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1. Statins and Nerve Damage (Peripheral Neuropathy): An Overlooked Side Effect
2. What you need for Summer - Non-Toxic Products
3. Why is it important to read the literature that comes with Your Medication
4.
B Vitamin Deficiency and Neuropathy
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Statins and Nerve Damage (Peripheral Neuropathy): An Overlooked Side Effect
This is a good article showing both sides of the debate. I've dealt with so many people over the years whose nerve damage is connected to statins, so I don't doubt it is connected. Here is an article about why Cholesterol
And if you had no symptoms or nerve damage symptoms, you can write your story on the link the article provides (see below)
Is cholesterol necesary for proper nerve function? Most prescribers are unaware of this idea, but statins and nerve damage in type 2 diabetes are related.
By now, almost everyone agrees that statins like atorvastatin, lovastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin can cause muscle pain (myalgia). Most clinicians also acknowledge that statins are also linked to type 2 diabetes. There is far less agreement about statins and nerve damage (aka peripheral neuropathy or polyneuropathy). A study published in JAMA Network Open (May 31, 2019) suggests that lowering cholesterol levels (with or without statins) in patients with type 2 diabetes is associated with nerve damage.
Statins As Lightning Rods:
Statin Enthusiasts:
There are few drugs as controversial as statins to lower cholesterol. On one side are the enthusiasts. These health professionals believe that these drugs are among the most effective and the least dangerous drugs in the pharmacy.
A study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (March 12, 2014) concluded:
By now, almost everyone agrees that statins like atorvastatin, lovastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin can cause muscle pain (myalgia). Most clinicians also acknowledge that statins are also linked to type 2 diabetes. There is far less agreement about statins and nerve damage (aka peripheral neuropathy or polyneuropathy). A study published in JAMA Network Open (May 31, 2019) suggests that lowering cholesterol levels (with or without statins) in patients with type 2 diabetes is associated with nerve damage.
Statin Enthusiasts:
There are few drugs as controversial as statins to lower cholesterol. On one side are the enthusiasts. These health professionals believe that these drugs are among the most effective and the least dangerous drugs in the pharmacy.
A study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (March 12, 2014) concluded:
Only a small minority of symptoms reported on statins are genuinely due to the statins: Almost all would occur just as frequently on placebo.
They mention nothing about statins and nerve damage. Even muscle damage (myopathy) is discounted:
No other symptom was significantly affected [by statins]. Importantly, the many side effects commonly attributed too statins (e.g. myopathy, fatigue, muscle aches, rhabdomyolysis, or rise in creatine kinase > 10 upper limit of normal) were no more common in the statin arm than the placebo arm.”
Statin Skeptics:
On the other side are doubters. They believe the benefits are modest for otherwise healthy people and the risks are not trivial.
Lipid specialist, David Dubroff, MD, concluded (Preventive Medicine, April, 2016):
“The Cholesterol Treatment Trialists meta-analysis of 27 statin trials in people at low risk of vascular disease concluded that there is a clear benefit, but a subsequent meta-analysis of the same 27 studies concluded there was no significant mortality benefit. Similarly, a meta analysis of 11 statin trials involving 65,229 participants in high-risk primary prevention found no mortality benefit.”
Death is the ultimate outcome. We suspect that most statin takers believe their medicines will substantially prolong their lives. Few health professionals actually know the statistics and share them with patients.
What About Statin Side Effects?
As with many controversies, there is no simple resolution to this debate. Clinical trials designed to convince the FDA a drug is effective do not always uncover all potential adverse reactions.
Pharmaceutical companies don’t always discover serious complications until after a medicine has been on the market for many years. Such was the case with statins and diabetes. Although readers of this column began reporting elevations in blood sugar by 2003, it wasn’t until 2008 that physicians became aware of this possibility.
JUPITER and Diabetes:
A large study called JUPITER tested rosuvastatin (Crestor) to see whether its anti-inflammatory action could prevent heart attacks. It did, but an unexpected side effect was revealed (New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 20, 2008). The authors noted, “physician-reported diabetes was more frequent in the rosuvastatin group.”
It wasn’t until February of 2012 that the FDA included information on increased blood sugar and HbA1c levels on statin labels. Initially, many doctors were skeptical. Others agreed with the FDA that even if these drugs raised blood glucose, the benefits of statins outweighed the risks.
Statins and Nerve Damage:
Now a different statin complication has come to light. It isn’t exactly new, however. In April, 2003, we received a letter from a woman who said that her husband had been taking atorvastatin to lower his cholesterol.
It did, she continued:
“but he has developed pain and tingling in his legs. His doctor said it had nothing to do with Lipitor but switched him to Zocor to see if it made a difference. The problems remain.”
She wondered if the statin drugs could be responsible.
There was almost nothing in the official prescribing information. However, a year earlier, Danish doctors had published a case-control study showing that polyneuropathy (nerve pain, tingling and so forth in more than one part of the body) was four to 14 times more likely among patients taking statins (Neurology, May 14, 2002).
