Administration of Simvastatin with Colchicine

However, patients should be particularly carful about taking simvastatin together with colchicine, especially those with with renal or hepatic impairment. And any signs of muscle weakness or other problems should be immediately reported to the physician.
Progressive muscle weakness leading to shortness of breath and even respiratory failure, followed by death was observed in an elderly patient who had a heart transplant and has been continuously been taking colchicine, cyclosporine, prednisone, and mycophenolate. If you are taking simvastatin together with colchicine you may be recommended to do regular checks of creatine kinase levels. High creatine kinase levels may be an indication for discontinuing the medications so as to prevent rhabdomyolysis (muscle cells breakdown) called. If you discontinue simvastatin, it may take up to several weeks for muscle weakness to be gone.

What are the dangers of muscle weakness from statin drugs?

If you are taking statins, muscle weakness is not just a problem of discomfort, feeling tired and sluggish because of flabby skeletal muscle. The most dangerous thing about it is that good muscle tonus is required for the normal work of vital organs, like respiratory muscles for the lungs or heart muscle. Muscle weakness in the lungs from simvastatin can cause breathing difficulties; weakened heart muscle may cause heart failure. In addition, muscle impairment increases the risk of kidney failure which may occur because of “muscle debris” – myoglobin from the muscle cells, in large amounts circulating in blood stream to the kidneys and overloading them.

How to prevent muscle damage from statins

Listen to your body, pay attention to the common simvastatin side effects. Sometimes, it’s up to you to prevent muscle injury because creatine phosphokinase test used to reveal muscle damage may be not accurate enough. In some cases patients with statin muscle damage have CPK levels in the normal range, although they experience muscle pain. Those who have normal CPK levels and no muscle problems do not muscle damage. That’s why any muscle pain should alert you if you are taking simvastatin Prolonged statin-related muscle pain is one of the heralds of the possible muscle damage. If you experience muscle pain informs your physician. You may be prescribed an adjusted dose of simvastatin or simvastatin alternatives.
After discontinuing the medication, simvastatin related muscle pain typically goes away after four to six weeks, which signifies that it was actually a side effort of the drug. The chance that your experience muscle pain from simvastatin is highest when you are started on the mediation.

Simvastatin, muscle weakness and creatinine kinase levels

According to clinical trials, muscle weakness from simvastatin is generally not associated with high creatinine kinase levels, which means that there is no risk of serious muscle damage. Creatinine kinase is an enzyme found in various tissues: heart, skeletal muscle, brain, which catalyses the production of phosphocreatine, a molecule that helps transfer energy to your muscles. Whenever muscle tissue is damaged, creatinine kinase “leaks” to the bloodstream through the muscle membrane. Thus, high amounts of this enzyme expressed by these tissues is used on blood tests as a biomarker that helps detect a number of muscle related problems, such as heart attacks, muscular dystrophy, rhabdomyolysis (severe muscle damaged from muscle cell breakdown), the autoimmune myositides. Which exactly type of muscle was damaged is detected based on specific sreatinine kinase form is found in the bloodstream: CK-MM, found is skeletal muscle, or CK-MB, in the heart. Raised creatinine kinase levles are observed in about 1% of patients taking statins, while the actual muscle damage occurs in a smaller number of patients. However, high creatinine kinase does not necessary mean that you have a simvastatin related muscle problems. It could be caused by heavy muscle use, accidental injury from a fall of a surgery. In addition, people with large muscle mass have higher creatinine kinase levels, which is typical for African-Americans. Correspondingly, normal CK level ranges are lower for women (38 to 176 units per L) than those for men (52 to 336 units per L).

Satin muscle damage recovery

Not severe statin related muscle damage can be reversed, the sooner you stop the problem and take action, the larger the chance of positive outcome.
We hope this information helps you prevent Zocor ® muscle damage or receive the necessary help if the damage occurred.

Simvastatin Alternative 1: Being Informed

Before you use any alternative meds, read this book by Dr. Dwight Lundell called “The Great Cholesterol Lie”. I won’t add anything else here, only that it makes very big sense. Just read and then make an informed decision about simvastatin alternatives.

