I have posted on and off for a number of years about my misadventures with statins...I posted earlier this year saying I felt as if my polyneuropathy was 99% better. I take that back. Some time after that post, I started with Raynaud's Disease symptoms, fingers/toes that blanch with cold, then turn blue, then a painful red...for a number of months, I just assumed that the Raynaud's was coincidental, but of late, I have been wondering if the Raynaud's could be connected to the small fiber neuropathy that I have had since taking RYR four years ago for one month. So tonight, I have been researching. I found some interesting information:
1) Statins can affect autonomic neural fibers too.
2) Raynaud's is a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system
3) Some of the articles I found connected the two, or at least suggested a possible connection.
So, I take back saying I am 99% better and am joining the rest of you who continue to have neuropathic pain and symptoms. Though my symptoms are better than the initial insult, I had one other interesting discovery. That was that there is a correlation with second, or subsequent statin exposures and rapid onset of the side effects. That was true for me when I took RYR, ten years after myopathy with Lipitor, and I had severe symptoms 4 weeks into the RYR. Well, this summer, I started taking a Vit B supplement that had niacin. Big mistake! 72 hours into the Niacin, the neuropathy flared big time! Of course I stopped. Hard lesson to learn. I continue to take Ubiquinol, the more bioavailable form of CoQ10. When I don't take it, my symptoms eventually get worse. I take Fish Oil. We eat Paleo. No high glycemic veggies or fruits, and absolutely no grains. We feel much better and have better energy than we have in many years.