My journey after nearly a year and a half since heart stent in LAD.

Hello, my name is Doug and I’m a 63 year old male who has posted many times before on Connect. I wanted to share with those of you who might be going through a similar journey my story.

After going an entire year of not feeling myself I started a journey with my general practitioner trying to determine what if anything might be wrong. We started with just basic blood tests to see if it could be diabetes, thyroid issues and some other “low hanging fruit” conditions. After about 3 months I ended up being referred to cardiology in my local clinic. They did cardio stress test, ekg, echogram and finally a cardiac CT scan which indicated at least 70% blockage in my LAD. They ordered up an angiogram next which confirmed that I had 85% blockage. They deployed a stent and my introduction to the statin experience began. I started out with 20 mg of rosuvastatin and after a week I began to feel muscle soreness fatigue and lethargic. I continued on thinking that I had to rough it out for a little longer. Long story short after 4 weeks of excruciating fatigue I called my cardiologist and he prescribed me praluent without allowing the rosuvastatin to leave my system. After 2 weeks on praluent I felt the same horrible symptoms so I messaged my cardiologist and he prescribed me rapatha, different drug same results. I have now been on a regimen of 5 mg rosuvastatin and 10 of Zetia for 6 months with similar symptoms. I had my annual cardiology appt last April and told the doctor about my continuing problems and he advised me to stick with the plan for another 3 months. I’ve become very disillusioned with my doctor and after reading some posts on Mayo connect became interested in a post by Janell who is a moderator. She convinced me to see a Dr Kolpecky at Mayo Clinic Rochester Mn. He deals with statin intolerance and she has had great success with her journey because of him.
Today I had a series of tests and 4 appts at Mayo ultimately ending with Dr Kopecky and I must say I am very impressed and optimistic about my future. I would highly recommend anyone going through the same journey as I have to consider seeing him for statin intolerance. I may not be done with this journey yet but I feel like I’m on the right road to a better quality of life than I had this past 15 months. Oh and I also got to meet Janell in person and thank her for being there and supportive to all who are on a similar journey.