Statin discontinued due to neuropathy. What are some alternatives?

We, my doctor and I, experimented with stopping simulvastin (zoccor)
for several months and tried zetia, a non-statin cholesterol drug. Nothing
changed so I went back to my statin. I don’t belive statins cause neuropathy.
I think the TKR surgeon most likely adversely damaged some nerves and neuropathy is a direct result of that surgery (for some folks). Unfortunately
the TKR surgeons NEVER inform the patient of these possibilities. It’s a crime, in my opinion, after learning so much from this group. Not sure of the long term outcome, do nerves regenerate? I since have a swollen groin lymph node in the same leg and tests indicate there is swelling but not anything out of the ordinary. However, the cause is unknown. I’ll have another test in the beginning of November to see if anything changed. Foot neuropathy can’t be explained from what I’ve learned after seeing a few other surgeons and a few neurologists, (except for diabetics). I’m learning to live with it for now. I take Gabapetin about 6pm because the discomfort usually occurs only at night.
Hopefully time will tell me more but I’m already two years post TKR, I’m slowly becoming doubtful at this point.
Best of luck to you.
Vince

Hello @deltron1, Welcome to Connect. I'm sorry to hear that you have neuropathy symptoms after you were taking Atorvastatin. You will notice that we moved your post to the following existing discussion on the same topic so that you can meet @deltron1, @vinran, @nukhan and others.

-- Statin discontinued due to neuropathy. What are some alternatives?:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/discontinuation-of-statin/
Have you told your doctor you stopped taking Atorvastatin due to the neuropathy symptoms?

3 years ago I started taking Atorvastatin. Shortly later I noticed my right foot feeling numb and cold. About a year later my left started doing the same. I stopped taking it to see if it will reverse back to normal.

Nexlizet is a non statin drug to help reduce cholestoral. My copays are high trying to find some promotion but taking it and paying for now.

Red yeast rice and milk thistle to clean up the liver and kidneys And a great alternative to cholesterol meds do your diligence . For milk thistle to work you need at least 1000mg gel caps

I couldnt take statins any longer and was put on a new drug nexlizet. My. Cholestoral has never been lower and so far no side effects. My legs still hurt though so I am assuming the neuropathy. Have had every test there is.

Absolutely, I went pescatarian about 13 years ago and substantially reduced my cholesterol to the best numbers
of my life and I’m 74 now.

Awesome! Good for him.

My husband has genetically high cholesterol and he reduced it from 221 to 131 by going on a vegan diet.

You’ve got this! I am in the camp of having a heart to heart with your doctor.

This is a topic near and dear to me because of my history of genetically high cholesterol and treating it since my mid-twenties. I definitely am not a medically trained person but I have a tremendous amount of experience myself and have a circle of what we call FHamily (familial hypercholesterolemia - FH). It is not unusual for some to treat LDL cholesterol with a handful of drugs, something that was difficult to wrap my brain around. I say this to let you know I have learned the hard way that 1) your situation is unique to you, 2) not all doctors are equal, and 3) how you handle today affects all the days to come. You can’t reverse poor decisions you make today but your body will thank you down the road for good ones. If you wait to understand it all yourself the damage will already be done.

I have figured out it is important to learn what I can but not depend on other people to assess how to treat my personal decision. My best resource is my doctor that knows me and that I can trust. Some folks have problems with statins, but fewer than I had thought judging by all the chatter out there. Most likely, something else is going on. And, statins do more than lower cholesterol. They actually are protective. If I am not mistaken, can actually do some vascular repair work. Cholesterol is created all over our body in all kinds of ways. Measuring it is simply a first line defense to recognize there is a problem. We are so fortunate to have a blood test that can alert us that something is going wrong in our bodies before we ever physically feel the problem and permanent damage is done. The test is not a tell-all though. On a bad day, I want to hate my doctors (I really don’t ever say I hate anyone or anything). On a good day, I am completely blown away by just how much they do know and am so, so grateful each has been able to persevere to even be in the position to be able to help me.