Katsmeow
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2009
- Messages
- 5,315
This could be statin related but may not be. Talk to doctor to make sure it isn't something else. If it is a statin they will usually try different ones as sometimes a person gets a side effect with one but not another. I get mild foot cramps with atorvastatin but nothing with rosuvastatin.
If it is tied to all statins there are a few options. One is to reduce the statin and add a small dose of ezetimibe. For many people the combo works better. When I was taking 40 mg of rosuvastatin (or 80 mg of atorvastatin) my LDL varied between 39 and 50. A little over a month ago it was 48. I talked to my cardiologist and reduced rosuvastatin to 20 mg (half the dosage I had before) and added 10 mg ezetemibe. A month later my LDL is 27 (I am higher risk so need it under 50). Anyway, you might be able to tolerate a lower statin dose but get where you need to be with ezetemibe.
If you end up not being able to tolerate the statin or you can't reach your LDL goal, then often you can get approved for a PCSK9 inhibitor which is a non-statin lipid lowering medication. It is very strong and can lower LDL by a lot but is brand name and expensive so you usually have to "fail" statins first. However, if you do fail them usually doctors don't have trouble getting one of them approved. The most well known are Repatha and Praluent.
If it is tied to all statins there are a few options. One is to reduce the statin and add a small dose of ezetimibe. For many people the combo works better. When I was taking 40 mg of rosuvastatin (or 80 mg of atorvastatin) my LDL varied between 39 and 50. A little over a month ago it was 48. I talked to my cardiologist and reduced rosuvastatin to 20 mg (half the dosage I had before) and added 10 mg ezetemibe. A month later my LDL is 27 (I am higher risk so need it under 50). Anyway, you might be able to tolerate a lower statin dose but get where you need to be with ezetemibe.
If you end up not being able to tolerate the statin or you can't reach your LDL goal, then often you can get approved for a PCSK9 inhibitor which is a non-statin lipid lowering medication. It is very strong and can lower LDL by a lot but is brand name and expensive so you usually have to "fail" statins first. However, if you do fail them usually doctors don't have trouble getting one of them approved. The most well known are Repatha and Praluent.