Statins and ITP

[Guest guest]

I was very ill last winter with a platelet disorder.

Normal platelet count 175-400. Mine was 30. Tried many trestments,

went off all daily meds (including Lipitor).

Finally resorted to chemo which was immediately effective. Count

went to 500! Then stabilized about 360. Stayed off statin until

July. In August count was 266. In October it was down to 196.

I stopped taking the statin drug at the end of October. My doctor

does not think the statins are the cause of the ITP. I know it was.

Also have been suffering with muscle pain for about a year and a

half, so bad at times that I took a 7 day steroid pack for relief.

I have days when I can't lift my arms over my head. My doctor calls

this fibro myalgia. Said that blood tests don't reflect statin

damage that would cause this.

[Guest Kato]

Though this is seven years old, I'm going to reply.  I also saw a personal link between ITP (low platelets) and statin use.  In my own 'trial' I was being treated for low platelets (count below 20k) and noticed that while taking steroids (prednisone 80mg/day) my platelet counts rose (to >180k), when I would taper off steroid, platelet counts would rapidly drop back -- WHEN I WAS TAKING CRESTOR.  This happened with two sequential efforts to taper off steroid.  THEN ... I decided to stop taking the statin.  This next time, tapering off of steroid treatment did NOT result in a drop in platelet counts.  I have remained fairly constant at ~160k platelet count for 22 months now.

 

My doctors -- cardiologist and hematologist -- were both skeptical, due to "lack of data from medical journals" on the link between statins and ITP.  My hematologist actually told me he would defer to my cardiologist, even if it meant splenectomy and chemo treatments to address ITP.  I was up for neither of these, used my own 'study' of how *my* body works, and made the command decision to ignore this advice.

 

Lastly -- I gave up drinking all forms of artificially-sweetened beverages; no diet soda, no flavored water, nada, zip, nothing.  In the subsequent six months, my cholesterol numbers improved as significantly as they had on statins.  Total cholesterol was 150; LDL was 77, HDL was 40.  I would prefer to live with out Diet Coke than the statin/ITP quandary I was in previously.

 

Your mileage may very ... but this is my story.