Statin Zocor can cause muscle injury - FDA warns

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning against use of higher doses of the cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor sold as simvastatin as cases of muscle injury have been associated with use of Zocor.

The risk could be particularly high when Zocor is used along with certain other drugs like Itraconazole, Ketoconazole, Erythromycin, Telithromycin, HIV protease inhibitors, and Nefazodone, which should never be used along with Zocor. Those on Gemfibrozil, Cyclosporine or Danazol should not take 10 milligrams of Zocor per day.

Mixing Zocor with these drugs can lead to increased risk of muscle injury including a rare buy serious complication called rhabdomyolysis, which can in turn result in fatal kidney damage.

Patients should be aware that Vytorin and Simcor also contain sumvastatin, the activie ingredient in Zocor.  The webMD reported that all statin drugs carry a risk of muscle damage, particularly high doses like 80 milligrams of Zocor is used.

The SEARCH study shows 1 percent of patients taking the 80 milligrams of Zocor suffered muscle injury compared to 0.02 percent of those taking only 20 milligrams of Zocor.

Rhabdomyolysis was found in 11 out of 6,031 patients who took 80 milligrams of Zocor compared to no one in the group taking 20 milligrams per day.  Results of the study indicated patents taking another drug verapamil should also not take 20 milligrams or higher doses of Zocor.

Those on angina/blood pressure drug diltiazem were found also at high risk of muscle injury when they took 40 milligrams or higher doses of Zocor.

People of Chinese descent were found at high risk of muscle injury when taking 80 milligrams of Zocor.

Zocor is a statin which is said to lower cholesterol and in turn lower heart risk.

Currently at least 12 million Americans are taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, mostly stains including Pfizer's Lipitor, Merck's Zocor and Mevacor, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Pravachol, Novartis' Lescol, and AstraZeneca's Crestor and experts recommends that another 23 million should be taking the medications as well.

Statins cost Americans an estimate $26 billion each year, media reports say.

We are all told that cholesterol is the cause for heart disease and lowering cholesterol may cut the risk of heart disease that kills more than half a million Americans each year.

But Ron Rosedale MD says in an article published on mercola.com that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease. Actually cholesterol is a natural metabolite humans need for their normal physiological functions. 

Dr. Rosedale suggests that the real villains are insulin and leptin resistance which actually cause cholesterol abnormalities.  

"The fixation on cholesterol as a major cause of heart disease defies the last 15 years of science and deflects from real causes such as the damage (via glycation) that sugars such as glucose and fructose inflict on tissues, including the lining of arteries, causing chronic inflammation and resultant plaque," he says in his article.

According to mayoclinic.com, muscle pain is the most common side effect of statins. People taking the medications may feel this pain as a soreness, tiredness or weakness in the muscles.

Statins can also cause clinically significant liver damage, digestive problems, rash or flushing, and neurological side effects including memory loss or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS or otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Dr. Mercola, a natural health advocate, says in his articles published on his website that statins deplete the supply of the coenzyme CoQ10, which is the reason why statin users can feel fatigue, muscles weakness, soreness and even suffer heart failure.

Among other things, new research has linked use of statins to a range of diseases including eye disease, increased risk of diabetes, imposing risk to people with low vitamin d. 

Some foods and nutrients that may better help lower cholesterol than statins include fish oil, red yeast rice, and plant sterols.