Simvastatin Alternative 2: Other Statins

First and most simple answer is other statins, like atorvastatin, pravastatin, lovastatin, fluvastatin or rosuvastatin calcium. If you would like to stick to traditional, pharmaceutical ways, to could ask your docts to take you off simvastatin and try other statins. In the past couple of years, there has been a lot of discussions and argument concerning which of the satins is better and safer. As a result, the formerly highest simtastatin dose of 80mg was prohibited for new cholesterol patients of all those who hasn’t been taking simvastatin for less than 1 year without side effects. Soon after that, a patent on atorvastatin expired, which made generic versions of the medication available at lower cost. Correspondingly, atorvastatin was claimed my many to be a safer alternative to simvastatin, although research results diverge (read more in simvastatin vs atorvastatin section). However, everyone’s body is individual and responds differently to different meds. If switching to another statin relieves side effects, go for it, but do so under your doctor’s control.

Simvastatin Alternative 3: Cholesterol Absorption Inhibitors

Cholesterol absorption inhibitors block the absorption of cholesterol from foods that you eat, while statins block the enzyme which controls cholesterol production in the body. Currently, there is just one cholesterol Absorption Inhibitor called Zetia®, only brand version, no generics.
A drug that combines Simvastatin and cholesterol absorption inhibitor ezetimibe (the active component of Zetia®) is called Vytorin. As you must have figured, the working principle is a combination of the two.

Simvastatin Alternative 4: Bile Acid Sequestrants

Bile acid sequestrants ( colestipol, cholestyramine, colesevelam) work by preventing the reabsorption of bile in the gastrointestinal tract. The liver uses cholesterol to produce bile acids which we need to digest food. In the intestine, the bile is partially absorbed, so the previously used cholesterol is being recirculated. Bile acid sequestrants prevent bile absorbtion, so that it is exserted with stools. As a result, the liver needs more cholesterol to produce bile acid and takes the LDL from the blood, thus lowering LDL levels. However, bile acid sequestrants may also cause flatulence, diarrhea, constipation and increase in triglycerides as side effects. It can reduce LDL by 2o%

Simvastatin Alternative 5: Fibrates

Fibrates (AtromidZetia®, TricorZetia®, LopidZetia®) reduce the production of triglycerides and increase HDL levels. There are five mechanisms by which fibrates alter cholesterol levels, not all of them are well studied yet.

• Increasing ApoA-I and ApoA-II in the liver which causes increase in HDL production
• Increased lipolysis of triglyceride-rich remnant lipoproteins (TRL) via increased lipoprotein lipase activity.
• Reducing hepatic triglyceride production and inducing hepatic fatty acid production
• Decreasing the exchange of triglycerides between VLDL and HDL
• Inducing the formation of LDL-C with higher affinity for LDL-C receptors which increases LDL-C uptake and thus decreases in LDL-C levels

Simvastatin Alternative 6: Nicotinic Acid

Nicotinic acid decreases the production of triglycerides and VLDL (very low-density lipoprotein). As VLDLis converted to LDL in the blood, LDL levels decrease.Nicotinic Acid is not as powerful as statins, it can reduce LDL by 5% to 25%, HDL by 15% to 35%, triglycerides by 20% to 50%.

On this page, we are not going to dwell upon any dietary supplements or other over-the-counter remedies sold at the drug stores as simvastatin alternatives so as to stay as objective as possible, and also not to promote potentially dangerous supplements of low quality. I’ll just say that red rice, flax oil and flax seed, avocado, green veggies and fruit actually help combat high LDL and hearth disease, it you take care to eliminate unhealthy elements, of course. For example, according to some researches, avocado is a great simvastatin alternative. Eating just one fruit a day can help substantially lower bad and raise good cholesterol levels in a few months.
Fish oil is also good, although I’d rather say it WAS good when the ocean was not so badly polluted. Many diet experts recommend to avoid fish as fish oil for this reason, although historically, fish was considered to the the best and healthiest alternative to meat and a source of minerals and healthy fats that help fight the bad cholesterol. Read more about natural alternative to simvastatin.

