Connect
← Return to Statins that won't cause/worsen neuropathy
Discussion
Statins that won't cause/worsen neuropathy
Neuropathy | Last Active: 2 days ago | Replies (20)Comment receiving replies
I'm coming to this conversation very late, but I've had peripheral neuropathy in my feet for over a decade and assumed it was either hereditary (my mom had it long before she was diagnosed with diabetes) or the fact that I've been pre-diabetic for over a decade. Either way, my feet gradually took a turn for the worse when my doctor prescribed me 20mg of Atorvastatin (Lipitor), and later upped it to 40mg, which I took for years.
Finally, I read that Atorvastatin is one of the worst statins for neuropathy and when my lipid bloodwork came back last year close to normal, I decided to take a "statin vacation" to see what would happen to both my neuropathy and my cholesterol. So I went 4 months without statins, and while my feet improved pretty dramatically, my cholesterol skyrocketed.
So with some help from ChatGPT, I read that Crestor (Rosuvastatin) was better for neuropathy in trials. My doctor initially prescribed 20mg of Crestor, which gave me instant myopathy (leg muscle pain), so I switched to 5mg Crestor. Within months, my cholesterol was back to normal, and while my feet got a little worse than they were with no statin, the pain was not nearly as bad as it was with 40mg Atorvastatin.
I also discovered a study that suggested Pitavastatin was the best for neuropathy, but I've been taking 1mg of that for 6 weeks and I believe my feet are slightly worse now than when I was on 5mg of Crestor. I'm going to wait a couple more weeks and get a new lipid panel to see how the Pitavastatin affected my cholesterol numbers, but right now, I'm inclined to go back to 5mg Crestor. My feet still hurt and tingled when I was on 5mg Crestor but *far* less than with the Atorvastatin, plus my cholesterol was basically normal.
My experience is that many doctors prescribe high doses first rather than starting with lower doses and titrating up as needed. For anyone who is interested, this is the study ChatGPT referred me to: https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/ijfn.2020.3
As for CoQ10, my brother-in-law is a pharmacist and says he thinks everyone taking a statin should take CoQ10. I hope some of this helps.
Replies to "I'm coming to this conversation very late, but I've had peripheral neuropathy in my feet for..."
@rob2299 I take the same cholesterol meds. I also take coq10. I get it from Amazon.
@rob2299 Yes, my husband's best friend, a pathologist, has always maintained the same thing. Even after my 20 years of being on Simvastatin, I asked him if he still recommends it and without hesitation he said he did. I wasn't aware of the connection between statins and neuropathy but since I'm doing well with the Simvastatin and resigned to just dealing with the neuropathy, I probably won't discontinue what is helping me to have normal lab reports even at 4 months shy of age 79 and with a family history of fatal heart issues. Interesting conversation and I appreciate all that you shared.
Connect
Hi @rob2299, I see that you have been a member of Connect for several years and this is your first post so I would like to thank you for sharing your experience and welcome you to Connect. My neuropathy story is similar to yours in that diabetes runs in my family (mother, both sisters) and I have been labelled pre-diabetic most of my adult life. When my cholesterol numbers were out of range my PCP suggested I start a statin but I had been dealing with neuropathy since my 40s but just numbness in the toes and feet then gradually progressing. I opted not to take the statins and worked to work on lowering my cholesterol by making some lifestyle changes. I had read about pitavastatin and thought that might be a good option for me if needed.
Being in the pre-diabetes category led me to finding out about the metabolic syndrome and it's connection to neurological conditions including neuropathy. Then the pre-diabetic label being a possible cause for my idiopathic small fiber peripheral neuropathy started making more sense to me. Here's one of the research papers that led me to more searching.
-- The Metabolic Syndrome and Neuropathy: Therapeutic Challenges and Opportunities: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3881591/
Have you heard about the metabolic syndrome connection to neuropathy?