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
He advised that would be unlikely but carried out a blood test to confirm and these came back negative.
Unfortunately, blood tests are of little value in gauging statin-associated muscle side effects. The only thing it tells is that you aren't having a severe muscle reaction. It seems to me that a lot of docs haven't figured this out; it took me a while, too, until some of the most stoic patients I have set me straight.
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Former Member
He advised that would be unlikely but carried out a blood test to confirm and these came back negative.
Unfortunately, blood tests are of little value in gauging statin-associated muscle side effects. The only thing it tells is that you aren't having a severe muscle reaction. It seems to me that a lot of docs haven't figured this out; it took me a while, too, until some of the most stoic patients I have set me straight.
