Change your dose.
Muscle aches sometimes get milder or go away when you lower the amount of statin you take. Your doctor will go over the pros and cons of this choice. If your LDL levels are very high on a lower dose, you might need to make some more lifestyle changes or add another kind of cholesterol medication.
In most cases, if you're going to have muscle pain from statins, you will notice it soon after you start taking the medication. For many people, however, this side effect is temporary and goes away somewhat quickly.
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.
Try a different statin
These statins, including atorvastatin (Lipitor®), simvastatin (Zocor®) and fluvastatin (Lescol®), are more likely to cause muscle aches. The hydrophilic statins, including rosuvastatin (Crestor®) and pravastatin (Pravachol®), have to be actively transported and cause fewer muscle aches.
If you need to lower your cholesterol but cannot take a statin because of muscle aches or other side effects, you may want to try an alternative. New research shows that bempedoic acid can lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk for heart attack and stroke without causing muscle pain.
Bempedoic Acid: A Statin Alternative to Reduce Cholesterol
All of the patients had a history of or were at high risk for getting heart disease.
It's important to know that stopping statins cold turkey, or even gradually, can cause serious health problems and you should talk to your doctor before doing so.
If you notice moderate or severe muscle aches after starting to take a statin, contact your doctor. If you have signs and symptoms of rhabdomyolysis, stop taking your statin medication immediately and seek medical treatment right away.
Statins can stabilize cholesterol plaque already attached to artery walls, making it less likely to get worse or rupture, causing a heart attack or stroke. "Statins also help remove cholesterol from you blood by causing the liver to express more LDL cholesterol receptors that take cholesterol out of your blood," Dr.
This is because the deposits of fatty cholesterol can break off, causing a clot or blockage in the arteries to the heart or brain. What is less well known is that, high-cholesterol may also cause pain in the extremities including your legs.
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.
Simvastatin was associated with the highest risk of muscle pain (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.39 to 2.29, vs. pravastatin), followed by atorvastatin (OR 1.28, 95% CI: 1.02 to 1.60, vs. pravastatin). Fluvastatin was associated with the lowest risk of muscular symptoms (OR 0.33, 95% CI: 0.26 to 0.42).
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.
But whether you take statins or not, making changes to what you eat and how you live can have a real effect on your cholesterol levels. By making smart food choices, you may be able to lower your need for statins — or remove that need altogether.
Niacin is a B vitamin that helps support your digestive system, nervous system, and skin. It is available over the counter as a supplement. Niacin is sometimes used to help lower cholesterol, but there is evidence that taking it with a statin could increase the risk of experiencing statin side effects.
There isn't one best statin to take. No individual statin has been proven to be best at preventing heart attacks and strokes. But there is evidence that rosuvastatin and atorvastatin decrease harmful cholesterol more than other statins. Some people will clearly benefit from taking a statin.
Statin use is associated with increased calorie intake and consequent weight gain. It is speculated that statin‐dependent improvements in lipid profile may undermine the perceived need to follow lipid‐lowering and other dietary recommendations leading consequently to increased calorie intake.
Rarely, statins can cause more-serious side effects such as: Increased blood sugar or type 2 diabetes. It's possible that your blood sugar (blood glucose) level may slightly increase when you take a statin, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. This is especially likely if your blood sugar is already high.
A person is considered at high risk for developing heart disease if their total cholesterol level is higher than 240 mg/dL, LDL levels are higher than 160 mg/dL (190 mg/dL is even higher risk), and if the HDL level is below 40 mg/dL.
March 6, 2023 – For people who don't take common cholesterol medications due to side effects such as muscle aches, a new study suggests taking a drug called bempedoic acid may be more tolerable and still offer sizable protection for their hearts.
Providers prescribe statins for people who: Have high cholesterol (LDL above 190 mg/dL) that exercise and diet changes couldn't reduce. Had a stroke, heart attack or peripheral artery disease. Have diabetes and an LDL of at least 70 mg/dL and are 40 to 75 years old.
Serious atorvastatin side effects are rare but possible. They include liver, kidney, and severe muscle damage. Atorvastatin can also cause blood glucose (sugar) levels to rise, increasing the risk of diabetes in certain people.