If you are still sceptical about healthy diet and lifestyle, think why other ancestors who didn’t have such an abundance of food and live more active live didn’t suffer from high cholesterol?

• Dizziness or fainting
• Headache
• Muscle pain or cramps
• Discolored/ clay-like stools
• Insomnia
• Jaundice

Please, not that overdose of simvastatin means not just taking the medication in enormously large quantities but also taking a larger dose than necessary. The correct simvastatin dose depends on one’s age, weight, liver and kidney condition and other health parameters. For example, a normal dose of simvastatin for a healthy person would cause simvastatin overdose effects in a patient with diabetes, liver or kidney problems.

What If I Overdose on Simvastatin?

Seek emergency medical help or call the Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222.

Simvastatin overdose treatment

Simvastatin overdose treatment methods include stomach pumping or the use of emetics (the medications that cause vomiting) for recent overdose, or fluids through an intravenous line. In addition, all of the observable simvastatin overdose effects are being carefully monitored, as well as heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate are measured.

Simvastatin overdose studies

Massive simvastatin overdose can be fatal in mice, according to studies. However, death was the only simvastatin overdose effect observed. In dogs, no deaths of long-lasting problems were observed. The most common side effects were: mucousy stools and vomiting.

Studies have shown that massive doses of simvastatin can be lethal in mice, although no specific symptoms (other than death) were noted. However, studies in dogs suggested that massive overdoses are not likely to cause serious or long-lasting problems (the only symptoms seen were vomiting and mucousy stools).

If your are searching the information about simvastatin overdose with the purpose to overdose deliberately, don’t do that and get help! Simvastatin overdose is not fatal but you may cause serious damage to your health, which will cause much suffering and pain!

Simvastatin overdose in children

Simvastatin can be used to treat children over 10 years old – that’s the youngest age that participated in studies. No overdose side effects beyond those observed in adults were reported in children so far. However, not enough time passed since the studies were done to make conclusions on absence of long-lasting problems. However, please note that due to a relatively small number of children taking simvastatin, overdose statistics may be insufficient. If you know or suspect that your child tool too large dose of simvastatin or took the medication incidentally, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 immediately and call emergency. Please note that children are exposed to higher risk for accidental overdose. Keep the medication in a place out of reach of children.

Simvastatin Dosage

• Simvastatin Dosage
• Simvastatin (40 mg) Side Effects
• Simvastatin 40 mg
• Simvastatin 80 mg
• Simvastatin Overdose

Another example of simvastatin lawsuit against Merck is a Texas case filed by Charles Thurston, a 65-year old veteran back in 2009, who claimed that he suffered from simvastatin side effects, including myopathy. However, this simvastatin lawsuit was dismissed in 2010 because myopathy and other side effects are listed in the FDA-approved side effects label from Merck, which is considered adequate under Texas law, unless the plaintiff meets one of five specified exceptions (which he didn’t).

What If I want to File a Simvastatin Lawsuit?

Although many simvastatin lawsuits have been dismissed, in June 2011 FDA released an official warning about the possibility of severe side effects associated with with high doses of simvastatin. Specifically, 80 mg dose was prohibited for prescription as significantly increasing the risk of various forms of myopathy and, specifically, rhabdomyolysis and
The only exception for simvastatin 80 mg are the patients that have been taking simvastatin 80 mg for at least one year without experiencing any side effects. This move gives many other potential plaintiffs a chance to convince jury that Merck actually failed to offer adequate warning and win a simvastatin class action lawsuit.

In fact, Diane Hayden in just one of the many patients who consulted a simvastatin lawyer to evaluate their eligibility for compensation for muscle or kidney damage caused by simvastatin. If you want to file a Zocor (simvastatin) Lawsuit it is highly recommended to consult with a simvastatin layer right now in order to evaluate your chances for compensation. The chance of successful outcome depends on the legislation of your state, so professional advice and assistance are absolutely necessary.

Does simvastatin cause weight loss?

