muscle pain weakness and questions

[bradadelaide45]

I am a male 45 years and used simivastin another statin for three and a half years. Over this time i had severe muscle pain at time then about 4 months ago the muscle pain in my legs came on with a vengence. It started in both thighs then calfs got very tight sore ankles feet and eventually got in to my arms. A deep achey sort of a pain and an irritability that casesa feeling like a toxin in my inside elbows that makes me want to stretch all the time. I feel very weak compared to my former self. Itried many things to alleviaate the pain but nothing really took the pain away or even decteased it much. sometimes i would lay and groan in agony. I especially noticed that draghts and weather changes made me feel worse????. I stopped taking the simivastin 6 weeks ago. I have not had a lot of improvement but must admitt thet i have been trying to push my self over this and probably done more damage. My ck levels are normal but my liver enzyme is increased a little. I started also to take q10 and L- carnitine along with magnesium. I might be improving a little each day but nothing definate. I saw a rhumatologist who has no diagnosis and isnt to commital on wether the statin is to blame. He put me on celebrex which has finally given me some relief. Can anyone relate to the worsening of symtoms with cooler changes in wheather? and is there anything else i could do to hasten recovery? Vitamin B???Thank you to all contributors on this board although it is the first time i have contributed this board has been a scorse of help to me.

[Allen1]

Hi there bradadelaide45,

Welcome to the forum and sorry to see that you have also had to find out about it the hard way via statin use.
I can confirm that cold weather makes the aches worse, I even have to wear a jumper in bed to ease the aches in my elbows (sometimes even in the summer). The Q10 and L-Carnitine have helped quite a lot but they are not a cure, along with those and the magnesium, you will need vitamin B6, B12 etc and Vitamin C and D to help with the uptake of the Q10 and to bring your levels back up to where they should be from any vitamin deficiencies but keep away from vitamin A and E (too much vit A can be harmful and vit E competes with Q10 uptake).

I am pleased you have stopped the simvastatin, your problems may lessen over time and either fade away or as with a lot of folk here, they become a bit more bearable and we have some good days and some bad ones. In general though it appears that a lot of the problems will fade over time, so hang in there OK.

All the best,

Allen.

[Brian C.]

The nagging aches and pains brought on by cold weather I call "my old war wounds"

Something I have learned recently is that 10+mg of d-ribose has become essential to my body. Without it those dreaded aches in the crooks of the arm and upper arms return with a vengeance, like I'm on the verge of angina all the time. The slightest effort triggering it. Nasty and scary.

First though you must establish the correct levels of CoQ10 and l-carnitine for your body's needs. I take 900mg of the former and 6g of the latter each day. I now chew the Q10 capsules as suggested by Dr Langsjoen and reported by Brooks. The Healthy Origin ones are quite tasty (olive oil based).

Brian.

[Darrell]

Dr. Vladutiu's statin study is looking at three triggerable myopathies: McArdle Disease (myophosphorylase deficiency), Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase (CPT) II Deficiency, and Myoadenylate Deaminase Deficiency. CPT II responds to L-carnitine -- I take about 4 grams daily in divided doses and get excellent response. Myoadenylate Deaminase Deficiency responds to ribose -- give that a try if L-carnitine isn't clearly helping. It's a kind of sugar and is cheap. It does nothing for me but has worked well for some here.

Cold is a problem because your muscles' natural response is to generate energy to warm up -- and it is their energy generation system that is damaged.

Sometimes putting a tight medical-grade compression stocking (15-20 mm Hg) over my aching calf can help me sleep. I'm not sure why. Maybe it helps to just change the feeling. Maybe it just warms the calf.