Statins and muscle pain

Statins

When we talk about statins, it is advertised that few side effects can sometimes arise, but it is not said that they can cause cramping, aches, weakness and muscle fatigue. These problems affect nearly 25 million people since they are found in 25% of statin therapy users, whose number is around 100 million. And this was in 2004. This therapy is commonly used for the decreasing of high cholesterol, but there are several other uses that can be treated with them, too. One very rare side effect is rhabdomyolysus, which can provoke death. When this problem is present, the toxins will cause the destruction of muscle cells. This problem usually begins with weakness, fatigue, muscle pain and develops onward, but it happens in 0.1% of cases, which is not insignificant when we see that 100 million of people use these medications. We have mentioned that it can treat high cholesterol, but it is also used for depression, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, peripheral arterial disease, and ventricular arrhythmias. This developed drug is also used for prevention of atherosclerosis and plaque gathering and even in prevention of some heart problems. The most commonly used statins are Lipex, Zocor, Crestor, Torvas and Lipitor. When we talk about the effectiveness of this drug, we are not sure of it is efficiency. This drug prevents only one heart attack problem among 50-250 cases, but the results vary, so we cannot give the exact results. One study stated that its effect diminishes after the age of 65. But they also cause some side effects that we will talk about. This drug blocks the cholesterol byosynthesis, along with anti-proliferative, anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory abilities. Statins lower lipids and block liver enzymes causing the high cholesterol. But this drug is mostly used for the treatment of high cholesterol and it is very effective in this task. As a matter of fact, it is so efficient that people can disregard the side effects and see them as irrelevant.

Statin Myopathy

This problem is connected with low intensity pain, soreness and muscle ache. It is also called myopathy and it can sometimes produce constant and acute muscle pain. Usually there is a lumping together of the muscle pain side effects and they include weakness, fatigue, pain, ache, myalgia and myopathy. Almost always they come together. The numbers show that every fourth person who uses statins has muscle pain problem and this number refers only to the reported cases. We cannot know how many unreported there are, but the number cannot be insignificant. However, if you are thinking of using statins, do expect pain, which can come from low to high and severe. Occasional and minor ache is a possibility.