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Mevacor (Lovastatin) - Reviews, Ratings, Comments by Patients

 
 



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Below are Mevacor (Lovastatin) reviews, ratings, comments submitted by patients and caregivers. Based on a total of 2 ratings/reviews, Mevacor has an overall score of 1.50. The effectiveness score is 3 and the side effect score is 2. The scores are on ten point scale: 10 - best, 1 - worst. This information is not vetted and should not be cosidered as clinical evidence.
 

Mevacor review by 52 year old female patient

  Rating
Overall rating:  
Effectiveness:   Marginally Effective
Side effects:   Extremely Severe Side Effects
  
Treatment Info
Condition / reason:   originally brain lesions then lower cholesterol
Dosage & duration:   10 mg increased to 20mg taken nightly for the period of 3 years
Other conditions:   multiple schlerosis
Other drugs taken:   imipramine & wellbutrin
  
Reported Results
Benefits:   I believe the treatment at the lower 10 mg dose was effective in reducing the serverity of my brain lesions. I also believe I was thinking more clearly afterwards than I was prior to starting on lovastatin. A brain MRI taken a year after starting on Lovastatin indicated the lesions had reduced a bit, but that was not confirmed by my doctor as my previous MRI had been lost when I changed doctors.
Side effects:   After increasing the dosage to 20 mgs to also reduce my cholesterol levels, I started to experience extreme pain in my arm muscles.
Comments:   Originally I started taking it to see if it would have any positive effect on the number and size of brain lesions I had. I had experienced an increasing inability to handle job stress, was losing my concentration abilities and was becoming increasingly forgetful. I believe it did have some positive effect in reducing the size and number of brain lesions, but not to the effect of improving my cognitive thinking ability to the extent I could return to work. Two years later, my doctor wanted me to increase the dosage to reduce my cholesterol levels. Shortly after increasing my dosage, I started to experience chronic pain in my arms. I finally did some research and discovered muscle pain to be a "side effect" when taking statin drugs. When I stopped taking Lovastatin, the pain went away after a few months.

 

Mevacor review by 51 year old female patient

  Rating
Overall rating:  
Effectiveness:   Ineffective
Side effects:   Extremely Severe Side Effects
  
Treatment Info
Condition / reason:   high cholesterol
Dosage & duration:   60 mg taken once a day for the period of month
Other conditions:   high blood pressure
Other drugs taken:   vasotec
  
Reported Results
Benefits:   NONE!!!!!
Side effects:   I began having very irregular heart rhythm within about 2 1/2 weeks of taking this medicine. Feeling like I was going to pass out or maybe my heart would even stop beating.
Comments:   I began having very irregular heart rhythm within about 2 1/2 weeks of taking this medicine. I began feeling like I was going to pass out or maybe my heart would stop beating & I would just keel over & die if I didn't immediately start moving around. I could be sitting or laying down in bed & these "spells" would come on out of the blue & very regularly. I spent one night up all night laying on the couch because it was so bad that I was afraid that if I fell asleep I might not wake up. I tried to pretend it would go way at first but then made an appointment with my Dr. first & then a cardiologist, it was just too scary. My Dr. didn't believe that it was the medicine. By the time I could get in to see the cardiologist & have the heart monitor holster, echocardiogram etc. done I had been off the medicine for 2 weeks & the symptoms had lessened & of course did not appear while I was being tested. The Dr. thought I was crazy & that there was no way it was the medicine & that maybe I was having panic attacks. I have never had a panic attack in my life & I have had similar heart rhythm symptoms with other meds that quit when I stopped taking them & I know my own body. It WAS the lovastatin. It took a year & a half before I started feeling normal again & didn't have these attacks come on sometimes. I truly believe the lovastatin had an affect on my heart that took that long to get better. I will NEVER take another cholesterol med again that has the possible side affects of affecting muscles. The heart is a muscle. I also found that other people have had this same experience while taking statins while I was researching this on the internet. Neither Dr. would even look at the article I printed out about it & it was even written by another Dr. who was researching statin side affects.
 


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