Statin and sore lower back!

Could it be a bulging disk? Sciatica? Kidney stone?

This link suggests that it might be none of those, but the Rosuvastatin itself:
https://the-health-site.com/does-back-discomfort-result-from-taking-too-much.html

Hi, @suesam I’m sorry you’re dealing with such severe back pain. Since it’s making it hard to stand and walk, I’d encourage you to check in with the clinician who prescribed the rosuvastatin so they can help sort out whether it could be the medication or something else.

One thing a Mayo physician taught me that has been very helpful is to document symptoms. I draw a simple stick figure, mark exactly where it hurts, how severe it is, and date it. If treatment changes, I repeat the drawing afterward. It’s a practical way to have a clear before and after conversation with your clinician.

If it does turn out to be related to the statin, don’t lose hope. Not all statins are the same and there are often several approaches a healthcare professional can consider. What are you most concerned about right now? Is it figuring out whether the statin is causing this, deciding next steps, or something else?

@gloaming
Thank you for your response. I made an appt. for Monday with my doctor. I just assumed I slept weird or something and figured it would go away fast. I've never had lower back pain before, especially causing me to be bent over. That article you sent me is very informative. After 6 days of this, it did hit me that it might be the statin I am on, so I'll see what my doctor says. I haven't really noticed any effects of the statin except two weeks ago after dog training, the next day my shoulders hurt more than ever before. But that only lasted a day. Thanks - I appreciate your answer.

@jlharsh
Hi Janell - thank you for your response. I appreciate it. You really touched me when you asked what I am most concerned about right now. Wow - that really hit me. My main concern is that I live alone and I'm scared. I do live in an apt. building so at least I do have nearby neighbors, but living alone and dealing with back pain floored me. Questions flew - how can I get groceries? How can I take care of my beloved dog? How can I shower? I've solved some of these issues - no grocery store in my small town delivers, but I found a nearby Walmart that delivers right to my door. So groceries are taken care of. I have to go down 2 super long hallways to take my dog out - but I can do it - I just need to go slow. My dog is an angel and is trained on pee pads, so all is good there. So my immediate concern was the fact I'm really active - I usually walk an hour a day - and now I'm sidelined. I did manage to get an appt with my doctor this Monday, so I'll see what he says. I assumed the pain was from sleeping weird - I did that night - LOL - but today is day 7 and I feel I should feel a lot better. I can still walk around but slowly and bent over but I am mobile. It only hit me last night that maybe the statin caused it or intensified it. I had not noticed any effect of the statin - I've only been on it for 2 months - but 2 weeks ago after a class of dog training, I did notice my shoulders hurt more than ever - but it only lasted one day. Thanks for your kind answer. I appreciate it a lot.

@suesam after a severe heart attack just over a year ago, I was placed on a strong statin. Within a month, I started feeling very ill - multiple symptoms - overall weakness, dizziness, ill feeling. I went right to ER because of the recent heart issue and it did turn out that my liver enzymes were extremely high - probably due to statin. Since then, I’ve learned there are multiple ways to manage cholesterol including different types of statins and drugs that aren’t statins at all. Not sure what your doc will say, I ultimately met with a lipidologist and was placed on a different type and lower dose of statin. So far, so good. I’d rather take nothing, but… Good luck!

@suesam, I really understand what you’re describing. When you live alone and something suddenly changes what you’re physically able to do, your mind has to go to all those practical things if you’re going to get them figured out — groceries, taking care of your dog, showering, just getting through the day. I get why that would be scary. Kudos to you for figuring them out!

I am also really glad you shared that. It helps me understand much better where you are in all of this. You’ve also given a little more information about what’s been happening — like the shoulder pain after dog training — that may be helpful to write down for Monday.

Your doctor knows why the rosuvastatin was prescribed, what they hoped it would do for you, and what they would expect to see. You know what has actually been happening in your body since you started taking it. Bringing those two pieces of knowledge together gives you and your doctor much better information to work with as you figure out what is happening and what makes sense uniquely for you.

I hope you’ll come back after your appointment Monday and share what you learn.

@ezjersey719

Hey - thanks. I'm learning lots and lots here. Oh, I'm so happy to hear that you are on a lower dose and that it's so far, so good. Terrific. That's great news. So sorry to hear about your heart attack. I hope you are feeling so much better now.

@jlharsh
Thanks, Janell. I'm a really active, independent person, so to struggle to walk which seemed to come out of nowhere, really threw me. But I am grateful that I figured out a lot of stuff - especially the delivery of groceries. My cholesterol is actually not that bad and my doctor said that I didn't have to take anything. Apparently the way it is, I would have a 13% chance of a stroke but this pill could bring it down 10%, so he recommended it. He did mention that it could cause muscle aches and wanted to revisit it at the third month mark. I've been on it for 2 months now. He said that if there was a problem, he could switch me to something else, so I'm curious over what he'll say. The muscle aches can be explained by dog training and sleeping weird and have nothing to do with the statin but I just find it excessive to have back pain last for 7 days, just from sleeping weird. But who knows? I've been alternating hot and cold on my back, walking around a lot so that the muscles don't stiffen. It just hit me last night that the statin might be making regular minor pain worse. Thanks for your help. Living alone does have many challenges. A friend suggested I take a muscle relaxer but it can cause dizziness and no way do I want to be alone and dizzy. Oh, and I have a great doctor, so it'll be interesting to see what he says. Thanks for listening.

@suesam, I am really glad to hear you have a great doctor. And I like that the two of you already had a plan to revisit how you were doing at three months.

Something you said reminded me of a short Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular CME podcast that I found very helpful. It’s only about 11 minutes long and is a conversation with Mayo cardiologist Dr. Stephen Kopecky about statin-associated muscle symptoms and some of the different approaches doctors can consider when someone has difficulty tolerating a statin. One of the things I appreciated about it is that the conversation isn’t simply “statin or no statin” — there can be different ways of approaching treatment.
https://cardiovascularcmemayoclinic.podbean.com/e/statin-myopathy/
It might even give you a few things you’d like to discuss with your doctor Monday. But I think you’ve identified the first question perfectly: is the rosuvastatin actually contributing to this pain, or is something else causing it?