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Hi,i am gary.i have had type 1 diabetes for 23 years and control my condition with pump therapy.
We all know we have to be carefull about telling our experiences about ill effects from medication,however these stories still need to be told.
I was on (i think the basic dose )of simvistatin from about 2003 to 2005,although my cholesterol was not bad as such it was decided because i was diabetic i should go onto simvistatin because it was a godsend and extremely safe.
In that time i became very weak and giddy when getting up suddenly,was close to collapsing whenever coming out of the spa at my local gym,lost a stack of muscle,went days at work where my balance and co-ordination was terrible,could not sleep at all at night,consequently falling asleep as soon as i got home from work,it got so bad i could put something on the cooker to eat go and sit down while it cooked and promptly fall asleep.My memory got so bad i would go back to the front door at night several times to check i had locked it(i know ,how would i remember doing it time and again)you just know you have.
I blamed bad control on these problems although i am quite good at controlling my diabetes.
I eventually started to wonder if it had anything to do with the statins and one weekend decided to stop them suddenly,within 2 days i was able to get off the couch without any ill effects whatsoever.
However i was still falling asleep during the day,could not sleep at night and it was now very difficult for anyone to be anywhere near me.
Eventually i started going to my doctor to find out what the problem was to find i had IRON DEFFICIENCY ANEMIA!I was then put on a program of medication to correct this .
Three doctors could not tell me why i had developed this condition and in fact i found out myself from doing research on the internet.On looking up side effects of statins at the top of the list was iron defficiency anemia!
There are undoubtably great benifits with statins but there are also many problems(certainly for some people anyway)
I could not keep this any shorter,i hope it is of some help to anyone.
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Although only a minority of people on statins get side effects, anyone who takes them should be aware of this possibility. The most common ones are muscle aches and memory problems. Neither is common, but they do occur.
Anyone who gets muscle aches on a statin should consult their physician immediately, as the muscle damage can (although it isn't always) be serious and permanent. One patient said he told his doctor he had muscle aches and the doctor pooh-poohed it, saying his liver enzymes were fine!
Discuss this possibility before you start the statin and make sure you and your doctor agree on what you should do if you get the muscle aches. Then you won't have to decide without preparation.