Re: My Zetia Experience

In article <1118843061.549612.252260@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"bornonce" <bornonce@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I am a 56-year old former competition ballroom dancer who had a
> quadruple bypass about five years ago. After the surgery, my doctor put
> me on Pravachol, which I tolerated well for about two years. However,
> after about two years I began to notice uncharacteristic cramping and
> soreness in the big body muscles, which got worse with time. One day I
> ran out of Pravachol, and suddenly the worse of the cramping
> dissappeared. When I resumed Pravachol, the symptoms reappeared.
> Obviously my doctor and I agreed, I would stop taking a Statin.
>
> I started taking Zetia (without a Statin) about six months after it was
> available on the market, and had no noticeable side effects. Then late
> last year strange things began to occur.
>
> (1). After five years had lapsed since my surgery, I developed a hernia
> right underneath my sternum at the point of the incision.
> (2). I noticed that areas that were always muscular were becoming
> flaccid and weakening. I particularly noticed unexplained fatty tissue
> around the breasts.
> (3). I had a FT/FSH test done, and the results were contradictory!
> (4). This year I started to suffer a general feel of loss of muscle
> mass, and started gaining flab in places that I never had flab (only
> muscle) before dispite the fact that I had no diet change and was
> getting the same amount (more actually) of exercise.
> (5). This year I experienced abdominal soreness, as if I had being
> doing 200 sit-ups the day before.
> (6). This year I witnessed very unexplained flab gain in the abdomen,
> despite the fact that I still use dance exercises and walk (hike,
> actually) an hour a day.
> (7). This year I felt as if the addominal muscles were losing all of
> their strength, and it was uncomfortable to sit erect for more than a
> few minutes.
> (8). One morning my shoulder tighened severely, and caused pain both in
> my upper left and right arms. Flexibility of the shoulder has always
> been one of my strengths as a ballroom dancer. It felt like I had been
> lifting weights above my head for two hours the day before.
>
> Thnking that it might be drug-related, I stopped taking Niaspan for a
> few days. No improvement. Next, I stopped taking Mycardis HCT for a few
> days. Again, no discernible change. Then I stopped taking Zetia.
>
> Two days later most of the pain was gone. I still had a little pain in
> the upper left arm, but the shoulder stiffness was gone, as was the
> pain in the right arm. Some of the soreness that I had been
> experiencing in the thigh and the ankles also was gone.
>
> Thinking that I must have sat wrong or some how had contorted my body I
> started taking Zetia again.
>
> Three hours after taking it the shoulder locked up again, with
> incredible stiffness. Both arms ached so badly that it hurt to lift
> them over my head. The awful feeling of adominal distention recurred,
> as did pain in the thighs and calves. I stopped Zetia immediately, and
> two days later most of the problems were gone.
>
> I went for my annual physical last week and informed my doctor of
> exactly what I had felt. There was no question in his mind - it was
> RAPID MYOPATHY. My blood chemistry was normal, my LIPID profile was
> excellent, and the testosterone tests were now within limits for my
> age.
>
> Since my LIPID profile was excellent, we decided to hold off on Zetia
> until my next profile is taken (in about 3 months).
>
> I still have the feeling of weak abdominal muscles, and a little pain
> in the upper left arm, but the muscles seem to be gradually improving.
> I am now adding running to my hiking in an attempt to get my abdomen
> back to normal. Right now there is a lot of unexpained flab where there
> used to be muscle. I can at least sit erectly when I play the piano now
> (I used to play for four hours or so straight!). The discomfort is not
> completely gone, but it is improving.
>
> I believe that Statins and even Zetia are dangerous, and that
> eventually anyone who takes them will start to see damaging side
> effects. It took me TWO YEARS before Pravochol caused me problems, and
> TWO YEARS before Zetia did. Some say that Statins are only problematic
> if taken in large doses, but I contend that small doses for a long
> period of time will eventually cause problems. The same with Zetia.
>
> If you are taking Zetia, please be aware that MERCK recently changed
> their story. Early studies and announcements indicated NO increase in
> cases of myopathy (their studies lasted 12 weeks!) Post- marketing
> studies are now showing cases of RAPID MYOPATHY. Although these cases
> are supposedly "very rare", don't be surprised to see the same thing
> happen with Zetia that happened with statins (the "very rare" became
> much more common that first indicated). After long-term use, they
> apparently become detrimental to normal body function, and cause muscle
> damamge.
>
> If I hadn't experienced it myself, I would have dismissed it as reports
> confusing Zetia with the Zetia/w Statin cases. Believe me or don't
> believe me, but forewarned is forearmed.

Hi! I'd be very interested in an occasional update in regards to
getting muscle return (For lack of a better word) .

I just try to practice more (Work out). In your case dance which is a
different form of workout and difficult , joyful to do.

I dance slow and noticed degeneration slowly. Three years before I said
enough I did Zetia and Lipitor and zorcor at different dosages . I'm
slow but was scared big time with a 4 way CABG. All that and after an
initial drop in LDL increased dosage yielded a flat response. Then I
noticed my short term memory went to Hades.

Enough for me. Trying to get HDL up (Niacin) . BP stuff too. Now High
HDL may harm my eyesight.

Rock and a hard place comes to mind.


Hope it goes well with everyone.


Bill

--
Garden Shade Zone 5 in a Japanese Jungle manner.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of
which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to
advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral,
ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided
for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This
material is distributed without profit.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Statin-associated Muscle Problems
    ... >>> those who have had such diagnosis of their statin myopathy. ... >> that makes no sense...even if I did have a muscle biopsy showing ragged ... >> red fibers,,,it could not be placebo effect.. ... muscle pain is often just muscle pain. ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)
  • Re: Statin-associated Muscle Problems
    ... >>> red fibers,,,it could not be placebo effect.. ... muscle pain is often just muscle pain. ... >> may not compare to other statin patient's muscle pain. ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)
  • Re: Statin-associated Muscle Problems
    ... >> those who have had such diagnosis of their statin myopathy. ... > that makes no sense...even if I did have a muscle biopsy showing ragged ... > red fibers,,,it could not be placebo effect.. ... muscle pain is often just muscle pain. ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)
  • Re: My Zetia Experience
    ... > Obviously my doctor and I agreed, I would stop taking a Statin. ... This year I started to suffer a general feel of loss of muscle ... Then I stopped taking Zetia. ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)
  • Re: Additional Info. about statins
    ... >>> of muscle pain? ... > Statin muscle damage, myopathy, myositis, can lead to rhabdomyolysis. ... >> a case of Rhabdomyolysis in a patient with a non-elevated CK level? ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)
Loading