I train on the fairly intense side (I think) and am averaging 3,600 6 times a week. Eat fairly healthy...no eggs or cheese, lots of nut mixes for snacks, salads 2 nights a week, sushi 2 nights a week. Impossible burgers now and then. You get the idea. And still my cholesterol is through the roof.
I had quit taking it when I began to train hard upon retirement because of the cramping issue, mostly thighs and upper back. So I’m dismayed at having to start again. 4 days in and my back is stiff and borderline “sore.” Warmup is a drag because I’m so cautious about seizing up (in past, I had my back go on both sides simply jumping in to cold pool; soreness and caution kept me out of pool for at least 3 days).
30 minutes or so of googling seems to suggest that CoQ10 is only thing that *might* help (evidence seems mixed). I already take that along with preventives like garlic and psyllium.
So, any of you folks have any dietary or supplement hacks that help abate the large muscle issues that come along with statins? Stretching routines that help? Heat? Cold? Both? How about really ramping up hydration? (I already do a good job here, but maybe still more?) Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.
Thanks for the thoughtful and lengthy responses folks. I appreciated the substance and effort a ton.
I was hesitant to even post in the first place because I knew things might get into things getting into “medical advice” territory or some such which I’m sure our hosts here don’t want to see and that you folks really avoided which is again appreciated.
As for me, yes I’m working with a doctor. Both granddads and one grandma died of heart attacks and my dad had triple by-pass, multiple stents, etc. so that really factors in to my personal equation. In brief, I was on Lipitor for years and the cramping was a huge issue, even without training involved (as teacher, I really mostly trained summers and in cold months, I would cramp in dead of winter without swimming). Then moved to Crestor, which is supposed to be cleaner, which did really help me day to day most of the time. But each summer, when I would be getting back into pool, it would bother me. Upon retirement, I really cleaned up my diet, really got back into swimming in a big way, worked through the the issues slowly got to a place where I was mostly OK. But training through the winter was new and the combo of cold and intensity I could bring to bear (lactic sets) brought the issue back. So between clean diet and fitness, I quit taking the Crestor. High hopes were dashed with number of 240. I went to doc, outlined the problem and he tried me on a new, to me and the market, Livalo. Supposedly less issues. But not for me. So the last 2 nights, back to 1/2 Crestor to test the waters, so to speak, and so far so good. I think I will experiment with full dose tonight.
But to get to the original hope of the thread which was maybe to learn possible approaches to mitigating the side effects of statins, here is what I’m also doing in conjunction:
1) Went from 100 to 200mg CoQ10. Internet medical advice sites say this is safe.
2) Began taking my wife’s D3. This was based on apparent to finding in abstract from medical journal.
3) I took my own suggestion and amped up hydration even more.
4) I doubled my warm down routine from 200 to 400 one day, and after a lactic day yesterday, instead of the 300 I would usually do, did 500.
Which of these is helping, or if the issue will return when I go with full dose, I can’t say. But I am hopeful that with warm weather here in St Louis area not to far off, I can work through things.
Anyhow, thanks again for the responses and hopefully some what seems to maybe be working for me is helpful to other folks who do a search for statins down the line. And if you have any more hacks, bring em on!
Thanks for the thoughtful and lengthy responses folks. I appreciated the substance and effort a ton.
I was hesitant to even post in the first place because I knew things might get into things getting into “medical advice” territory or some such which I’m sure our hosts here don’t want to see and that you folks really avoided which is again appreciated.
As for me, yes I’m working with a doctor. Both granddads and one grandma died of heart attacks and my dad had triple by-pass, multiple stents, etc. so that really factors in to my personal equation. In brief, I was on Lipitor for years and the cramping was a huge issue, even without training involved (as teacher, I really mostly trained summers and in cold months, I would cramp in dead of winter without swimming). Then moved to Crestor, which is supposed to be cleaner, which did really help me day to day most of the time. But each summer, when I would be getting back into pool, it would bother me. Upon retirement, I really cleaned up my diet, really got back into swimming in a big way, worked through the the issues slowly got to a place where I was mostly OK. But training through the winter was new and the combo of cold and intensity I could bring to bear (lactic sets) brought the issue back. So between clean diet and fitness, I quit taking the Crestor. High hopes were dashed with number of 240. I went to doc, outlined the problem and he tried me on a new, to me and the market, Livalo. Supposedly less issues. But not for me. So the last 2 nights, back to 1/2 Crestor to test the waters, so to speak, and so far so good. I think I will experiment with full dose tonight.
But to get to the original hope of the thread which was maybe to learn possible approaches to mitigating the side effects of statins, here is what I’m also doing in conjunction:
1) Went from 100 to 200mg CoQ10. Internet medical advice sites say this is safe.
2) Began taking my wife’s D3. This was based on apparent to finding in abstract from medical journal.
3) I took my own suggestion and amped up hydration even more.
4) I doubled my warm down routine from 200 to 400 one day, and after a lactic day yesterday, instead of the 300 I would usually do, did 500.
Which of these is helping, or if the issue will return when I go with full dose, I can’t say. But I am hopeful that with warm weather here in St Louis area not to far off, I can work through things.
Anyhow, thanks again for the responses and hopefully some what seems to maybe be working for me is helpful to other folks who do a search for statins down the line. And if you have any more hacks, bring em on!
