Did Statins Kill My Mother....

Cue Elegia....

Bear with me for a bit and read about my experiences.

April 2018

I am capable of riding centuries.  I am able to run.  Stairs, hell yes, I'm a pro.  I even climbed stairs with friends training for mountain hiking and the Fight For Air fundraiser just so I could talk to friends about my Ragbrai plan.  17 stories, Basement Level 3 to the roof three times talking the entire time.  My bicycle commute was a 27 mile round trip Monday through Friday.  Legs and knees perfect!  More importantly, my heart and lungs were great.  My latest EKG was good and the ticker sounded good.

The House of Pain.  but good pain.  Basement Level 3 to the roof.  When we trained for self contained backpacking adventure in the Rookies, 10 days, we did this once a week 6 sets and sometimes with 50 lbs in our backpacks.  I know real pain from training versus pain from bad medicine.

Then I got a new primary care physician.  Straight to hell.  My triglycerides were high (beer and non-vegan diet).  I had been on a low dose of fenofibrate for about a month then had it bumped up.  This was prescribed by my cardiologist.  The new doctor, despite a modest improvement in certain numbers, wanted to end the issue once and for all.  He suggested that I go on a statin.

St Michael, The Arch Angel, casting the rebel angels into the Abyss.  This is what statins do to me. From the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.

How I feel when my leg and knees die from statins summed up in artwork.

My reply was simply.  Crestor had me walking like a 112 year old person.  Tried them and did not like them.  Two years ago I went on it.  Improved my cholesterol and trig numbers but after a few months I noticed that my leg muscles were sore.  And this soreness got worse.  A little research into that statin revealed that I was suffering from a side effect.  So I stopped.  Then about a month before my next check up I started it up again to keep the doctor off my ass.  The pain was worse.  Felt like the muscle was being stripped from the bone.  Could not cross one of my legs to put on socks and shoes.  I was walking very slow.  No running.  The first few moments of pedaling a bicycle were painful.  So I stopped it.

When I told the doctor about this I was put on a different cholesterol medicine, fenofibrate,  I suffered no ill effects.  But the dose was low and the progress was not as good as the statin.  Yeah, change diet.....

Well my new doctor did not like that.  "People on statins have fewer heart attacks than those who are not on them..."  He suggested Lipitor.  "I have a patient who was on one statin and suffered what you described so I switched brands and he did not have any issues."  OK, fooker, I'll try but if I react bad to it, no more.  I was good for about two weeks.

My son graduated from college.  We went to the ceremony at Wells Fargo Event Center.  We traversed the steep stairs up and down.  The next morning I woke up and asked Mary if her legs hurt.  Felt like I did a lot of stairs.  She said her legs were fine.  Odd.  Rode the bike to work and I pushed it a bit to stretch them out.  As the day progressed my legs hurt more and more.  Fook me, I'm limping.  When I left I took the stairs down to street level.  CRAP!!!  My left knee could barely bend!  Then it hit me.  The goddamn statin!  I stopped taking it.  

I only had two, one shot each.

Friday I limped all day.  Took the elevator to go home.  I could barely ride the bicycle home.  In my head I went through the list of people to call for a ride home.  But I made it.  Poured myself a cucumber vodka and club soda and sat down and wondered how long it will take this poison to leave my body.  I had a four day weekend so I had time.  But a busy weekend.  Had to drive to Kansas City to take my daughter, Dora, and her friend, Alexis, to see Post Malone.  Monday Mary and I were to drive to Minneapolis to see Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order) & The Light at First Avenue.  We were planning to take bicycles along to explore the trails, something I have not done in a decade or so.  Basically, plenty of sitting on my ass time while driving.  I would recover.  But Friday night I could not sleep.  I could not find a position on the bed that did not make my left leg hurt.  Eventually I moved to the couch.  I considered staying home instead going to Kansas City but that would be worse because I would worry about Mary and Dora and Alexis the entire time.  I finally took 3 Aleve at 3 am and moved back to bed.

Getting in and out of the car was difficult.  And walking the first few minutes was embarrassing and painful until I warmed up.  But walking was good.  The more I walked the more the poison left my leg.  But if I sat down for a bit of time or drove somewhere the leg would stiffen up again.  The knee especially.  Cycle returns....At the art museum we encountered an elderly woman donned in spandex.  "I'm 93 y/o and look great!" she exclaimed and ran off.  F me, I can barely walk and she is almost running!  Then Mary made a comment.  "Your mother walked the same way.  She always complained about her knees.  She could not bend her knees or lift her legs either.  The doctors could not find a problem.  She was on a statin, too."

WOW!  What an observation!  A little about my mother.  Short and round.  Morbidly obese.  Couch potato.  Little to no physical activity in her final years or for most of her life except the demands of being a teacher and a parent.  Could not walk in her final years.  Had a PT that was able to get her to walk from the couch to her bedroom but when the insurance $$ for that service ran out of its alloted time she gave up.  I always thought that if she put a little more effort in moving around, i.e. walking, that she would recover and still be alive today.  I blamed it on attitude and depression, which did play a role, but it never occurred to me that it may have been her meds until Mary made that comment.

STATINS

A wonder drug in many respects.  They clean out your pipes quite well.  Most people are placed on them for the rest of their lives.  However, dark side does exist.  They have been know to mess with brains and now muscles and joints. 

More info on statins

Crestor is bad side effects

Lipitor is bad side effects

Muscle Destruction info

AFTERMATH

I was able to ride a bicycle on Monday.  lots of riding in the streets of a large city, too!

Despite the way I am portrayed in social media, I do not drink that much.  Now even less.  Maybe a drink a day average for a week.  Special occasions, say the Funhaters Ride, a little more, ok a lot more.  Red meat is going bye bye.  Chicken skin, the best tasting part of that bird, no mas.  Over the years I have increased my fruit and vegetable and fiber intake.  I do not know how to increase my exercise over what I do now.  40,000 miles ridden in the past 4 years.....  I've dropped a few pounds lately.  Basically cut out fast food years ago with maybe a visit to Taco Bell once every 6 months.  Pizza and carbs have been slashed lately.  Driving Mary and Dora nuts with changes.  I must accept that my body does not process poison and garbage like it once did.  I do not have the strength or desire to become a vegan or vegetarian or the financial resources.  I know plenty of overweight V's anyway.  Carbs are easy to kick out thankfully.

I was able to get up front during Hooky's gig at First Avenue.  We walked to that show and for 3 hours I enjoyed myself and did not feel any pain.  Rock and roll heals!

I called the doctor the next day.  It was the day of the tornadoes.  They called me back the next week when I was in Minneapolis and I did not check voicemail until Friday.  However, Mercy has a personal health web page for patients and I was notified of the change in meds.  Back on fenofibrate instead of Lipitor.  They got the message.  I hope they read the survey that was sent to me asking me to rate my visit.

A week or so later I am almost pain free.  I can walk without a limp.  I can climb stairs.  I was able to explore Minneapolis on bicycle without much difficulty, always that first pedal stroke that's the killer.  Today I feel I could ride a century if it was not raining.  Maybe next weekend.

As for my mother, I do not know how she lived as long as she did.  But now in the back in my mind I wonder if statins sped up her demise.  We are like sharks.  When we stop moving we die.  RIP Mary Ellen.