I can certainly sympathize with the problems you are having. I experienced severe muscle-pain, weakness and exercise intolerance after 7 years on Lipitor. It came on suddenly, after my doctor combined Tricor with my Lipitor.
I was in such bad shape I could barely lift anything more than a few pounds weight, and I couldn't jog worth a darn any longer... It took over 8 months off the meds before I noticed ANY improvement at all. For a while I feared it would be permanent damage.
I took the following supplements (and still am) for about 5 months before I started noticing improvements:
CoQ10 - 200mg (100 morning, 100 dinnertime) take it with a little fatty food, helps absorption
L-Carnitine - 250 mg/day (take it with your CoQ10 - they are supposed to compliment each other)
Alpha-Lipoic-acid (250mg/day (I took it in the morning)
The CoQ10 is supposed to help with myopathies (muscle pain), but I'm not sure if it helps neuropathies - they seem to take longer to cure.
My advice is that you stay off the statins until you get your neuropathies to reverse. Try the above supplements - but BE PATIENT - it may take quite a while for you to feel improvement.
Sorepaw - with your history of CHD and surgery, you seem to fall into the category where statins are beneficial - I would follow your doctor's recommendation and start the statin - but be aware of any sudden muscle-pain, tingling sensation, or mental impairment of forgetfulness... The anti-inflammatory effects of statins, and cholesterol reduction, are beneficial for middle aged males with a history of heart disease. I would take CoQ10 along with the statin to reduce the chances of muscle problems (100mg/day) - discuss this with your doctor.
It's amazing, but I have yet to hear one person whose doctor recommended CoQ10 to be taken with statins - given that statins deplete this vital nutrient which our muscles (and especially the heart) need to be healthy. I wonder how many of us could have avoided problems had we known this up-front.
