A significant portion of seniors use statins, with rates varying by country and age, but commonly ranging from around 20% to over 40% of older adults, especially those over 70 or 75, with even higher percentages for men and those needing secondary prevention (after a heart event). For example, studies show rates like 47% of men and 33% of women over 70 in British Columbia and over 40% of Australians over 65 taking statins, often for primary prevention despite less clear evidence in the very old.
Managing Your Cholesterol
No surprise there. But half of men, ages to 65 to 74, and 39% of women, ages 75 and older—that's pretty stunning. Combine the 45+ age groups and both genders, and it comes out that one in four Americans, ages 45 and older, are taking a statin.
According to the FDA, side effects of statins may also include neurological and gastrointestinal symptoms, including: dizziness or vertigo. vision problems, such as double or blurry vision. memory problems.
Common side effects
feeling sick. feeling unusually tired or physically weak. digestive system problems, such as constipation, diarrhoea, indigestion or farting. muscle pain.
The medical establishment recommends that anyone who suspects they are experiencing any of the possible statin side effects consult with their medical professional. Muscle symptoms are a common side effect of statins; many people experience aching in the shoulders, pain in the jaw, or muscle pain in the legs.
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.
If you're experiencing jaw pain, don't be so quick to chalk it up to a problem with your chompers. Jaw pain, or the feeling of a toothache, can be a symptom of reduced flow of blood to the heart muscle, with the pain radiating from your chest to your jaw. This can be a warning sign of a heart attack or angina.
For a small number of people, short-term use of statins can cause memory loss and confusion. But these problems stop after stopping the medication. This suggests that the memory loss is not related to dementia, which would continue to get worse even when statins are stopped.
Statins, such as simvastatin, are useful medications that help lower cholesterol and protect against heart attack and stroke. But sometimes statins can cause joint pain. The reason why this happens isn't fully clear. If you experience joint pain while taking a statin, it may go away on its own in a couple of weeks.
Interfering with cholesterol production (by using statin drugs, for example) may accelerate skin aging. Lowered cholesterol levels also contribute to the lack of hydration in the skin and body tissues.
Psychiatric adverse effects, altering mood, personality, and behavior, sometimes arise in patients receiving statins. Statin psychiatric effects can include irritability/aggression, anxiety or depressed mood, violent ideation, sleep problems including nightmares, and possibly suicide attempt and completion.
Atorvastatin and bisoprolol are two medications often prescribed together for the management of cardiovascular disease and to reduce mortality.
Results: The use of statins was found to be associated with an increased likelihood of balance and falling problems (balance problem, OR 1.25, 95%CI 1.02 to 1.55; falling problem, OR 1.27, 95%CI 1.03–1.27).
The concentration of plasma cholesterol increases with age from puberty until 45 to 55 years of age in men, then decreases. In women, it continues to increase until about 10 years later, after which it declines in the last decades of life (Figure 2).
But patients often do not take statins as prescribed. Secondary nonadherence (stopping or taking a medication differently than prescribed) is a recognized problem,11,12 but it is less well recognized that 13–34% of people never fill a new statin prescription (primary nonadherence).
Why have I been offered statins? Having a high level of LDL cholesterol is potentially dangerous, as it can lead to a hardening and narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is a general term that describes a disease of the heart or blood vessels.
The bottom line
If you're experiencing muscle pain, your prescriber may recommend lowering your statin dosage, taking a break from the medication, or switching to a different statin. It's important to remember that the benefits of taking a statin outweigh the risks for most people.
As you correctly imply, statins are indeed associated with muscle pain and inflammation. However, they are not known to be associated with worsening joint pain. The pain from osteoarthritis comes and goes unpredictably.
Does statin fatigue go away? Statin-related fatigue may go away or ease as your body gets used to the medication. This can take a few days, weeks, or months, and varies from person to person.
There is a relationship between a person having high cholesterol levels and going on to develop dementia. People with high cholesterol levels also often have other health conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity, which are themselves risk factors for dementia.
Other medicines for high cholesterol
Other medicines may be used if statins do not work or you do not want to take statins. These include: other tablets – such as ezetimibe, fibrates, bile acid sequestrants (also called resins) and bempedoic acid. injections – such as alirocumab, evolocumab and inclisiran.
Statins, similarly to glucocorticoids, are thought to cause broadly defined sleep disturbances in long-term users, as confirmed by Takada M et al.
Unlike a typical cough caused by a cold or allergies, cardiac cough may occur due to fluid buildup in the lungs when the heart is unable to pump effectively. Common symptoms associated with cardiac cough include persistent coughing, extreme fatigue, difficulty breathing, and other signs often overlooked.
You can monitor aspects of heart health at home.
Checking blood pressure, heart rate, and overall fitness (such as stair climbing or walk/run endurance) can provide useful clues, though home devices cannot diagnose heart attacks or blocked arteries.