Another Lipitor Victim
Posted over a year ago
Hello all, I have been off and on Lipitor and Zocor for 10 years at 20 mg. I started experiencing dizziness, headaches and muscle pains which I attributed to inguries sustained from an automobile accident. I later developed low back pain radiating down ... more »
Hello all,
I have been off and on Lipitor and Zocor for 10 years at 20 mg. I started experiencing dizziness, headaches and muscle pains which I attributed to inguries sustained from an automobile accident. I later developed low back pain radiating down the buttocks and the legs. Cramping of the hands and the calves of the legs and a tear in the left muscle 5 years ago. In November of 2006 I fell after my right ankle turned. Since that time, I have had increasing weakness on the right side and chronic fatigue. I was recently diagnosed with neuromuscle diease and ALS (although some of the test were inconclusive). I stopped taking the Lipitor in February because I was suspecting the Lipitor was causing all of the problems. I too continue to have right side muscle weakness, my ability to walk has deterated and I am also am experiencing "flutters" aka termors. I would like to know if anyone has found a physician who has had success treating damage done by Lipitor? Please feel free to contact me.
Ksue42 - I have been having pain in my legs and weakness. I can hardly walk across my living room. I can't find a doctor that will admit it is from the cholestral medicines. I did stop them about one year ago. I take fish oil now. Seems to work so far. Have you had this problem. I don't know where to turn. I feel if I go on another year like this I will be in a wheelchair. Desperate.
Dave847 - The only thing that I found to help, was taking a suppliment called CoQ10, I took at least 300mg a day for about 4months every morning! (To help my muscles rebuild themself.) It takes at least 30 to 60 day for the CoQ10 to get into your system. I also took a suppliment called Alpha Lipoic Acid, I took 300mg of this also to help with the nerve damage. I'm Not 100% but I'm able to walk with out much pain! I'm betting that you'll never be 100% ever again. But something is better then nothing. Do yourself a favor your on the inter-net do some reshearch on these two suppilments. Merck has not one but two pattens, telling people that they should be taken CoQ10 while on statin DRUGS! I also was on Zetia and I quit taking that too. I now control my cholesteral with Fish oil with omega 3: 2000 mg, garlic suppilment: 2000mg, Resveratol: 100mg, and one table spoon of Soy Lecithin Granules. This worked for me. I can't say that it will work for you or your father? But I did a home test on my cholesteral, it was 190. That is even lower then when I was on those statin drugs. I know that I WILL NEVER TAKE AN OTHER STATIN DRUG AS LONG AS I LIVE, EVER AGAIN!! I seen what it did to me in the past. Good Luck!!
Dave847 - I BOUGHT THESE SUPPILMENTS AT OUR LOCAL GNC STORE. You can also buy them at Wal-Marts, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Kmarts, etc. but I can't tell you if they are phamaceutical grade or how well they work? again Good Luck!!
Dave847 - You are one of the many hundreds who have written to me of your apparently permanent side effects associated with the use of statin drugs. Until now I have had little to offer you other than robust use of CoQ10 and, of course, discontinuation of statins. My mention of other anti-inflammatory supplements are to help reduce CV risk only and have little role in side effect treatment.
Only in the past five years have we in medicine learned of the vital role of glyconutrients in body function. More recent still is my research evidence that many of the permanent side effects of statins are mediated by impairment of glyconutrient metabolism, just as statins impair CoQ10 availability. I have no proof at this time, yet I firmly believe that glyconutrient supplementation will bring real help to some of you. In order to determine progress, a lengthy commitment is necessary. Just as your statin symptoms, in most cases, took months to develop, so is recovery likely to take time. Keep this in mind if you are considering glyconutrient use. I recommend at least a six-month trial period.
For those readers who desire more information on how to get started, here is the contact information to use:
Phone- 404-252-3623 CHARLES WILSON
Email- charleswilson@mac.com Doc
STATINS AND GLYCONUTRIENTS
For the past five years I have been talking about the importance of the mevalonate pathway and the inevitable problems to come from inhibition of this vital biochemical complex especially at its very beginning. Think of the mevalonate pathway as a tree with multiple branches and then think of the effect of our statins drugs as “girding” this tree at the base. This is what “Big Pharma” has done in its misguided efforts to block cholesterol using reductase inhibitors.
Our pharmaceutical industry threw caution to the winds 15 years ago when our national priority to lower cholesterol so fogged our minds that we (medical, pharmaceutical and food industry) focused just on the cholesterol branch of the mevalonate “tree” and completely disregarded the important consequences of collateral damage to the other main branches of this tree from our statin drugs. The predictable result of all this has been our bizarre spectrum of statin associated side effects ranging from cognitive, to myotoxic, neurotoxic, neurodegenerative and even behavioral. I have thoroughly described the consequences of CoQ10 inhibition in previous papers (see www.spacedoc.net). When our powerful statins cut our cholesterol 50%, our CoQ10 must also be cut 50% and therein lay the problem, for CoQ10 has vital roles in energy production, cell wall integrity and mitochondrial anti-oxidation, all of which leads to the enormous variety of symptoms and problems we now are seeing.
Now I wish to focus on the dolichol branch of our mevalonate pathway, for recently I have learned much about the role of dolichols and it is time to share it with you. I have been talking of the consequences of excessive dolichol inhibition for years now, thinking that this substance contributed solely to neuropeptide formation and our functions of thought, sensation and emotion. More recently I have learned that this assembly of peptide fragments within the endoplasmic reticulum of every cell in our body is only a small part of dolichol’s contribution for it is here that our sacharrides (sugars) are attached to proteins and lipids to give a far broader range of diversity and information transfer than either protein or lipid alone.
No longer do we consider our sugars as just simple fuel. The effects of just eight vital sugars (referred to as glyconutrients, whether in monosaccharide or polysaccharide form) on the resulting peptide structure being created constantly in each of our bodies cells, is just short of miraculous. And this attachment of sugars is completely dependent on dolichol’s orchestration. Throw in a statin and what do you have – inevitable inhibition of dolichol synthesis, roughly comparable to the degree of cholesterol inhibition. The resulting effect upon our body of this dolichol theft is completely unpredictable for this is the very center of cell communication and immunodefense.
Dolichol is fully as important as CoQ10 in this game of statin roulette. Glyconutrients, now increasingly available as a source of these critically important sugars, may offer hope to thousands of statin damaged victims to help the body repair the effect of statins on glycolysis and, hopefully, some of their symptoms. Glyconutrients do not in themselves treat, these supplements restore metabolic balance so that the body is better able to heal itself. In this respect your present symptoms are a type of deficiency disease somehow triggered by statin use. At this time, I have no proof as yet of this desired effect. It is far too early and the necessary research remains to be done. I can say that glyconutrient supplementation fits in precisely with what I have learned about dolichol inhibition. Definitive studies on proof of effect for such statin associated side effects as permanent short-term memory loss, myopathy, neuropathy, behavioral and even neurodegenerative symptoms are being planned.
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