Statins and risk of polyneuropathy
This article adds more weight to the clinical observation of statin drugs having polyneuropathy as a side effect. A few important things to consider here…the statins lower activity of HMG CoA reductase (one of the enzymes responsible for cholesterol synthesis). They also lower synthesis of CoQ10 at the same time. This is well documented. I’ve always been stumped at this one–CoQ10 is vital for high respiratory tissues such as the heart and skeletal muscle. Hence some of the side effects of the statins are muscle aches. I would guess that the polyneuropathy is also related to reduced CoQ10, which could easily be fixed with supplementation (which any patient on the statins should be put on). The other scary part is recent recommendations that are designed to increase the number of patients that should be on cholesterol lowering meds (three guesses as to who funded THAT study!!). This would increase the side effects we see in this class of drugs.
Neurology — Abstracts: Gaist et al. 58 (9): 1333