Up to 75 per cent of patients who take statins to treat elevated cholesterol levels may suffer from muscle pain. Scientists at the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen have now identified a possible mechanism underlying this unfortunate side effect.

Statins deplete levels of CoQ10 which is why supplementation is key.  CoQ10 increases energy and helps to ameliorate muscle pain due to statin use.

In the three decades since cholesterol-lowering statin drugs hit the market, they’ve been hailed as a medical breakthrough for cardiovascular disease (CVD), now the nation’s number-one killer, responsible for the deaths of one in four Americans. They’ve also become the biggest selling class of pharmaceuticals of all time: More than 24 million Americans are now estimated to take statins.

“It’s well-established that statins can lower the risk of [CVD],” says Robert Rountree, MD, holistic physician and Delicious Living’s medical editor. But new research, he says, “indicates the primary mechanism by which statins lower risk is not by reducing LDL cholesterol but instead by decreasing systemic inflammation.”

And if that’s the case, there are plenty of diet, lifestyle, and supplement strategies that can accomplish the same thing—without potential side effects ranging from muscle pain to liver damage. If you are already taking statins, making healthy changes may allow you to reduce or even eliminate statin use over time, with guidance from a health care professional. Here’s what you need to know to make an informed decision.

Click on link below for the natural alternatives.

ScienceDaily (Aug. 22, 2012) — A study from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, published August 22 online by PLoS ONE, reports that muscle problems reported by patients taking statins were related to the strength or potency of the given cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Adverse effects such as muscle pain and weakness, reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were related to a statin’s potency, or the degree by which it typically lowers cholesterol at commonly prescribed doses.

“These findings underscore that stronger statins bear higher risk — and should be used with greater caution and circumspection,” said investigator Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, professor in the Departments of Medicine and Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

If taking a statin keep our CoQ10 in mind!

See Yourself Well CoQ10 100mg. softgels

In the three decades since cholesterol-lowering statin drugs hit the market, they’ve been hailed as a medical breakthrough for cardiovascular disease (CVD), now the nation’s number-one killer, responsible for the deaths of one in four Americans. They’ve also become the biggest selling class of pharmaceuticals of all time: More than 24 million Americans are now estimated to take statins.

CoQ10 is one ingredient that has the support of two Citizens Petitions submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. On May 23, 2002, Julian M. Whitaker, MD, filed the two petitions, which called for a labeling change to all HMG CoA reductase inhibitor drugs (the so-called statin drugs), and to issue a Medication Guide, warning consumers of the need to take CoQ10 whenever they take a statin drug, as follows:

Great time to give our CoQ10, Cardiac Defense, a try.  Reg. $49.99 bottle (60 caps)

Now $ 24.99 (Product expiry April 2012)