Q: I’ve been on cholesterol medication, mostly statins, since a heart attack 13 years ago. Immediately after the attack I gave up smoking, started watching what I ate, and began exercising. After about three years of consistent bad legs which I attributed to being old, a nurse suggested trying potassium. After a few months of experimenting, I found that by taking three 99 mg potassium tabs and two 600 mg calcium tabs every day, I eliminated the pain. Although I got blood labs done quarterly, nothing ever showed up to indicate a vitamin deficiency. When I told my family doctor, he said he couldn’t argue with the results, so to keep taking them. And, I have.
With the possibility of statins causing muscle damage, what are the chances of the potassium and calcium simply masking the symptoms while my muscles were being damaged? As my further experiment, I have twice stopped taking the vitamins and the pain came back full force after about three days. It then took another three to four days to stop when I started taking them again.
A: In all fairness, you have taken many positive steps safeguarding your personal health. Following your heart attack you discontinued smoking, took better control of your diet and began an exercise regimen. Congratulations to you. No one could ask for more. Then when a nurse suggested a potassium supplement, that was the ticket for appropriately addressing your leg pain.
Statins have worked wonders for lowering cholesterol levels, yet they have, unfortunately, been associated with increased muscle pain of the lower extremities in some patients. This was made public following a study published in the journal American College of Cardiology at the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen. A number of people on the medication report symptoms of muscle pain that can lead to problems with compliance, keeping people away from either taking the medication or from exercising – both of which are not good choices. Depending on the severity of the deficiency, low potassium levels can cause fatigue, muscle spasms and twitches, reduced reflexes, paresthesias, elevated blood pressure readings, cardiac arrhythmias, and more. As an aside, fluvastatin is on the market and has a lower incidence of muscle side effects. You might ask your prescribing physician his or her opinion on this medication.
A calcium deficiency can lead to osteoporosis and its precursor osteopenia, hypertension, dementia, cardiac arrhythmias, muscle cramps, numbness and tingling of the extremities, bradycardia, joint pain, and a great deal more.
I don’t feel you are masking any symptoms by taking the two supplements. And my guess as to why the condition never surfaced in the past is that you likely had lab testing to assure that your liver was not affected by the statin, yet you may never have had a vitamin/mineral panel to bring to light any deficiency. Your physician may have asked you if you eat a well-balanced diet and if your answer was yes, he or she likely felt such testing was not necessary in the past. Fortunately for you, the nurse you spoke with pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat and got you back on the right track. I’ve been reminded countless times that we must listen to nurses when it comes to patient care. They are with patients – whether at a bedside in hospital or in a physician’s office. They know their patients, know when things aren’t right, and really should be listened to more often than they are. By the way, with the supplements you’ve added, you should now have your potassium and calcium levels checked and followed, because as we age, changes may occur in our kidneys and adding extra potassium and/or calcium could be devastating if your levels become too high. Congratulations again for taking her advice and helping you. And through this correspondence, perhaps you, too, can help others.
