Atrovastatin causing leg pain and renal failure

I’m wondering if my Crestor is causing me arm and leg pain…how can you tell if that’s the cause? The ortho didn’t know.

It’s my understanding that Crestor is less likely to cause muscle pain, but it still can. The larger risk with Crestor is liver damage (which happened to my dad), but that’s a whole other topic…

Usually, they would run a blood test for elevated creatinine kinase. If it’s elevated it would suggest rhabdo, as @pomegranet1 mentioned, and it’s very serious.

But short of that, it’s hard to tell if it’s the cause. This happened to my dad, and they had him take a “medication holiday,” meaning he stopped taking his statin (atorvastatin) for a few weeks to see if the side effects went away. Unfortunately we never got that far to figure it out because he ended up getting diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) an autoimmune arthritis that causes severe pain in the large muscles. It can also be triggered by statin use. I don’t mean to scare you…he just, has a unique and very unfortunate situation, and that’s how I know about the creatinine kinase test.

Hi @pomegranet1- That’s horrible about the rhabdo! That sound so typical that doctors wouldn’t believe you, and I’m glad you caught it and you were able to treat it at home, yikes. It is a rare side effect, but I feel like there are enough cases of it out there, or at least of statin-induced myopathy to take it seriously!

I thought that it can take a few months to recover. I’m sorry I don’t have an answer, but wanted to reply and wish you well. I’m glad you were able to advocate for yourself.

I mentioned in my other reply that my dad developed PMR (polymyalgia rheumatica). Initially, they didn’t believe him either, especially after his creatinine kinase tests came back normal, indicating he didn’t have statin-induced myopathy. You may know since you’re a nurse, but PMR is an autoimmune arthritis that causes severe and debilitating muscle pain in the large muscles (legs, shoulders, core). It shows up in people over age 55, the same group that takes statins, so it caused confusion.

But I hope you continue to recover and hopefully someone may have experience to share as well.

Thanks for the info. It is also possible as I suffer from many other auto immune conditions. And had also come to the conclusion that my reaction was auto immune. However I did have the black pee. Which alerted me to something being wrong. It was 4 weeks before I was able to access a blood test, wonderful British NHS. By then my CK was normal something to do with me pushing fluids day and night. ! Hence the Dr’s reaction. 3 weeks for a GP appointment, so when you get there, if you have treated yourself, they do not believe what you had, even though my legs don’t behave properly.☹️

Hi
My cardiologist put me on 5 mg of atorvastatin every other day and I take 100 mg of CoQ10 daily I don't have any issues anymore and he said it's doing what it needs to do at 5 mg so he will not increase it thank God just sharing

I'm so sorry to hear about your dad and the side affects of crestor. I had been on it many years ago and it caused numbness in my right side of my leg. The numbness never went away, even though I'm off of it almost 20 years. I modified my diet and exercise and haven't had any statin in 20 years. My cholesterol is still about 240,but all my other levels are great. I had a CT calcium scoring test a few years back and all my arteries are great and open. Doctor said no need for a statin. Test cost me $65 out of pocket but well worth it.

Same thing!
Plus bone pain!
There is Red Yeast Rice that naturally lowers cholesterol & it worked for many years for me.
No side effects.
Ask your doctor if you can try it for a while & check labs.
The zocor & attrovaststin caused my muscles to pull & cramp & my tendons felt like they were tearing? Then I read tendon rupture is common !
So I’m going back to Red Yeast rice & natural cholesterol lowering foods.
If you’re experiencing these side effects, imagine what it does to the heart! It is a muscle -

Thank you for your note. I know that statins can be life-saving for some, but the other side of the coin can be so scary. My dad didn’t even have high cholesterol at the time it was prescribed, but he did have some hardening of the arteries, so it was prescribed at the highest dose possible, immediately, to be preventative. Statins are supposed to make it less likely for plaques to break off regardless of whether someone has high cholesterol. It’s possible if it had been prescribed at a lower dose first, he may not have had side effects. But what’s so frustrating is how nonchalantly most doctors prescribe it.

Thank you for the information and I’m glad you’re doing well.

Creator literature states less than 10% of users experience pain with the drug. I’ve been on Zocor for over 20 years with no ill effects.

That’s very true, and the medications work very well for some, probably most people.

There was an article in The Atlantic last year explaining that researchers had stumbled upon a possible explanation for why statins work so well for some but cause a host of problems for others. I just wish we were given all the facts, or that my father’s doctor would have listened. Most providers don’t believe either of us when we explain that we have central sensitization (which is a real condition) that contributed to medication sensitivity. For that reason whenever possible, medications should be started slowly and increased slowly. It’s not uncommon but not we’ll know.

Instead what happened is he was started at the highest dose possible, which his care team now believes triggered an autoimmune response, which is a very rare side effect, except my dad has a strong family history of autoimmune conditions. That resulted in him developing Polymyalgia Rheumatica, which often occurs with a related condition called Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA), which is a high risk factor for stroke because it causes inflammation of the temporal arteries. Both conditions are already difficult to diagnosis, and the diagnosis was delayed for weeks because everyone thought we were crazy (including his PCP).

And then he had a stroke. And then he was believed but now he has permanent disability and will never be the same.

It may have ended the same way, but if we had been educated about the risks (i.e. about the autoimmune risk, and the same applies to rhabdo), or if the doctor would have been more open to starting at a lower instead of the maximum dose possible, we might have made different decisions.

We didn’t totally give up on statins, but while in hospital recovering from the stroke, they started him on the max dose of Crestor, but then he experienced acute liver damage, which is a known side effect of Crestor. Because it’s so hard for him to recover from side effects—it sets back his rehab for weeks—we just had to make a decision that we need to accept the risks of going without the statin for quality of life purposes. I wish it would have worked out.

I know it’s a highly specific and rare situation. But my dad wasn’t given the opportunity to make the best decision for his specific situation, while fully informed.