Is your statin causing your muscle pain?

Millions of Americans are on cholesterol lowering statin drugs such as Simvastatin (Zocor) or Atorvastatin (Lipitor). A significant percentage of these people also report chronic muscle pain.

The correlation that most patients are never told about is the relationship between CoQ10 and statins. You have probably seen CoQ10 supplements on the shelf at your local pharmacy or supermarket. CoQ10 is a substance created within the body that gets converted to an active form called ubiquinol which functions as an antioxidant and is part or cellular energy production within our cells, called cellular respiration. When CoQ10 levels are low, cellular energy is low and many people can develop chronic muscle pain that can go undiagnosed for years.

I see many patients that come into my office with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia that is a result of long term statin use. Only about 1 in 5 of these patients had been told by their prescribing physician to take CoQ10 while taking their statin.

To be clear, not everyone will develop muscle pain and yet some people will develop muscle pain within a few days of beginning to take a statin drug. The reasons for this are not fully understood but it is likely due, in part, to diet. We can eat ubiquinol in certain foods such as oily fish, organ meats, olive oil, avocados, spinach, peanuts and some whole grains. If these are not eaten regularly and supplementation of CoQ10 or ubiquinol is lacking, pain will commonly develop while taking statin drugs.

CoQ10 supplementation is generally safe and well tolerated. Common over the counter doses are 50mg, 100mg and 200mg. If you have chronic pain that does not seem to respond to other treatments and you’re taking a statin drug, talk to your doctor about adding a CoQ10 or ubiquinol supplement to your daily routine.