Hi
This is my first post on this forum, so hoping this topic will hit home with a few here.
In April 2017 I suffered what was thought to be an AF attack - this has since been queried and found to be a false diagnosis.
Nevertheless, I was advised to take a statin as a precautionary measure against heart attack and possible stroke. Just 10 days following the start of this medication I started to experience side effects the worst being the constant chronic diarrhoea which now matter what I did just would not stop. I stopped taking the statins just a few weeks later due to other multiple side effects, but the D persisted.
Months passed, various tests for this and that, still D. Day in, day out D. A couple of accidents, many a day working from home as I just couldn't leave the house!
August 2017 was finally referred for colonoscopy. Sept 4 diagnosis 'pan-colitis'; full diagnosis 29 Sept Collagenous Colitis.
During the prep for my colonoscopy I was asked what, if any, meds I had been taking. So stated been on a statin - to my horror the consultant said "That's what has done this to you" - OMG.....and I trusted my GP.
Just interested if anyone here has had the same thing happen to them?
Statins and the gut microbiome
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winterbaby62
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2018 3:02 pm
- Location: Guildford, United Kingdom
Statins and the gut microbiome
J R Hill
Hi J R,
Welcome to the group. Another statin user here — I'm currently taking Atorvastatin because I've had several TIAs and a stroke. But my MC developed about 9 years before the first TIA, 17 years before the stroke. For me (since I've actually had a stroke), a statin seems to be a life-savor (I have a narrowing in the fork of a small blood vessel at the base of my brain), and the statin doesn't seem to affect my MC (thank goodness), and it seems to have stopped the frequent TIAs.
But I agree, unless one has already had a stroke, or has had TIAs, taking a statin may be asking for trouble, because there is definitely a risk of developing other health problems associated with taking a statin. Stroke victims have to choose the lessor of two evils — take a statin or face greatly increased odds of having another stroke. For everyone else, that increased risk doesn't seem to exist, so there is rarely any benefit to be gained by taking a statin. On the other hand, there is a lot to be lost by choosing to take a statin anyway. And most doctors don't seem to appreciate the severity of the adverse events that can be associated with statins.
I'm also curious how many other members feel that their MC might have been caused by a statin. But often it's difficult to judge, because they were taking NASAIDs, or PPIs, or some other drug known to cause MC at the same time.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
Welcome to the group. Another statin user here — I'm currently taking Atorvastatin because I've had several TIAs and a stroke. But my MC developed about 9 years before the first TIA, 17 years before the stroke. For me (since I've actually had a stroke), a statin seems to be a life-savor (I have a narrowing in the fork of a small blood vessel at the base of my brain), and the statin doesn't seem to affect my MC (thank goodness), and it seems to have stopped the frequent TIAs.
But I agree, unless one has already had a stroke, or has had TIAs, taking a statin may be asking for trouble, because there is definitely a risk of developing other health problems associated with taking a statin. Stroke victims have to choose the lessor of two evils — take a statin or face greatly increased odds of having another stroke. For everyone else, that increased risk doesn't seem to exist, so there is rarely any benefit to be gained by taking a statin. On the other hand, there is a lot to be lost by choosing to take a statin anyway. And most doctors don't seem to appreciate the severity of the adverse events that can be associated with statins.
I'm also curious how many other members feel that their MC might have been caused by a statin. But often it's difficult to judge, because they were taking NASAIDs, or PPIs, or some other drug known to cause MC at the same time.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.