigh which feels worse when he tries th gentle excercises he was given. He said it wasn't a gout pain but it is keeping further progress back.

Drs were open today so he rang and without being presumptuous he mentioned statins to the Dr hoping he would reduce the dose to 20mg instead of the 40mg he was put up to as a 'one fits all dose' to our surprise the Dr was thinking the same and has told him to stop the statins completely for 10 days (from today) to see if this makes a difference.

I'm hoping this is the cause and will post back if we find it was the statins in dad's case.
 
pippin said:
Just to add to this some members will know the problems my father has been having with his knee & gout. He still has pain behind his knee progressing up his thigh which feels worse when he tries th gentle excercises he was given. He said it wasn't a gout pain but it is keeping further progress back.

Drs were open today so he rang and without being presumptuous he mentioned statins to the Dr hoping he would reduce the dose to 20mg instead of the 40mg he was put up to as a 'one fits all dose' to our surprise the Dr was thinking the same and has told him to stop the statins completely for 10 days (from today) to see if this makes a difference.

I'm hoping this is the cause and will post back if we find it was the statins in dad's case.
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Hi Pippin,
I do hope stopping the statins helps your dad, as well as my leg pain I had pains in my knee, I thought it might just be wear and tear on the joints, as I was told some time ago, but soon as i stopped the statins this pain also went away. I don't know if it was truly the statins or just coincidence, but ll I know is that I have no more pains.
fingers crossed for your dad.!
 
I too would be interested to know the outcome. And hope that it does stop the pain for your father.

The side effects of the statins are so like the aches and pains of every day wear and tear that it's near impossible to tell if coming off them for a few days has helped or it's just change of routine, etc.

Rob
 
Thank you I am anxious about this myself and totally unsure how long it might take before we notice if coming off them is working. Dad is the same when he tries gentle excercise the muscle feel worse & we had thought his knee was just due to the gout but this is a different pain. I have never seen dad depend on crutches or a walking stick for so long.

I'm hoping 10 days is enough to know if it is them as I don't know if the tablets accumulate and will take longer to get out of his system or if they are effective for a day. Frusomide is another tablet with side effects which we have suspicions about with uric crystals (gout) & now his diabetes.

Even if I'm disappointed if there's no change in his symptoms I will post back. One thing I'm watching every minute for a change! When I read this post it was so much like dad's symptoms although I have to keep my hopes restrained until we know.
 
As I'm sure I've mentioned I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, so it was hard for me to be sure that any of my pain was down to the Simvastatin. But since my cholesterol readings have been pretty good, the last was 4.6, I stopped taking them and while I still have significant pain, it's much less now than when I was on the statin.

My doctor isn't happy that I've stopped taking them, but I told her the pain was unbearable and if my Chol reading goes up next time she'll just have to find me something else, because I ain't taking Simvastatin ever again. for me at least the drawbacks far outweigh the benefits, of which I have serious doubts anyway.

I'm not sure how long it took to wear off, but it was at least a couple of weeks.
 
Thank you Alison I was wondering if 10 days would be enough. Will keep this in mind and hopefully the Dr will give dad longer. We are treating part of it like tendonitis as they seem swollen at the back of the knee, ice packs and rest for this. Hoping the Dr is only making the 10 days a checkup marker until we know for sure if they are part of the problem. Many thanks for your input
 
Update on dad's statins test/saga! Whilst dad wasn't skipping after being taken off the statins there was improvement to the point he was less dependent on his crutch. He could sit and lie down with more freedom. Rang the Dr in Monday after 12 days telling him he still wasn't fully in his feet & thought his tendons were still taught. Much to my disappointment Dr sent a script for 20mg simvastatin :( dad started back Monday night (the next bit may be a fluke but it's still worth considering) I can time dad lol I listen and hope so much & noticed Tuesday morning he was a lot slower and also noticed he was aware of his leg whereas before he was moving without thinking. Yesterday it was more obvious & back to needing x2 crutches :( thought it was just me being aware of the tablets but dad was with the Dr today who has taken more blood tests although knows there is still gout in his knee.
When he came home he admitted he was thinking the same as me and had mentioned to the Dr admitting it may be ridiculous but the level of dependence/pain seemed to increase as soon as he started back on the statins.

Dr didn't dispute this in fact he has taken him off them again! Will get the blood results Friday to confirm uric flags now it wil be intresting to see if going off the meds again will help the pain. Trying not to get my hopes up as it's depressing when we go back to square 1 :(
Dad intends to ask for his Frusomide to be reduced as the chemist plus the DSN had their concerns about these with gout and diabetes.

Sorry it's a long update again!
 
Thanks for the update Pippin 🙂 It does appear as though there might be a link between the pain and statins, especially since you are observing as a third party and could notice the difference straightaway when your dad went back on them. It's interesting for me readiing these posts because with hindsight so many of the problems I had with my legs in the months after diagnosis are echoed here, I just didn't know what the possible cause was at the time as I went from zero medication to 11 when diagnosed.

I hope that your dad continues to improve and that the doctor can explore other ways of keeping his cholesterol under control (if, indeed, it needs it).
 
Thank you Northerner it's hard to believe the complete change in dad today there's a connection somewhere! When they found dad had a damaged mitral valve (unchecked high blood pressure as he didn't like going to the Dr!) he was put on approx x15 tablets a day from zero including common painkillers! He only had a basic record on his medical file, that has changed now!
Although he has routine checks plus regular INR the meds have stayed the same the only one they stopped was Potassium. I really think the concoction of drugs have contributed greatly to the way he is today :(

In the past I just accepted they were perfect to help but now I am learning side effects do happen & who knows what contributed to the diabetes diagnosis. He is really in pain now :( let's hope things improve and if at all possible we don't have to look at those tablets again! If only they could prove they are contributing.

Enjoying your blogs atm laughed today about the cakes! Well done 🙂
 
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