Statins: How the drug prevents heart attacks and strokes

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Statins are a group of medicines that can help lower the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in the blood. LDL cholesterol is often called the “bad” cholesterol because it collects in the walls of your blood vessels, hiking your risk of having a heart attack. Fortunately, statins intercept this process by reducing the production of LDL cholesterol inside the liver but may also cause unusual sensations felt in the extremities.

People taking statins were 14 times more likely to develop peripheral neuropathy than people who were not taking statins, according to the Danish study.

Statin can increase the risk of developing peripheral neuropathy, according to a study published in Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

For the study, the researchers used a patient registry to identify all of the first-time cases of peripheral neuropathy with no known cause in Funen County, Denmark, over a five-year period.

Each case was matched to 25 people of the same age and sex with no neuropathy as a control group. The use of statins was then determined for each group.

Researchers identified 166 cases of first-time neuropathy with no known cause.

Of those, 35 had a definite diagnosis, 54 were probable cases and 77 were possible cases.

Nine of the people with neuropathy had taken statins. They had taken statins for an average of 2.8 years.

For those with a definite diagnosis of neuropathy, the statin users’ risk of developing neuropathy was 16 times higher than for the control group.

When all cases of neuropathy were taken into account, the statin users’ risk of developing neuropathy was four times higher than the control groups risk.

The study concluded that taking statins for longer periods of time and taking higher doses of them increased the risk of developing neuropathy.

A symptom of peripheral neuropathy may include burning, numbness or tingling in the extremities.

Other side effects caused by statins include:

• Headache
• Dizziness
• Feeling sick
• Feeling unusually tired or physically weak
• Digestive system problems
• Muscle pain
• Sleep problems
• Low blood platelet count.

High cholesterol levels can also be lowered by making healthy lifestyle changes.

According to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), if you have high cholesterol, it’s most important to eat less saturated fat.

Foods that are high in saturated fats are things like fatty and processed meat, pies and pastry, butter, cream, and coconut oil.

As the BHF explains, some foods contain dietary cholesterol but surprisingly they don’t make a big difference to the cholesterol in your blood.

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