March 19, 2006
Remember that the information presented here is not intended to replace the care of your own doctor. Before making any changes in the management of your own illness, you should consult your physician or other qualified medical professionals.
Question
I have taken Lipitor, Zocor, Zetia, and Vytorin for my cholesterol. I also have diabetes along with neuropathy in my feet and stenosis. Since I have taken the above medicines, I have become almost crippled with leg pain and weakness, and it is the worst thing. Yesterday, I told my doctor that I will not take any more cholesterol medicines. I also noticed today that my blood sugar was down. I wonder if this has any effect.Answer
Pain can raise your blood sugar, so perhaps getting the pain controlled was the reason for the improvement you noticed in blood sugar levels.However, I'm puzzled as to how those meds would cause you to have pain, unless they were provoking a fairly uncommon side effect of the statins, called rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdo can be life-threatening, and it is certainly something your doctor should have told you about (but it wouldn't hurt to ask, just to be sure that that wasn't the problem!).
