My husband almost died because of statin poisening

[kcrose84]

My 65 year old husband who was relatively healthy before the use of statin drugs, almost died recently from Statin Drug poisoning. He had been on a combination of Niaspam to raise his good cholesterol and Vytorin to lower the bad for about a year and a half. Two months ago, he was changed to Lipitor after we heard that Vytorin didn't work.
Shortly after he started them he began developing some strange symptoms, he had shortness of breath upon exertion, pallor, dizziness and sometimes headaches. We went to our family Doctor to report this and were referred to a Cardiologist, he did many tests only to report no significant findings. He developed pain in his right shoulder and his upper back, we saw a bone doctor for that and never related it to the other symptoms.
We also discussed this with the Endocrinologist who prescribed the drugs in the first place, he didn't feel it had anything to do with the drugs or his under-active thyroid. The symptoms continued and so did the pursuit to find the cause, next was a trip to a lung specialist, again nothing was found, then another trip to the heart specialist. This time he did a heart cauterization, which reveled no real damage.
My husband was still recovering from the procedure when he developed a fever, and flu like symptoms. The family doctor gave him an antibiotic after a urine test reveled cola colored urine with a lot of blood in it. The next day he had to go to the emergency room when his blood pressure went up really high and his fever reached 104. While there, his blood pressure dropped to 77 over 44, his kidneys failed and he had sepsis.
The doctors checked him out for tick disease because he had a few tick bites on him all tests were negative. He developed Neurto Pinia and five days later his fever broke and they sent him home without finding out what was wrong with him. Since then we have gotten a diagnosis of Rhabdomyolysis from a Neurologist in Atlanta. He has a good deal of muscle wasting in his pecs and biceps, he also has severe shoulder pain in the right shoulder and pain in his lower back, x rays showed several old compression fractures in his lower spine. He also has nerve damage in both arms, muscle myopathy, and a host of other conditions. He stopped taking the Statins two months ago and he's still developing new conditions, he's having trouble with his bodies thermostat and is not able to cool himself down, like he has in the past.
It's amazing to me that none of the health professionals were able to put this together, we probably saw 10 different specialists and not one said it could be the statins. We've considered a law suit against the drug companies but it would be impossible to prove, they never checked his CPK level in the hospital, and his labs are coming back normal now for the most part. He's on Neurontin and Ultram for the pain Q10, vitamin D, and calcium. The pain is manageable now and he's trying to regain the muscle he lost, they say he was lucky to have survived and may never fully recover. I just hope the worst is over, he still has some episodes of pallor and dizziness and feeling week.
Has anyone else had the pallor, shortness of breath and dizziness and fluctuating blood pressure? I haven't seen much about that in my research :?:

[Allen1]

Hi there kcrose84,

your husband has certainly had a really bad time through statin therapy. I also read your post about memory problems and like a lot of the folk on this site, I know what it is like first hand.

You asked "Has anyone else had the pallor, shortness of breath and dizziness and fluctuating blood pressure?", I know that I did and sometimes still do get these problems. The blood pressure fluctuating may have been the cause of my dizziness but I never found out if it was. A lot of these problems come and go and seem to have lessened since stopping statins 18 months ago and since taking L-Carnitine and q10. The headaches that I used to get are very rare now, but it is still a shock when a dizzy spell starts, my spells only last a few seconds but feel a lot longer than that when they happen.

I hope your husband gets some of his strength back soon and don't let him get too flustered or angry as that will also effect his bodies thermostat, and once you heat up it seems to be self perpetuating as you get more and more flustered. A fan is a must when the temperature problems occur also try to get him to relax with a cool drink and some music or quiet easy conversation if that is what will help at the time.

You already have seen what this poison has done and have seen the medical professions ignorance of the link between statins and all of the symptoms your husband has presented, just how much faith can we place in our medical profession when this sort of thing happens on a daily basis even here in the UK.

Good luck in you husbands recuperating and keep your own spirits up as well as your husbands.

All the best,

Allen.

[Ray Holder]

Hi kcrose84
If your husband has muscle loss, he is almost certainly in need of LCarnitine, without which muscle feeds on itself to keep operating, and so wastes away, as I found from statin use five years ago.

Build up the dose gradually to a level where he finds benefit, starting with about 500 mg daily, and adding that much each 3 or 4 days. If his bowels object, reduce the dose by one stage. it will probably be best to take it first thing in the morning, but when on about the third step, one of the doses should be later in the day, but best not after about 3.30pm or he may have trouble getting to sleep.

If his pain is in his muscles, the carnitine will most likely reduce it, as the second use of carnitine is to take the waste products of energy production out of the muscle, lactic acidosis is the cause of this sort of pain.

Some of the other symptoms could well be loss of strength in his heart muscle. Both Q10 and carnitine deficiency reduce the energy available to the heart muscle, and need adequate supplementation.

Ray

[epfleger]

Hi Kcrose:

Oh yea. Shortness of breath, blood pressure problems (too low one day, too high the next) and generally feeling like you are repeatedly hit by a mack truck are all problems I got from statin poisoning. I still have chronic sob but my bp has stabilzed.

You also note muscle problems which just about everyone on this forum has had to some extent or other.

Here's the good news. With time, I have noticed a steady decline of my statin damage. Do not be discouraged for your husband. I also agree that Coq10 and carnitine are essential for recovery.

It is wonderful of you to be so caring through your husband's statin ordeal. Be sure to take care of yourself and remember odds are that he will recover to a large extent but both of you must be patient. You will find some very smart people on this forum who will be a great resource for you and your husband.

I am 41 years old and was poisoned by lipitor over 8 months. I stopped on Feb. 1 of this year. My muscle problems have largely subsided, in large part due to 1500 mg daily of acetyl l-carnitine (my opinion). I also take 300 mg coq10 daily with meals and 300 mg. alpha lipoic acid daily.

As I mentioned, I still suffer from sob but all lung and heart function tests are normal. Very odd, but I attribute these lingering breathing problems to unknown nerve damage and muscle damage somewhere in my chest and/or diaphram region. I am very hopeful that this will abate as well.

One final thought. I think if you go through these posts you will conclude that doctors are WORTHLESS when it comes to statin damage. Do not get discouraged by their ignorance.

[kcrose84]

Thanks for the encouragement we needed it.