I have been taking 20 mg of Pravastatin for years and it worked fine. About a year ago, my doctor increased to my dosage to 40 mg. This past year I started having increased muscle stiffness, soreness and cramps. I stopped taking it recently and the muscle stiffness has gone away. What are the alternatives to taking Pravastatin to avoid the muscle soreness side effects.
Alternatives to Pravastatin?
Question posted by MikeVP on 16 March 2011
Last updated on 5 March 2019
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3 Answers
I've always have taken coq10 every day and have not had trouble . 10 years on lipitor 20 mg and 5 years pravastatin 80mg
P.s. I meant 10 years on lipitor and prior to that I was on pravastatin for 5 years
Pravastatin 40mg is for lowering cholesterol. I don't know if you have high levels of triglyceride as well. If you have both, you might want to talk to your doctor about Vytorin. Yet it is a very expensive drug and am not sure if your insurance will cover this drug. For patients who is suffering from high cholesterol, they don't necessarily have to depend on Rx all their life. If the cholesterol level is higher than 260, yes, take it for a while and have a lipid panel blood test done. If the cholesterol is OK, the patient can adjust their diet without taking that much med. To me, people with high cholesterol do not have to take Rx all their life. Taking cholesterol for prolonged periods can cause liver damage. Adjust the diet, avoid fatty food, exercise can help too.
To lower LDL Cholesterol the best medicines are statins. There are many alternatives Lovastatin and Simvastatin are generic. Lipitor, Crestor and Lescol are Brand Name.
There are somethings to consider. There are 2 causes of muscle pain with statins. 1) Muscle penetration of the drug and 2) a more rare and serious side effect Rhabdomyolysis. In order to differnectiate you need to have liver functions tests.
Without these it is hard to tell. But most of the time a person can "re-challange" a differnet statin. In this case, I would go with simvastatin 20 mg daily.
You will obviously have to see the dr. for this. You want to make sure that you do not have anything serious going on as well such as rhabdo.
FYI, my doctor checks my liver functions with blood tests every 6 months. No problems so far. Thanks for your suggest to try a different statin.
Related topics
high cholesterol, pravastatin, dosage, doctor, muscle
Further information
- Pravastatin uses and safety info
- Pravastatin prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Pravastatin (detailed)
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