Fighting Cholesterol Drug Damage and Feeling BetterSo, you're on cholesterol medication and experiencing some bad side effects. Do you feel that you have become a victim of cholesterol medications? If so, you are not alone. I am also a victim, and that is why I have decided to create this website. But, there are alternatives to cholesterol medications and I will go into detail about them. Most people are not told by their doctors about the adverse side effects of taking cholesterol lowering drugs. The side effects are varied. They include upset stomach, stomach pain, diarrhea, gas, constipation, rash, nausea, insomnia, memory loss, liver problems, hepatitis, and last, but not least, are nerve and muscle damage. The main topic we will discuss is nerve and muscle damage associated with taking cholesterol lowering medications, or statins. The most common statin side effect is muscle pain, or myopathy. This can be a tiredness, soreness, or weakness in your muscles. The pain may be mild discomfort or it can be severe enough to make your everyday activities difficult to manage. Walking around the block, climbing stairs, or just standing in place for a few minutes can be uncomfortable. On rare occasions, statins can cause nerve damage or a condition called rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdomyolysis can cause liver damage, kidney failure, and even death. Rhabdomyolysis can occur when statins are used in combination with certain other drugs. Researchers think statins may affect not only the liver's production of cholesterol, but also several enzymes in muscle cells that are responsible for muscle growth. I have read articles that suggest that long term statin users have a 4 to 14 times higher risk of peripheral neuropathy, nerve
damage that can cause weakness, tingling, pain, and trouble walking. CNN ran a story in August of 2002, and mentioned that
cholesterol lowering statins, were known to cause nerve damage (polyneuropathy) in one of every 2200 patients, and that
for people over 50 on statins, for over two years, the chances of nerve damage were 26 times higher than the normal
population. That puts over 6000 people at risk for nerve damage every year.
|
