How quickly can symptoms appear?

[moncholo]

I'm just curious if this makes any sense. Last Thursday, my doctor prescribed me Crestor and I began taking it on Friday. Now, my sympyoms are not nearly as bad as some of those I've read on this forum, but, by Saturday afternoon, I began to notice that my muscles were becoming VERY easily fatigued. A brisk walk had my thighs burning within 20 yards, for example. On Sunday afternoon, muscles in my arms began to hurt while I was shaving. Lots of other examples. Anyway, while sitting still, I don't really have any issues. It's really just the accelerated muscle fatigue issue.

Sunday was the last pill I took and the symptoms are still here today, Wednesday. And I'm scared to death.

Now, the question - is it even possibe that Crestor is behind this? My gut tells me there's no way a pill could cause this much damage in that short a period of time AND for such a long time after I've stopped taking it, but the correlation between when I started taking Crestor and when this started is undeniable. Any thoughts?

(The irony of all this is that now I can't even imagine going to the gym to start meeting with my newly-retained personal trainer - I'd collapse on the treadmill after three minutes.)

[Darrell]

"My gut tells me there's no way a pill could cause this much damage in that short a period of time AND for such a long time after I've stopped taking it"
Bad news: your gut may be wrong. A poison pill can do that, and you may have taken a pill that's a poison for you.

I have read other posts about rapid reactions, so your experience is not surprising. I suggest that you consider taking Co-enzyme Q10 ASAP and, if that doesn't give you major improvement in a few days, add L-Carnitine too. Both are available over-the-counter at drug stores, discount department stores, and health food stores.
http://www.spacedoc.net/statins_CoQ10.htm

Spacedoc: "Dosage of CoQ10 depends on the condition. If you are using it with your statin merely to prevent the onset of muscles aches and pains or nerve damage, a dose of 100 to 200mg daily is reasonable. On the other hand, if you already have these problems and have stopped your statin drug and are trying to get back to normal, a daily dose of 500-1000mg might be advisable, especially since Q10 is a very safe, natural substance."
http://www.spacedoc.net/statin_alternatives.htm

Look for Q10 in a gelcap. I get mine as Rexall brand "Co Q-10", 200 mg at Wal Mart.

Search Ray Holder's posts on this site regarding L-Carnitine.

If I were you, I'd stay away from the gym until things go back to normal and I'd passed a cardiac stress test (treadmill) supervised by a cardiologist. I say that from the personal experience of having chest pains doing physical therapy exercise bike warm-ups while receiving physical therapy for statin-induced leg muscle problems. And that was a couple of months after I stopped my statin.

Side-effects can be short-term, long-term, or permanent. No way to tell. I had some that cleared up quickly, but my right leg muscle problems seem to be permanent (21 months since stopping statin). Luckily L-Carnitine helps my symptoms tremendously.

Good luck, and please keep us posted!

[shawk]

Hi moncholo,

In my case I was on Advicor and by day 5 I was in severe agony as far as deep tissue and muscle aches, I could barely walk, sleep, etc....I also had extreme physcial fatigue, my appetite plummented and I felt like I had a severe bout of the flu coming on minus the nausea and stomach ache, I also had severe swelling in my ankles and had a rash that covered my body. I had minor ED and body aches that were the worse I have ever encountered... I took myself off the Advicor the morning of day 6....

I went back to the DOC and they did a blood test to check my liver functions...no suprise all the liver enzymes were through the roof....It was explained to me to drink plenty of fluids and we would restest the blood in a month....Like Hell we will.....It took a good week to 10 days for the pain to stop and then 15 to 20 more just to feel normal...

Another health care advisor in my life believes I am a very rare person who had the worst possible allergic rapid reaction to the statin in Advicor, it sounds as if you may be the same...

I cannot medically advise you of anything, but I would say you did the right thing by coming off the statins....I would have a blood test done to check your liver...In my case the statins jacked up my liver so bad I was retaining 5x the normal amount of iron and had to donate blood about 4x to lower the iron levels....

