When myalgia make you feel old: adverse effect of a statin drug.....

When I went for my blood test again on 3rd Nov, I was totally shocked when my lipid profile was really bad!! My total cholesterol was up to 5.8 mmol/l, my LDL ( the bad cholesterol) was up to 3.45 ,and my HDL (the good guy) dropped dangerously to 0.8! My triglycerides (TGs) was up again to 3.4!! It was shocking as I had been taking Lipantril, a drug containing fenofibrate to reduce my TGs. To make matters worse, my fasting blood sugar was up to a scary 7.3, and my uric acid was a high 466 micromol/l !!

Oh dear, it must be Wong's barbecued kambing that had caused the all-time high bad levels in my blood serum!!! Anyway I have to admit I had been very naughty the whole month of Syawal!! So many Hari Raya open-houses every weekend, and I have this gluttony to taste every delicious mouth-watering rendang at every invitation, he he.

I realised that I have pre-diabetic syndrome, or Syndrome X, as some doctors called it, for the past 2 years! It seemed that whatever that I have done to overcome this problem has failed. So the doctor decided to give me a statin drug, as she said she had prescibed the drug to many of her patient as the result was good, in the sense that it managed to reduce the total cholesterol, raise the HDL and lower the LDL. I was more than willing as I have done my homework and read about positive results of statin drugs in the web.

My next blood test was on the 7th Dec. It seemed that station does work! My TGs dropped to 2.45mmol/l, my total cholesterol was down to a normal 4.8, my LDL was also down to less than 2.0, however, statin also cause my HDL to drop to a 0.7!

It was in my second month on statin that I began to feel pain in my legs, which did not disappear with massages, nor with painkillers like diclofenac (Voltaren) or muscle relaxants. The pain seared from my calfs right up to my thighs, and it can last the whole day. I had to take bedrest a lot, a good thing this happened in December, and I had taken a lot of leave, without interfering much with my work. Many mornings,I felt so out of energy, that it was so difficult to get out of bed for the Suboh prayers. I realised that I must be having myalgia, muscular pain, and fatigue as a result of taking the statin drug. I urine had also changed from a light yellowish tincture to a darker brownish colour. Are my muscles cells exploding??

I have been reading a couple of books on wellnesss and natural health, and I have also studied many websites concerning cholesterol and statin drugs. After 6 weeks taking statin, I made my decision to stop taking the drug. At first I was quite worried to make a sudden stop without the doctor's advise due to fear of sudden withdrawal effect. However, as I had taken statin for only 6 weeks, I had decided to stop, and besides, I can't bear the muscular pain in mu legs and at the back of my neck.

..... to be continued.