HYPOTHROID?

[cjbrooksjc]

Would you please post if you are statin affected AND hypOthroid?

Thank you,

Brooks

[ronni]

I have just recently been diagnosed as hypothyroid. At first, I thought I was having a severe relapse in my post-statin recovery. Many of the same symptoms - extreme fatigue, muscle aches and weakness, exercise intolerance, etc. - came back with a vengeance after I had been making steady progress since stopping Vytorin last August. Looking back over old lab reports, I can now see that I was borderline hypothyroid for a few years with my tsh and other values in the high normal range. I don't know if perhaps that the statins may have encouraged my thyroid to finally decide to quit working or if maybe it was just a coincidence. Like Brooks, I would be very interested to know if there is any type of connection, so please respond if you have been affected by both.

[cjbrooksjc]

Ronni: Thank you for responding.

Brooks

[Ray Holder]

Hi Ronni

If y ou go to the Washington University of St Louis , neuromuscular website, there is an index of many problems. via the index on the home page, click on Lipid Lowering Myopathies and follow down to HMG CoA reductase inhibitors, statins, and hypothyroidism is there, or directly go to :

*http://neuromuscular.wustl.edu/msys/myoglob.html#lipid

This is a genuine university medical site, although the data is in a very shortened form.

Ray

[ronni]

Thanks Ray. Wow! This is definitely scary stuff. If I am understanding it correctly, there is a definite link and most likely my sub-clinical hypothyroidism made me even more susceptible to damage from statins. I experienced muscle weakness within days of going on the statins. I took them for ten months and if I had continued, I may have gone into rhabdomyolysis. May I ask your opinion about another matter? I had a Berkely heart lab done and they determined that the main problem with my cholesterol is that the Lp(a) is elevated. To prevent further build up of plaque, they want me to take niacin. My previous experience has got me cautious in taking anything without researching it. I saw some mention of niacin on the link that you gave me. Do you think I should try it or just stick with the antioxidants that I am on? I am so damaged by following doctor's recommendations that I am extremely hesitant to start anything new. I really appreciate the wisdom you bring to this forum.

[SusieO]

ronni i would be hesitant to take niacin if i were you. i tried it several times and each time the weakness/pain returned. i am now able to handle small amounts of niacin ONLY if it is in a supplement that has other vitamins/nutrients in it, too - it can't be just niacin or if i up the supplement that contains niacin the pain/weakness returns. i think each of us have a different tolerance level for all of these things now that our bodies have been damaged. i can only take very small amounts of CoQ10 while others are able to take hundreds of mgs/day.

[Ray Holder]

Hi Ronni
Sorry, but I have no experience of niacin or LPa reduction

Ray

[ronni]

Hey guys, I'm just adding this post to bring this thread back to the top because of the other thread on hypothyroidism. The link that Ray Holder gave in this thread was very enlightening and proved to me that my subclinical hypothyroidism escalated to a full blown case courtesy of ... you guessed it statins!

[Biologist]

Thanks for bringing this thread current, ronni. I missed it the first time.

Interesting info.

Biologist

[redheadedmary]

I have been hypothyroid for years. Its a very frustrating disease sometimes. Not sure if being hypothyroid had anything to do with my reaction to the statin I was on. I am going to read the link that Ray gave us now though.