I was fine on the advicor protocol until the night of day 5...and I felt like I was going to die for the next 15 days....I understand why you are scared....you should immeidately find a new doctor and consider the fllowing very strongly!

1) Get a good blood test that will show your liver functions and liver enzyme levels...I have been told that people who have allergic rapid reactions to statins have very high abnormal liver fiunction tests...
*dislcaimer* if you consume a lot of alcohol the tests can be skewed...I have not had a drop of alcohol in 10 years so my alternate health care provider immeidately saw my high liver signs as a severe red flag...and began treating the issue naturally through copius amounts of carrot & parsley juice(I have a juicer) and by taking a food source in capsule form called Chlorella....

2) DO as Darrell suggested and go to a good cardiologist and have what is called a dual isotope stress test...the normal stress test is not good enough to detect the amount of blood flow to the arteries and if the ventricles are swollen or shows signs of Ischemia( blood flow) to the ventricles...

3) Have your ccartiod arteris checked for thickening or clogging, they have a new procedure out that will do this by use of a ultra sound...

I said to use a different DOC than who prescribed this to you, because he will not be happy you took yourself off them and will most likely try to re-challenge you with a differnet dose or different statin....do not let him scare(mine tried to not only scare me, but used guilt, I fired him and told my insurance company to refuse his claims and reported him to the state baord of medicine in my state!) you into thinking you need statins to reduce cholestrol, raise HDL levels or reduce triglycerides....it is your body and you know it better than anyone....

Thee is a wealth of info on this site and from posters, read the site and ask and do your own research and it will empower you to make the right decision for your body...

Darrell said it best you are most likely like me and we are rare folks who have rapid response reactions because our bodies think it is a posion....We should count ourselfs lucky, that our bodies told us they were not liking the statins so early....My own Father(40 year diabetic) was on lipitor for 3 years(not one noticeable side effect) and has suffered permanent and temporary memory loss, tissue damage and we now believe it was the culprit for his bout of Acid Ketosis, which nearly killed him 2 years ago.....

Best of luck and ask away everyone here helped me out when I posted the same worries and was as scared as you....They helped me through it....

It is important to know the less time you are on the statin the greater chance of complete recovery...Thankfully I have no permanent problems, because I took myself off them immediately, did some research, including this web-site and refused to let any DR. tell me otherswise...

You will discover there are natural ways to lower your Choelstrol and that the Cholestrol emphasis(In my opinion) is a big lie and really a sales pitch for the pharmacons to sell more drugs....

diet , exercise, supplements and lifestyle changes will lower your cholestrol and tri's better than any single form of PILL they will ever make...It is not easy but it is much better doing it that way than with a PILL that is poison!!

I also agree with Darrell....do not work out until you are throughly checked out and the statin is out of your system

good luck and relax it will get better, but it takes awhile...statins have a really long 1/2 life...you should recover fine.....

[moncholo]

Thanks guys. All very helpful information and I'll be sure to follow up on all of it. I think the only thing I probably won't do is switch docs - I know exactly what you mean, shawk, as I've had several doctors in the past that would react exactly the way you describe. But I'm pretty comfortable with this one and we always have a good talk about any changes to my meds. He did alert me to the myopathy issues with Crestor before I started taking it, which is what made me even consider that I should stop the Crestor. Otherwise, I never would have drawn a link between the two.

I started the CoQ10 tonight and will get some Carnitine tomorrow to hold in reserve just in case.

[harneyn]

How about 12 hours... first calf muscle pain, then thighs, hips, gluteus maximus, then knees. Took myself off.

Wish I had seen this website before taking Zocor! Had bloodwork today to see if there is muscle damage!

N..

[CatMom]

I have a friend that took it and ended up in ER within hours so reaction time can vary for everyone.

I WISH I could remember exactly when I started taking it and exactly when I started with the sudden knee pain... If I'd had ANY idea that pain was statin related, I would have written dates down, but I am thinking it was within a month for me.

[harley2ride]

Mine were bad enough that just 4 days into taking a 10mg dose of Crestor, I awoke from a sound sleep with a god aweful pain in my shoulder. Within days it spread quickly to other muscles, and spasms and cramps were very frequent.