Crestor: And the Risks Just Keep On Coming…

Washington, DCFull disclosure: I am a Crestor patient, together with millions of Americans hitting their middle years likewise having trouble keeping their so-called 'bad cholesterol' in check. Statin therapy is a fairly common response to high levels of bad cholesterol in the blood, in the battle against heart disease and clogged arteries. But sometimes it's not the bad cholesterol that's the problem. Sometimes the statin itself begets a bad reaction. When that happens, depending on the severity of the event(s), a Crestor lawsuit could ensue.

Do I like taking Crestor? No. I'd rather not. I'm worried about the potential for Crestor side effects—and probably more than most, because I write about this stuff and know well the common, AND the rare side effects. I'd rather control my bad cholesterol through a better diet and more exercise. While my diet is slowly improving, the exercise is another matter. At one time I used to be a runner and recreational cyclist, but work commitments have derailed me.

At 55 I'm a risk for heart attack if I don't keep my cholesterol in check. So Crestor, it is.

What are my Crestor issues? A little muscle soreness from time to time. My doctor warned me that muscle soreness was a common side effect. And I'm aware of a few more cramps and spasms than I'm used to.

Crestor side effects, probably.

But I'm watching that muscle soreness like a hawk, because of the potential for Crestor rhabdoymylosis—a statin side effect that sees muscle tissue break down and become absorbed into the bloodstream. That's not a good outcome, and people have died from it, resulting (not surprisingly) in a Crestor lawsuit or three.

I don't recall my doctor mentioning the potential for rhabdoymylosis. I'm sure that for most people, their eyes would roll in their heads over a term like that. But I'm already familiar with it.

My doc did warn me about the potential for Crestor diabetes, which is a bit more of a common 'rare' side effect than rhabdoymylosis. I don’t want to get diabetes, either. Thankfully I'm not painfully overweight.

I'll say this. So far the Crestor is working. My bad cholesterol is waning. But what separates me from the average American is that I will not tolerate being on this stuff for the rest of my life. I'm sure Crestor manufacturer Astra-Zeneca Pharmaceuticals would prefer that I was. They're not doing too badly as it is, given that Crestor and similar statins are among the most-prescribed drugs in the free world.

And to anyone concerned about the potential for more serious Crestor side effects beyond a few aches and pains, Astra-Zeneca Pharmaceuticals will undoubtedly be trumpeting the latest study, this one out of Denmark and summarized this week in the Marin Independent Journal (11/19/12), that statins including Crestor could lower your risk of dying from cancer.

That may well be true. The fact remains, however that Crestor rosuvastatin, together with other statins, carry a host of both common and rare side effects that hold potentially serious health implications. Most Americans aren't sufficiently aware, rarely reading the expanded medication labels and often denied detailed information by doctors who tend to gloss over the risks in the midst of a busy practice but cognizant that statins are common and oft prescribed. So they're no big deal…or are they?

In addition to serious muscle damage, Crestor side effects can include kidney damage and immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (IMNM), an autoimmune myopathy that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started warning about via label changes just last month.

There is little doubt that statins do a lot of good, and are helping keep Americans alive. But statins like Crestor also have their dark side—and manufacturers generally show little sympathy to anyone having crossed over to that dark side through no fault of their own, so long as they continue raking in the billions of dollars each year.

For those Crestor users whose lives have been irrevocably changed from statin use, a Crestor lawsuit is the only response. I just hope it never happens to me…