As of 2010, there are no clinical trials that prove or deny the connection between simvastatin and weight loss or weight gain. For this reason, neither is mentioned as a side effect in simvastatin package insert. If you experience dramatic weight loss after being started in simvastatin, consult with your doctor immediately.

Why is simvastatin is associated with weight loss?

Probably, the major reason for this belief is that simvastatin decreases the amount of fatty substances in blood, which also has strong associations with decreasing excess fat deposits in the body. However, simvastatin does not have any effect on fat deposits and weight loss in patients taking simvastatin occurs due to other reasons. First, lifestyle changes, like switching to a healthy diet and doing sports and a part of high cholesterol therapy, along with simvastatin. Healthy lifestyle inevitably brings about weight loss and other positive changes in overweight patients taking simvastatin. That’s why simvastatin is frequently associated with weight loss. Next, weight loss could result from gastro-intestinal disorders, which are officially recognized as a side effect of simvastatin. Patients with gastro-intestinal adverse effects, such as constipation, abdominal or stomach pain, heartburn or nausea eat less, which results is weight loss.

To start with, there are many reports from patients who claim that they gained pounds while taking simvastatin, and some lost them after discontinuing the medication. This might occur due to a number of reasons. First of all, simvastatin is known to cause muscle pain and sensitivity and joint stiffness. Both these conditions hamper normal physical activities in generally active and strong people people. Decreases physical activity results in weight gain. Second, simvastatin can affect sleep. Sleep problems not just affect quality of life and your capacity for work, but also may result in excess weight.

However, there are cases when patients who take the medication for as long as 15 years complain of gaining pounds and blame it on simvastatin. In such cases, linking increase in weight with the treatment is not prescient. The more your body becomes stuffed with toxins from unhealthy food and bad ecology, the more difficult it is for it to maintain normal metabolized and prevent depositing of extra pounds in the most inconvenient areas. It’s a common knowledge that as we grow older staying slim is getting more difficult and needs more efforts on your side that before. In addition, a typical high cholesterol patient has a tendency to be corpulent. Did you eliminate products that cause weight gain from your diet? Do you participate more in sport activities? If you didn’t, weight increase could be a natural process that occur in most people as the age, especially women who reach climax. Third, simvastatin may cause water build up and retentio which alos means extra pounds displayed on your scales.

Does simvastatin cause weight gain?

Officially, weight gain is not recognized as a side effect of simvastatin.

Nevertheless, simvastatin affects the work of your liver, which means affecting the way the food you eat is metabolized. So, claiming that dramatic weight gain in patients taking simvastatin has nothing to do with the medication is at least unwise. Simvastatin may not be the direct cause of weight gain. However, putting on pounds rapidly means that something in you body works not the way it should and simvastatin make it more obvious. You need to consult with your doctor if you notice rapid weigh gain after being started on simvastatin or any other statin.

Typical Simvastatin Withdrawal Side Effects

Simvastatin withdrawal symptoms may occur in patients who never experienced any adverse effects and live a healthy and active lifestyle. Patients taken off the mediation report the following simvastatin withdrawal symptoms:

• Mild tingling in limbs and face is one of the most common simvastatin withdrawal side effects. Increase of tingling which started while on simvastatin is another possible variation of this simvastatin withdrawal effect (which gradually diminishes and disappears).
• Tiredness and pressure on the head “like someone has their hand on the top of my head and is pushing down” (according to the report of one patient). Fogginess in the head, vertigo and various dizzy sensations that patients describe as “pushing” or “dropping” the brain followed by anxiety also occur
• Blurred vision.
• Irritability and depression
• Heaviness in feet and legs
• Memory issues, difficulty finding objects
• Poor concerntration

Generally, statin withdrawal symptoms appear to be very similar to the most common simvastatin side effects. Unfortunately, there are causes when simvastatin side effects, such as headache, muscle pain, joint pain and dizziness aggravated severely after abrupt simvastatin withdrawal. The patient experiences the simvastatin “cold turkey” syndrome, which is generally associated with illegal drugs. However,  Simvastatin is a drug many patients take for years, no wonder you body notices getting off .

