Statin Medications

***This post contains information on my own personal experience. Please consult your physician for any medical issues you might encounter***


Several years ago, while on vacation, I began to experience more weakness in my legs than usual. I decided to go to the emergency room to get checked out. They did blood work and found nothing. I finished out my vacation with mild yet tolerable symptoms. Once I got home I went to see my family doctor who did more blood work. He discovered that I had a build up of my cholesterol medication in my system. He said it would take a couple of months for the medication to exit my system, but the aftereffects could last longer.

Within a month of this diagnosis, I was crawling around on the floor, or using a walker to get around. Also, my hands were locked in a fist position, this made it very hard to do certain tasks. My roommate had to help me with many tasks. I did however continue to do as much as I could by myself. During this time, I was going to physical therapy to try to maintain what strength I had. After a month, I was still not able to curl even a 2lb weight. This was very frustrating. I struggled with the possibility that this might be what I would have to deal with for the rest of my life. I began to get depressed. After about 8-9 months, I started to feel a little stronger, so I resumed physical therapy. Over time, I was able to my strength and began to regain use of my legs and hands. I am now 99% back to where I was prior to this experience.

This experience was a living nightmare for me. During this experience, I saw a television commercial that warned that statin medication can cause muscle weakness. I began thinking that I could have had a worst case scenario reaction to the medication due to having muscle weakness from my Spina Bifida. When I would relay my experience to others, I found that people with "normal" feeling and muscle strength, that when they were on a statin med they experienced mild muscle weakness and went to their Drs who discontinue their medications. Again, I cannot prove that statin meds were the only cause for what happened to me, but I am sure it played a part. PLEASE make sure you monitor your levels when you take this type of medication.