In 2005, Australian researchers reported that (Australian Adverse Drug Reactions Bulletin, April 2005):
“Statin-associated peripheral neuropathy may persist for months or years after withdrawal of the statin”
This research almost disappeared without a trace. The FDA did not require statin manufacturers to mention anything about statins and nerve damage that persisted “months or years after withdrawal of the statin.”
What Causes Statins and Nerve Damage?
Why might statins affect nerves adversely? It turns out that nerve cells need cholesterol. A recent study from Heidelberg, Germany, demonstrated a link between low LDL cholesterol and neuropathy in people with type 2 diabetes (JAMA Network Open, May 31, 2019). The authors suggest that nerves can’t repair themselves when cholesterol is too low.
This suggests that neuropathy may not be limited to statins and nerve pain. Other treatments that lower total cholesterol or LDL cholesterol could be affecting nerve function. This may not be limited to people with type 2 diabetes.
Here is an important finding of these researchers:
“Our study contradicts the results of previous studies that indicated that lowering serum cholesterol levels potentially slows the progression of DPN [diabetic polyneuropathy] by lowering total serum cholesterol and LDL-C levels. Instead, our findings are in line with results of previous studies that found that the intake of statins and a decrease of serum cholesterol level are associated with neuropathic symptoms, microvascular damage, and an accelerated deterioration of peripheral nerve fibers.”
The authors suggest that lowering serum cholesterol “impairs peripheral nerve regeneration.”
Stories from Readers:
Scientific language can be daunting. Perhaps it would help to read some stories from readers to better understand statins and nerve damage.
Ron reports this link between statins and nerve damage:
“The medical community appears to be blind to the side effects from drugs like Lipitor (atorvastatin). The side effects of peripheral neuropathy came on slowly for me after a few years. I had to do my own research to find out the evidence of linkage. Then I had to go directly against the advice of my cardiologist and even a 2nd opinion.
“If I had listened to them, I would probably be heading to a nursing home. After 6 months off the statin, things have stopped deteriorating and the nerve damage appears to be slowly getting better. I know there are always accusations of crazy conspiracy theories, but at least for my circumstances the link appears completely legitimate.”
No one should ever stop a statin (or any other drug for that matter) without discussing the pros and cons with the prescribing physician. There are instances where the benefits far outweigh the risks!
Miles in Ohio also describes statins and nerve damage:
“I was on 40mg of Crestor for 12 years. My lipid levels were very well controlled. Over the last two years four specialists have diagnosed the limping and numbness on my left side as neuropathy. They had no idea what the cause might be.
“After some search on various forums I found other people with similar symptoms that stopped their statins and were relieved of problem. They were told by their doctors that the statins were not the problem.
On People's Pharmacy https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/statins-and-nerve-damage-peripheral-neuropathy-an-overlooked-side-effect
“Have you heard the joke from med school where the final speaker tells the graduating students that ‘half of what we’ve taught you here in the future will turn out not be true, but the problem is we have no idea which half.'”
Vivian reports:
“My experience mirrors Miles in Ohio. Neurologist diagnosed nerve damage but couldn’t determine the cause. My primary care physician believes 40 mg of simvastatin is not the cause.”
You can read more case reports at these links:
Statins, Low LDL Cholesterol and Nerve Damage in People with Diabetes
Statins and Nerve Damage: What Does the Future Hold?
The FDA may need to bring the new research to physicians’ attention. In the meantime, patients and doctors will need to determine whether the balance of benefit to risk is favorable. For some, the answer is definitely yes. For others, especially those with no history of heart disease, the answer may be less obvious.
On On People's Pharmacy https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/statins-and-nerve-damage-peripheral-neuropathy-an-overlooked-side-effect
Share your own story about statins in the comment section. If you have had no side effects please tell them. If you have experienced statins and nerve damage, please share that information as well.
What you need for Summer - Non-Toxic Products.
Summer brings challenges due to the heat and the activities people do. And specific things are needed – sunscreen, insect repellent, etc. etc. etc.
Here is an article with tips for doing and feeling good in the summer AND a link to products that you can get which are non-toxic and uses pure plant medicine or essential oils.
Read article Summer Health
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Why is it important to read the literature that comes with Your Medication
Most people throw it away or stick it somewhere and don’t ever read it. Well, your doctor told you how to take it and the instructions on when to take it is on the bottle, so……..?
The literature that comes with each prescription is not only good to read because it gives you a better idea of what you are taking, BUT it also lists the possible side effects of what you are daily. putting into your body.
Why is it important? What if the side effect felt like something else? what if you thought it just something that happened to your all the time and you took your normal OTC medication to help it. You had a headache and so you took your pain killer. And then it got worse and you don’t know what to do. You never thought that the headache had anything to do with the drug you are taking. Did you read the possible side effects?
