Statins can rarely cause muscle inflammation (swelling) and damage. Speak to your doctor if you have muscle pain, tenderness or weakness that cannot be explained – for example, pain that is not caused by physical work.
One of the most common complaints of people taking statins is muscle pain. You may feel this pain as a soreness, tiredness or weakness in your muscles. The pain can be a mild discomfort, or it can be serious enough to make it hard to do your daily activities.
While statins have been shown to significantly reduce cholesterol levels, they have also been reported to have negative side effects on skeletal muscle. Most statin-induced myopathy manifests in the leg muscles, which can lead to difficulty walking and exercising.
Exercise. There is some evidence that people who have exercised regularly before taking statins are less likely to experience muscle pain and cramping. Although gentle stretching may relieve muscle cramps, beginning a new vigorous exercise regimen while taking a statin may increase the risk of muscle pain.
Muscle pain usually goes away within 1 to 2 weeks after you stop taking a statin. If the pain doesn't go away, it may have been caused by something else.
Within a month of starting statin therapy, they may feel aches or weakness in the large muscles of their arms, shoulders, thighs or buttocks on both sides of the body. About 5 to 10% of people who try statins are affected. It's more common in the elderly, in women and in those taking the more potent statins.
Statin therapy is often advocated for diabetic patients but when such treatment lowers serum cholesterol levels, nerve lesions may increase, and there are cases where neuropathic pain syndromes are reported [53].
But there are other causes you might want to consider, too. Let's start with the medications you are taking. Muscle pain is the most common side effect of the cholesterol-lowering statins. Although it is usually a constant pain or ache, it may appear as nighttime cramps.
Despite this, many people prescribed statins stop taking them, sometimes through concerns about side effects. New research finds that statins do not commonly cause pain, stiffness and weakness in the muscles. Severe weakness and pain in muscles (myositis) is a rare side effect of statins.
If you've made lifestyle changes through diet and exercise that have lowered your cholesterol levels, you may not need to continue taking a statin. These changes can help reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, or blocked arteries while allowing you to take one less medication.
Statin-related muscle pain, if it happens at all, usually happens within the first few months after you start the drug or raise the dose. You may feel a constant soreness or weakness in your shoulders, thighs, hips, or calves. If you're like most people, it'll affect both sides of your body equally.
Rhabdomyolysis is the most serious adverse effect from statin use, though it occurs quite rarely (less than 0.1%). The most common risk factors for statin-related myopathy include hypothyroidism, polypharmacy and alcohol abuse.
Although statins are usually well tolerated, they can cause side effects including joint pain in the hands and knees. If you experience joint pain from statins, changes to your activities or your medications can help you avoid or manage this side effect.
Overall, statins are safe as a class of drugs. Serious adverse events are very rare. Among the individual medications, studies have shown that simvastatin (Zocor®) and pravastatin (Pravachol®) seem to be safer and better tolerated than the other statins.
Suddenly stopping your statin is dangerous. Data shows that the risk of stroke, heart attack, and death within 4 years of stopping a statin is high.
Statins work to lower cholesterol levels and can reduce the risk of heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and even cardiovascular disease deaths by 25% or more. It's important to note that if you stop taking them, these improved effects on your cholesterol will taper off after several months.
CRESTOR® (rosuvastatin) may cause serious side effects, including: Muscle pain, tenderness, and weakness (myopathy). Muscle problems, including muscle breakdown, can be serious in some people and rarely cause kidney damage that can lead to death.
This is known as Peripheral Arterial Disease, or PAD. If you have PAD, or reduced blood-flow to your legs as a result of high cholesterol, you may notice pain in your legs, usually when exercising. This is known as 'claudication. ' You may notice pain when walking, running or even just climbing the stairs.
The muscle ache and pain that some people get with statins use are typically a generalised muscle discomfort lasting more than a couple of days, similar to the muscle aches caused by the flu. It is usually all over the body and does not just affect one part.
Sensory symptoms include prickling, tingling, bunch-up and numbness. Patients with acquired neuropathy usually complain of positive neuropathic sensory symptoms while such symptoms are rarely mentioned in hereditary polyneuropathies (2, 3).
Patients on statin therapy may develop a peripheral neuropathy, complaining of numbness, tingling, pain, and tremor at hands or feet, as well as unsteadiness during walking. All these symptoms are usually generated by a long-term therapy (>1 year) [39].
Symptoms of statin induced myopathy include fatigue, muscle pain, muscle tenderness, muscle weakness, nocturnal cramping, and tendon pain. The muscle symptoms tend to be proximal, generalised, and worse with exercise.