Zocor Knee Pain and Instability

[bobo]

I am 46yo male 300 lbs Adult diabetes (under fair Control) hypertension (under good control), Cholesterol at 175 total with lo HDL 38 Overall I am physically active ride a bike martial arts etc My Doc put me on Lipitor back in 2006 and after about 1.5 year I was having general malaise, fatigue, leg pain, plantar pain...............some memory issues etc

I brought these complaints to two of my docs and they pretty much fluffed it off about mid summer in 2007 and at the height of my discomfort after doing google such research I took myself off all statins and within 2 mos I began to feel markedly better I could work out again aggressively very little pain or discomfort etc etc

I had a doc appointment in mid Nov 2007 was scolded for stopping my Lipitor and was put on Zocor as an alternative Nov ok Dec ok Jan ok sort of by mid Feb I was having leg pain especially Knee Tendons and Achilles Tendons to the point I was having trouble going downstairs and navigating slightly uneven ground there was a real sense of knee instability and my plantar issues were increased...............visited Doc he suggested a knee specialist because "No Way" would Zocor do that that appointment was in mid April 1.5 weeks ago I wanted to shoot myself from the aching and instability in my knees...................... :(

I stopped my Zocor cold turkey..........now 1.5 weeks later I am about 60% knee pain free and the instability is greatly alleviated, my plantar has subsided to tolerable and my head feels clearer. I have begun a regimen of Vit C, Fish Oil, CoQ10, L-Carnitine, Osteo Biflex, I see my soon to be former doc in two weeks ................any suggestions on recovery :?:

bobo

[cjbrooksjc]

bobo: It takes time, and that time is occasionally fraught with occasional setbacks (2 forward, 1 back). Keep taking your Q10 and L-Carnitine, but be wary of cheap brands. Jarrow Qgel (www.epic4health) is an excellent Q10. I get my Carnitine from (www.gonsi), but there are other good sources. Krill oil (google it) is good for cholesterol if you still feel a need for control (tho your #s look good). Other than that - listen to your body and DO NOT FORCE exercise - it can cause severe muscle damage. This is a long haul recovery. Don't push it. And, though I feel absurd each time I type it:

Welcome to the forum!

Best,

Brooks

[cjbrooksjc]

Bobo: Sorry, it's TISHCON Qgel; not yarrow - here's the site **http://www.qgel.com/ Remove the ** before linking.

Brooks

[Darrell]

Zocor wrecked one of my knees too. Actually, the problem was muscular, but it presented as a knee problem and caused hyper-extension, etc.

L-Carnitine helped me the most. I take 1,000 mg, at least three times daily. I try to take it at least 45 minutes before any major leg exercise (including long drives since my right leg is affected, especially in bumper-to-bumper traffic) so it is digested before it is needed.

Stretching exercises, a medical-grade thigh-high 15-20 mm Hg compression stocking (Ames Walker), and a cane helped a little for short periods.

Do NOT move or exercise any more than you have to while in pain -- stressed mitochondria can be killed by over-doing it, and each muscle cell only has a limited number of them.

Do NOT let your ignorant doctor compound the problem by talking you into taking the non-statin Zetia. I fell for that and had a major relapse in days.

Sigma Tau makes the prescription L-Carnitine (Carnitor), so I look for dietary supplement L-carnitine manufactured by them. Consider their Propionyl L-Carnitine -- the Jarrow brand offers it (Jarrow GPLC).

Since you had some memory issues too, you may want to take some of your L-Carnitine in the form of Acetyl L-Carnitine HCl -- it crosses the blood brain barrier.

The muscle mitochondrial problem involves fat metabolism, so you might try regular carbohydrates for awhile to keep your blood sugar up and thus minimize fat metabolism during exercise, but watch that daily calorie count. The idea is to consume your carbs before exercise, not to consume more carbs.

60% in 1.5 weeks sounds wonderful. You just might escape long-term damage. I didn't, but that may be due to Zetia and to living with the problem for 16 months before starting L-Carnitine. Good luck. Keep us posted.