Cholesterol Drug and Cardiomyopathy – Why didn’t Anyone Tell me?

August 1st, 2011. By Hunter West

I have just been put on a statin because my cholesterol is too high. Apparently my doctor says, at 54, I am at a high risk for heart attack and stroke.

Nice. This, in spite of the fact I have no history of heart disease in my family, I have never smoked, I have exercised semi-regularly and have always watched my weight.

Okay, maybe I haven’t been watching what I eat. I like my steaks and prime rib like everybody else. Butter on popcorn, if you please. And perhaps, on occasion, a beer or two, too many.

And okay, while never an exercise demon I was always a fairly active guy. Rode my bike to work. In the late 90’s I took up walking for health, and to lose a few pounds. Then in 2002 I took up running. I ran a half-marathon in under two hours. And I trained for a full marathon (although I never completed the actual race). I got myself down to my high school weight of 129.

But for the past five years I haven’t done a lot, due to work commitments. Is that the reason for my current troubles? Can five years of inactivity cancel out 40 years of fairly active living?

I guess…

So now I’m on low-dose Aspirin once a day, to thin the blood out. And now, as of last night, I’m on a statin to reduce my bad cholesterol.

Overall, statins are considered good things. And not all statins are created equal. Thankfully, I’m not on Zocor, or Vytorin. I’m on another one. But at 10mg, I’m on the highest dose possible. “Pretty high-octane stuff,” my pharmacist tells me.

Suddenly, I’m a member of a group I write about. People who ingest all manner of drugs to keep their health in check at the behest of their doctor. Yes, there are always side effects. That’s a given—thanks in part to the mantra of the FDA that suggests a drug is okay to put on the market if the benefits outweigh the risks.

Apparently, in my case, the benefit certainly outweighs the risks. If I don’t get my cholesterol down, I’m in line for a major stroke or heart attack.

But what are the risks?

Muscle pain, I was told—affecting about 10 percent of the population who use a statin. The single-page summary that came with the drug basically didn’t go into greater detail than that.

Okay, I’m a journalist, right? So I dig out the label, tucked inside with the medicine that is supposed to explain all the bad side effects.

Apparently, along with muscle pain, tenderness or weakness, I could encounter brown urine (nice), difficulty breathing or swallowing, swelling of the tongue, or hives. Those are the serious side effects. The more rudimentary complaints may amount to stomach pain, dizziness (I already have that, thanks in part to partial blockages in the carotid arteries in my neck), headache, and even constipation.

So let’s look on LawyersandSettlements.com, shall we? On statins. And specifically, Crestor (which is what I’m taking).

Just key in the word ‘statins’ in the search window off the landing page, and the first thing you come to is ‘Statins Side Effects, Rhabdomylosis, Cardiomyopathy, Statin Lawsuit.”

Oh, I feel better already.

Click on the link (as if you haven’t already) and you land on the Statins page, which reminds you that Rhabdomyolysis is more than just muscle pain, folks. It’s a serious condition that sees muscle tissue broken down and entering the bloodstream. It can be fatal.

Nice.

Then there’s Cardiomyopathy, which is the weakening of the heart muscle that could lead to a heart attack.

What? Am I not taking this stuff to prevent a heart attack?

Oh, look—here’s a link to the statin I’m now taking…Crestor.

Here’s a fetching article by LawyersandSettlements.com writer Heidi Turner back in May that puts a focus on cardiomyopathy, and new research that is scaring the bejeebers out of me. Jennifer Graney is a nurse who has researched statin side effects, Turner writes.

“The issue is that statins consistently lower the coenzyme Q12 levels and create an increase in heart failure,” Graney says. “Anyone who takes it is at risk of cardiomyopathy, which is an enlargement of the heart that can lead to heart failure. We were aware that myopathies—general muscle problems—are related to statins but we’re starting to figure out that cardiomyopathies are also linked to statins.”

Another study, from back in 2005, concluded, “statin-related side effects, including statin cardiomyopathy, are far more common than previously published and are reversible with the combination of statin discontinuation and supplemental CoQ10.”

Here’s the thing—nowhere in the rather involved label information that came with my medication (that most people don’t read anyway) does it make any mention of cardiomyopathy or rhabdomyolysis. No mention that it might be a risk, or even the fact that studies are ongoing and those patients should proceed at their own risk.

No wonder people sue drug manufacturers. All my doctor mentioned was the potential for muscle pain. He said Crestor was “a good drug.” The pharmacist mentioned muscle pain. And in the labeling information, ‘muscle pain that you can’t explain’ is the first item on a rather short list of what are identified as ‘Serious Side Effects.’

Nobody mentioned the potential for the disintegration of my muscles into my bloodstream. Nowhere does it mention that my heart may enlarge and I might keel over simply because I needed to get my cholesterol in check.

Somebody mentioned something about my liver…

Maybe it’s inconclusive. Maybe the health regulator isn’t ready to lower the hammer on the Crestor manufacturer by ordering more detailed labeling about those two potential side effects.

Still, I feel like I’m being led down the garden path, here. And if I die tomorrow from cardiomyopathy because I’m taking Crestor for my cholesterol, I’ll sue the bastards (okay, I’ll leave that to my family). All I was told was muscle pain. The rest, I’ve found out on my own.

Somebody should have said something.

I’ve always maintained that America relies too much on drugs—something which the drug companies are just fine with, thank you. But they’re out to make money first and foremost—I doubt whether my overall health comes anywhere near where the profit-loss statement sits on the radar. I’ve always questioned the motivation, when a drug company puts a new drug out, or a doctor prescribes a new drug. What’s really going on, here?

I told my doctor early on that I wanted to control my cholesterol through diet and exercise, rather than taking a drug, Apparently, I’m too far gone for that. At least for the moment.

So I’ll take the damn things as long as I need to, then I’ll cut them loose.

In the meantime, I’ll let you know how I make out. Hopefully, I’ll be fine—and the statin will work for me like the medical advocates say that it will.

That said, if I wind up going for a wild ride along the adverse reaction freeway, you’ll be hearing from me too.

Tags: Cardiomyopathy, Cholesterol, Crestor, Rhabdomyolysis, Statin drugs, statins

This was posted on Monday, August 1st, 2011 at 8:01 am and is filed under Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.