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.
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 severe enough to make your daily activities difficult.
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.
A recent study found that people taking statins had a 19 percent higher risk of having musculoskeletal problems compared to non-statin users and were 13 percent more likely to suffer from strains, sprains and dislocations.
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.
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.
Symptoms tend to disappear within 3 months after you stop taking statins, with no permanent damage in most cases. But a 2018 study suggests that in rare cases, some muscle damage isn't reversible. Moderate exercise, as opposed to intense physical activity, also may help eliminate myopathy symptoms.
Side effects can vary between different statins, but common side effects include: headache. dizziness.
Resolution of muscle pain occurred a mean (SD) of 2.3 (3.0) months after discontinuation of statin therapy.
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.
Specifically, statins may lead to muscle damage in 1 in 10,000 people who take this type of drug each year. The damage is typically reversible once the person stops taking the statin.
According to the research, published in JACC: Basic to Translational Science, statins cause spontaneous and irregular leaks of calcium from storage compartments within muscle cells. Under normal conditions, coordinated releases of calcium from these stores make the muscles contract.
If you're taking a statin medication to lower your cholesterol, you will need to keep taking your prescription, or your cholesterol will likely go back up. Stopping your statin can put you at risk of having heart disease and other preventable health problems like stroke and heart attack from high cholesterol.
According to a research review people who take simvastatin (Zocor) or pravastatin (Pravachol) may experience fewer side effects.
Research suggests that statins may cause you to feel tired because they play a role in decreasing the amount of energy provided to the cells in your muscles.
Use of statins is associated with an increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis.
The majority of muscle damage by statins is secondary to its direct toxic effects, possibly via coenzyme Q10 depletion causing mitochondrial dysfunction. The injury is dose dependent and reversible after withdrawing the drug, with most recovery of symptoms occurring within 2–3 months (3).
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.
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. The publicity around myositis has led many people to stop taking statins.
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).
After starting a statin, it takes about six weeks for cholesterol levels to stabilise, so most doctors would re-check your cholesterol after about eight weeks.
Dosing a statin (rosuvastatin) every other day (EOD) may provide significant lipoprotein changes while avoiding common adverse effects in this statin-intolerant population.
Does muscle pain from statins go away? 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.
Check with your doctor whether there's a particular time of day you should take your statin. You usually have to continue taking statins for life because if you stop taking them, your cholesterol will return to a high level. If you forget to take your dose, do not take an extra one to make up for it.