Okay, here is the worse case scenario that I know of. (I’m sure there are plenty more). I was working with a mother to help her teenage son to work on getting healthy. He had been put on psychiatric medications. It was hard to get off of them and the doctors were trying different medications to see if they could help him. In order to help him, the added a drug Abilify. He seemed to be okay. His mother called me often to just talk about what she could do to help him build health, like getting him off of sugar, etc. He had been on the new drug for a week or so. She started to tell me some of the things that were happening at that time and felt it was just more “mental problems”. However, I knew the possible side effects of Abilify. He had them all and from what I read this could be very dangerous.. She called his doctor right away who immediately took him off of it.
Fortunately, i had read the various side effects and recognized what was actually happening to her son. If she had diligently read the literature for the side effects of the drugs he was taking, she would have recognized it earlier.
So, it is important to read the literature. And if you threw the literature away, you can always go to www.drugs.com They post the literature.
Also read: Medications & Side Effects
Medications with a side effect of Neuropathy (Nerve Damage)
B Vitamin Deficiency and Neuropathy
B vitamins are the most important vitamins for nerve health. Once the nerve is damaged by the high blood sugars of diabetes, chemotheraphy, toxins, trauma, etc. etc. getting enough B vitamins is vital to building healthy nerves again.
But can a deficiency cause the condition?
Neuropathy can be a result of malnutrition caused by an unbalanced diet and by alcoholism . Alcohol does not allow the normal nutrients of the food you eat to be used. It does not allow it to be absorbed and metabolized. Thus, the person using alcohol winds up with malnutrition and the symptoms one normally observes as the result of heavy alcohol consumption. See Alcohol for more information.
Poor diet, vegan diet plans, gastric disorders, severely compromised immunity, etc. are just a few of the risk factors for vitamin B deficiency.
The main reason can be due to the lack of B12 in the diet. B12 deficiency can lead to a number of serious conditions and peripheral neuropathy is one of them. Usually this is more than just B12. These B vitamins work together.
Vitamin D. There is some thought that when a person has diabetes, his D levels go down and that might be a reason for the neuropathy. But that isn’t something that would on its own create the damage. It is the high blood sugars that lead to the nerve damage.
Many doctors after diagnosing someone with neuropathy will take blood tests to see if they have vitamin deficiencies. Because it is believed that neuropathy can be due to B12 deficiency, it is sort of reversed and the deficiency is then looked for.
Very often they can’t find a deficiency, however, the tests used are venous blood which is blood that is leaving the body. It doesn’t seem like a good test to determine what is in the cells. That is where it counts and where the deficiency would matter.
Healthy nerves can be determined as they do not burn, hurt or create coldness, etc. etc. If these symptoms are present the nerves are not healthy.
If the body had all the ingredients to build healthy nerves, they would by using up all the B vitamins and none would appear in the blood test.
However, often the B12 (and other vitamins) found in the blood can be due to laboratory created vitamins that the body cannot use. In fact, there are often a lot of deficiencies created by artificial vitamins found in “supplements” and processed foods. Have you ever seen “vitamin fortified” on a box? These are artificial vitamins made in the laboratory that the body does not recognize and will not use – and, in fact, it can “gum up the works”. See Natural vs Synthetic Supplements
Getting the right nutrients however will give the body what it needs to build healthy nerves again. Once the nerve is damaged it needs certain vitamins to build healthy nerves. An isolated B vitamin will not do that. It needs the various B vitamins to create health in the nerves. It is the nutritional support needed for neuropathy.z
To find out what the body needs for healthy nerves read Nerve Health
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Sidebar:
Nerve Damage - Why R-Alpha Lipoic and Acetyl L-Carnitine?
If you have nerve damage, R-Alpha lipoic acid and acetyl L-carnitine are two key supplements that you should add to your daily routine.
Evidence indicates that alpha lipoic acid has an ability to kill free-radicals which may help provide added nutritional support to people who have nerve damage in the arms and legs, such as:
- pain
- burning
- itching
- tingling
- numbness
Alpha lipioc acid comes in two forms. R and S. Alpha lipoic acid is a combination of these two forms. Most supplements have alpha lipoic acid with both forms, not just the R form.
The R form of alpha lipoic acid is the form normally found in the body. Studies indicate the R-alpha lipoic acid form appears to be better absorbed than the combination of R and S alpha lipoic acid.
Additionally, some small preliminary studies suggest acetyl L-carnitine may help provide nutritional support to people with pain and who want to improve feeling in affected nerves. It is also possible that acetyl L-carnitine can help nerves regenerate.
The Nerve & Energy Booster is a nutritional supplement which contains acetyl L-carnitine and R-alpha lipoic acid (the better, more absorbable form of R-alpha lipoic acid).
Find out more and order the Nerve & Energy Booster
And RHP has updated their website. The new website allows you advanced discounts.
You can always email or call us at (888) 758-5590 or (818) 252-1038 i f you have any questions
We want to make sure you get the results you are looking for.
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