Are Statin Drugs Safe?

Are statin drugs safe to consume?

Many people swallow statin drugs daily and physically fine.

For some of us those statins wreak havoc on our bodies. They aren’t safe.

Remember the posts I wrote about Zumba and Essentrics?

I started those classes about the same time I began taking Pravistatin. I thought the working out was causing my muscles to ache.  I asked others in the class if they were hurting too. They were sore but not as much, they were also a lot younger.

In Feburary, I still hurt but it was worth the pain since I was getting in shape. One day in class my trainer said my hands and arms were purple and my face was white–not to mention I had trouble breathing. She told me not to return to class until I saw a doctor.

 

 

This is my story of Pravastatin.

Pravastatin was my last hope of taking something to reduce my cholesterol.

It did just that, knocked that number way down. While doing its job of cleaning plaque from my veins it also did this:
Killed my will to move, I slept 14-18 hours a day.
Breathing was difficult. I needed to use an inhaler and I don’t have asthma.
Any kind of exertion and my blood pressure would plummet and I’d almost pass out.

Then there was the short-term memory loss. If I were 80, my family would have put me in assisted living. Yes, it was that bad.

I was sent to a cardiologist for a stress test and an ultra sound of my heart. He thought there was a chance I had pulmonary hypertension. Thankfully, that was ruled out.

My symptoms continued.

I was miserable. Cleaning, talking on the phone, even responding to email was a struggle.

Dinners became sandwiches, hot dogs and take out. I felt like the Five at 5 cast on Fox had become my best friends, along with Paula Dean, Rachael Rae and Giada.

While waiting for the next appointment which was still several weeks away, my husband heard a doctor on a morning talk show discussing the side effects of cholesterol medications. Ed said it was as if the doctor knew me. I had all of those things going on. I stopped taking it.

In one week I could feel a difference. The clouds in my mind were beginning to part and my memory improved. It’s been four weeks since I’ve quit and I’m almost back to normal. My arms still hurt and my energy level isn’t where it was but it’s getting there.

Why am I telling you all of this? I hoped you might have missed my posts, tweets and facebook updates. 🙂

I wanted this written in hopes of helping someone else going through this as well as to re-read before I consider taking such a drug again.

I’d also like to ask you for prayers as you can imagine the things left undone the past 4 months have piled to scary heights. It’s overwhelming what needs to be cleaned, washed, and written.

Have you had an experience like this with a statin drug? Please share.

My friend sent me this video on statins http://vimeo.com/65517435 it’s an hour long but very informative.

*it seems the video is no longer available 🙁