Statin discontinued due to neuropathy. What are some alternatives?

Posted by Nazir Khan @nukhan, Jan 19, 2020

I have been using Lipitor since 2007 for lowering my cholesterol which is on the list of those medicines that are suspected to cause neuropathy. I am thinking of discontinuing this menace but before doing so want to check with those members who have discontinued using statin and what is their experience. What alternative methods have they since adopted for lowering their cholesterol .. diet, alternative medication, exercise or anything else ?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Neuropathy Support Group.

This is from the Mayo Clinic website.
Caution
Red yeast rice is capable of lowering blood cholesterol levels and total blood cholesterol levels. While the supplement is generally considered safe, it might carry the same potential side effects as statin cholesterol drugs.

It goes on to state that like all supplements you can't be sure of what you're getting. Plus as the side effects are similar to statins, so too is the possibility of worsening neuropathy symptoms.

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@dlmdinia

This is from the Mayo Clinic website.
Caution
Red yeast rice is capable of lowering blood cholesterol levels and total blood cholesterol levels. While the supplement is generally considered safe, it might carry the same potential side effects as statin cholesterol drugs.

It goes on to state that like all supplements you can't be sure of what you're getting. Plus as the side effects are similar to statins, so too is the possibility of worsening neuropathy symptoms.

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Thank you for your answer. It is appreciated!

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I have neuropathy due to spinal cord injury. I was taking Lipitor we’ll be fore the incident, but I wonder if stoping its use will help reduce the pain and discomfort. Thank you for bringing this up.

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I just read this article in a medical information app named "Medscape". It is designed for professionals, but the articles are not terribly technical. I thought it would be useful to post it because it describes many of the discussions here.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/991585#vp_1

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I saw one reference to Bergamot to reduce cholesterol and lipid level but that was it. Has anyone used Bergamot or know of anyone who has and ita efficacy?

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@dlmdinia

This is from the Mayo Clinic website.
Caution
Red yeast rice is capable of lowering blood cholesterol levels and total blood cholesterol levels. While the supplement is generally considered safe, it might carry the same potential side effects as statin cholesterol drugs.

It goes on to state that like all supplements you can't be sure of what you're getting. Plus as the side effects are similar to statins, so too is the possibility of worsening neuropathy symptoms.

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I tried several different statins and had significant side effects of muscle and shoulder pain. I switched to red yeast rice and it worked to reduce my cholesterol levels. I have noticed that after years of taking it, I started to feel some shoulder pain again. I stopped taking it until the pain subsided and I have begun to take it again in half the dose. So far, the pain has not returned. Hopefully, the cholesterol levels will be suitable at the reduced dosage and the pain will not return. Blood tests will confirm....

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@dutchman09

After my heart attack on February 8, 2010 I was introduced to a local Cardiologist who started me on Plavix, Metoprolol Tartrate, Isosorbide and Crestor. After being diagnosed with PN I discontinued the Crestor on Oct. 15. 2018 and the Plavix on April 20, 2019 at the suggestion of another doctor because I also take 81 mg aspirin. Never during the 8 years of' 'treatment' was I told any Cholesterol level numbers, just that it was high and that I also had diabetes when on my last office visit to this Cardiologist HER own test results showed my Glucose at 101 and I blame my own naive 'respect' for the medical profession for not wanting to second guess this woman until it was too late! I am stuck with this condition and after consulting 27 legal offices was repeatedly told that all the court cases, judgements and class action suites against statins and Astrazeneca (the maker of Crestor) were closed. After extensive research there is no doubt in my mind that this is the only cause for my contracting PN.

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I'm extremely sorry for what happened to you. On the other hand, from everything I've read, statins seem to be of net benefit for secondary prevention—for people like you who have already had a cardiovascular event. That doesn't necessarily make all of your suffering justifiable as you describe it, and if you choose to read for example, Dr. John Abramson's books, you'll see why I say this. The latest is called "Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It."
Many of us, I’ve come to realize, have suffered for years with serious adverse effects from a statin drug, usually a lipophilic statin drug, that we now know held essentially no proven benefit for us. You can look at photos on StatinStories.com, or go to one of the other websites people with statin side effects have created. There are many, many of us.
I'm not sure that at this point it matters whether there was or wasn't proven reason to prescribe, and sometimes push very hard, a statin drug on you or on me--in the end, as you say, we're "stuck with this condition" and suing the company for that won't make it go away. But if one needs money to pay for having to stop working or to pay for new health costs due to the adverse effects, yes, we should be able to sue-I believe it would make both our prescribing doctors and nurses and also the drug companies more honest and helpful. For example, my cardiologist, whom I told I was there for a second opinion on my need for statins, told me that they were so safe that some people think they should be in the water supply?
(You can find out if you wish what money or equivalent your doctor may have received from what pharmaceutical companies by going to Pro Publica's Dollars for Docs. I went, and like many others in our shoes, I was sickened again.

Perhaps even worse is the fact that you it seems, like me will not succeed in suing any generic drug manufacturer--not for failing to stay current on their warning labels; and not for defective drug design (what else is there?)--thanks to Supreme Court decisions in 2011 and 2013. (If I’ve said “worse”, it’s because SCOTUS makes decisions on lots of stuff that matters, and if you been reading the news in mid 2023, you know what’s going on.) You might sue a brand name drug, but of course, once their patent is expired and much cheaper generics are out, our insurance companies only cover the generics, and here you and I and millions of others are. One big difference brand name and generics involves ability to sue
Yes, our for profit health care system is broken, and many of us are victims of its deception and greed--we customers (patients) of course, but also our health care professionals. It must be pretty awful for them too.

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I have no interest in taking a statin because almost everyone I know who has taken one has had significant side effects. Are use Benacol chews 4 a day, end it reduced my LDL by 30% in six weeks. And they taste really good.

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@jimmccown1

I have neuropathy due to spinal cord injury. I was taking Lipitor we’ll be fore the incident, but I wonder if stoping its use will help reduce the pain and discomfort. Thank you for bringing this up.

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I was on Lipitor following two TIAs.
My neurologist changed me to Livalo which is less likely to aggravate Peripheral Neuropathy.

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@lorrainehackett

I was on Lipitor following two TIAs.
My neurologist changed me to Livalo which is less likely to aggravate Peripheral Neuropathy.

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My neurologist said she’s treated hundreds (maybe more) and statins have never been a problem. True?

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