I started getting a LOT of leg cramps when swimming last year and have been trying to figure out what changed that may have caused this. I think I've narrowed it down - I started taking simvastatin within a few months of when I first noticed the increase in leg cramps. It's easy to pin that date down since I first really noticed the increase when I got a giant cramp diving in for the 400 IM at SC nationals last year! It's not very fun to swim that event in a big meet with a cramp the whole way.
I've been googling this and it seems that many people report leg cramp problems with statins. Neither my old doctor nor my new doctor suggested this as a possible cause when I complained about the unusual increase in cramping. Has anyone else out there experienced this?
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Former Member
I have been taking Statins for 3 years and started swimming again 2 years ago. I had leg cramp probems earlier this year and ashed my Doctor if Statins could be the cause. He advised that would be unlikely but carried out a blood test to confirm and these came back negative. (Not sure of the detail for test). I also had circulation checked in my legs. Fine too. I have since taken Taurine and Electolytes prior and during training sets and cramps have lessoned if not completely gone.
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Former Member
I have been taking Statins for 3 years and started swimming again 2 years ago. I had leg cramp probems earlier this year and ashed my Doctor if Statins could be the cause. He advised that would be unlikely but carried out a blood test to confirm and these came back negative. (Not sure of the detail for test). I also had circulation checked in my legs. Fine too. I have since taken Taurine and Electolytes prior and during training sets and cramps have lessoned if not completely gone.