How to Relieve Statin Withdrawal Side Effects

If you want to get off simvastatin or have already discontinued the drug and experienced any of the above withdrawal symptoms or worsening of side effects, it is highly recommended to discuss your further strategy with the doctor. Sometimes, a “weaning” strategy is used when the medication is gradually discontinued within a month by lowering a dose or quitting and returning to simvastatin once in 3 or 5 days. Additionally, many patients report very positive effects of acupuncture and physiotherapy on Zocor withdrawal symptoms.

Why does simvastatin cause joint pain?

First of all, people taking simvastatin are older group of the population for which osteoarthritis and other joint conditions are common. For exampale, rheumatoid arthritis is one of the top conditions involved in joint pain occurrence in patients taking simvastatin. In such a case, lipophilic properties of simvastatin may just exacerbate the painful sensations or stiffness which didn’t cause that much discomfort before. Then, simvastatin is classified as a lipophilic statin. Lipophilic statins have higher levels of exposure in non-hepatic tissues, which means that they non-selectively diffuse into both hepatocyte and non-heptatocyte tissues, as opposed to hydrophilic statins, such as pravastatin, rosuvastatin. This property of simvastatin may explain the higher occurrence of muscle and joint-related side effects, such as joint swelling, pain, stiffness. The group of lipophilic statins inclues atorvastatin, fluvastatin, simvastatin. The occurrence of arthralgia and arthropathy associated with hydrophilic statins reported by the lower 4- and 9-fold correspondingly.

Resolving Joint Pain while on Simvastatin

The most common remedies recommend by doctors to relieve joint pain to patients taking simvastatin include pain relief medications and temperature treatment. Pain medications prescribed by the doctor may include aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications. Warning! Don’t take pain-relieving medication without your doctor’s prescription and control! Simvastatin interacts with a large number of drugs. Uncontrolled use of pain drugs may result in severe adverse effects.

Thermo therapy includes moist to dry heating (such as a warm water or dry heating pad) applied too the pain area. Cold temperature wraps may numb the hurting area and relive pain for some time. You may use ice containers or frozen vegetable packs wrapped up into the towel (the towels is used to prevent damage to the skin and blood vessels by low temperature and to eliminate discomfort). However, cold wraps are not recommended for patients with poor blood circulation.

In What Way Can Simvastatin Cause Hair Loss

Although the connection between taking simvastatin and hair loss is obvious, the mechanism how exactly the two processes are linked is still unknown. The reason for that is that the researches studying simvastatin side effects are focused on life threatening conditions in the first place, like muscle or liver damage. However, hair loss, even being a serious concern for many men, is not a life threatening condition. Below are some of the suggestions

• Cholesterol if one of the structural elements of a human hair. The exact content should be is 0.86 . This figure is so precise that some doctor suggest substituting blood test with measuring cholesterol levels in hair. Significant lowering of cholesterol levels may affect hair growth.
• Cholesterol participates in production of the most vital hormones: testosterone, estrogen, cortisone, aldosterone and progesterone. These hormones regulate many of the bodily functions and processes. Hormone imbalance is known as one of the caused of hair loss, so statins could have contributed to that.

Please note that hair loss may occur due to a number of other reasons and not be directly linked to taking simvastatin, like in the examples below:

• Loss of libido and depression are known as simvastatin side effects. However, loss of libido is also associated with aging. Stress and depression are known as caused of hair loss.
• Many patients who have undergone a heart surgery take simvastatin. Stresses after a major surgery may also cause hair loss.

I simvastatin related hair loss incidents hair growth resumes after discontinuing the medication. So, another argument in favor of simvastatin’s not being guilty is that a quick review of patient’s complaints shows that in many cases discontinuing simvastatin didn’t stop. This means that in these cases there could be no no direct connection between simvastatin and hair loss and the problem could have been caused by some other factors. So blaming simvastatin, you may overlook other serious problems that need your and you physician’s attention.

Hair regrowth should start as soon as you get off simvastatin. You may be recommended by you doctor to take vitamins and supplements that help hair your hair regrow.