Started Repatha - Side Effects

Posted by HomeAgainLA @llynch17056, Mar 21, 2024

I had terrible side effects with statins (any statin, any dosage). For about 30 years my doctors have pushed statins and
I have resisted. Finally I agreed to Repatha. The first week I had zero side effects. With my second dose, 2 weeks in, i woke up and my joints and muscles hurt a LOT.
1. Does this side effect go away?
2. What do you know about the recent information that the Repatha trials underreporting deaths from cardiac events while taking Repatha.

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@dcody

Thanks for your comment. I had the same experience! I was on a fairly low dose of atorvastatin for about ten years. I felt as normal as when I was twenty years old, and I had no problems exercising or running. However, my LDL was high (so was my HDL, which is a good thing, thanks in part to fish oil). I developed severe hypertension (excessively high blood pressure), a calcium score of 190, and an enlarged lower left atrium (heart). I was put on a high dose statin (rosuvastatin), plus amLODipine. My ankles swelled painfully, and the myalgia got so great that I couldn't walk more than a thousand feet without severe pain. I switched cardiologists (from the one that insisted that I stay on high dose statin) and went to Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Now I'm on praluent (similar to Repatha) and a low dose of a beta blocker (Carvedilol), and I feel normal again, with almost all of my myalgia now gone. Although my insurance wouldn't cover Repatha, it did fortunately cover Praluent. Sometimes there is still some pain (it might be from prior damage) if I sit the wrong way for too long. LDL is now down to almost normal, but still a little elevated. I'm trying to lose 10 lbs. with exercise to get LDL down more naturally, but it's a real challenge. Otherwise, Mayo Clinic says I might need to raise dose of Praluent from 75mg/ml every two weeks. I'm reluctant to do anything that would bring back the severe myalgia. I suspect my long -erm health will benefit more from more exercise than being crippled up with more medications. I hope my story so far is helpful to others and I'd be interested in hearing more experiences from you and others.

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Thank you SO much. Sometimes cardiologists get stuck and all they can see are numbers and cannot see that a person has no quality of life. I love my life. I am very active. I want to live long and strong. But, after seeing some people die of cancer, I’ll take a heart attack over that. I will work hard against having a heart attack. But, I’m not going back to being disabled by drugs that my myopic cardiologist insisted I take. My internist said my cholesterol ratio was excellent even though my LDL is high, and my LPa has come down 60 points in a year and a half using an OTC supplement. I exercise daily, eat healthy clean organic food, and my weight is normal. Hanging in there. Looking for the balance.

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