Zocor/Lipitor saga and slo recovery

[cjbrooksjc]

At 61 I was a very active (kayaking, running, weights, and cardio equipment). After 3+ yrs on statins including 1 final yr of Zocor at 40 mg./day, I am a recovering physical wreck. I went (HMO) out-of-network to get some answers to my deteriorating phys condition, and the first thing this D.O. asked was "Are you taking cholesterol medication?". My recovery began that afternoon.
Since my symptoms are much like others I have read on this forum, I won't get too specific, but, debilitating joint pain, weight gain, night sweats, poor concentration and memory, and absolute EXHAUSTION are the key words. My concern now is how long until I can rejoin my active life? I quit all Statins 8/8/06, and though some side effects have declined, I still have severe joint pain and can not push myself too hard without crashing. I'm talking the B complex stuff, selenium, CoQ10, magnesium, etc. suppliments and wonder if there is something else I can do. My God, what if we didn't have the internet?

[Ray Holder]

Hi

Are you taking carnitine? that has a very large effect on muscular strength and endurance. You probably need L carnitine for loss of muscle power and endurance, while acyl carnitine copes with only muscle pain.

L carnitine takes fat into the mitochondria to produce ATP for energy, and also escorts the "combustion products" away at the end of the process, acyl C can only perform this latter task.

Q10 and carnitine are the important supplements to regain energy and defeat statin side effects, the others are to help to obviate future vascular etc problems.

Ray

[cjbrooksjc]

Ray: I find I am unfamiliar with post/reply techniques. Hope you get this. I am not taking the element you recommend but will try it, of course. Thanks for your response.

John

[Darrell]

Ray, it is not clear to me that "acyl carnitine" or "acylcarnitine" is available as a supplement. Is it?

Also, I don't believe it's the same thing as the "acetyl L-carnitine HCl" that I take:
[http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/nutsupdrugs/ace_0013.shtml]

[Ray Holder]

Darrell
I may be using acyl/acetyl rather loosely, and I agree Acetyl is the name under which carnitine is sold. However, after searching many references, the distinction between them is unclear, and the biology dictionary is not helpful. Some sources mention acyl at the start of a function, only to refer to it as acetyl a little later on.

I have not come across an explanation of carnitine and fat in the mitochondria which gives a full step by step account of the process, some sail off into Carnitine palmitate transferase 1 and 2, with no account of their action or where they finally end up. The Krebs cycle shows where they join in, but is not very detailed.

It all seems to be in a very specialised category of medical knowlege which the average doctor doesn't get get involved in. The production of ATP, the actual final energy source, is the next step on the pathway, and the ability to pass on the energy from ATP to individual cells through CoQ10 is beyond the comprehension of most, and its vital importance in maintaining life is not appreciated. I have tried to stimulate some interest in this matter by postings on the BMJ website, following such remarks as "Why does it matter if Q10 is reduced", but no-one seems to listen.

I would like to see more details of the processes involved, but they seem to be hidden in some remote and inaccessible part of academia.

Ray