{"id":232616,"date":"2026-03-05T10:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/painful-side-effect-of-statins-explained-after-decades-of-mystery"},"modified":"2026-03-05T10:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:11:12","slug":"painful-side-effect-of-statins-explained-after-decades-of-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/painful-side-effect-of-statins-explained-after-decades-of-mystery","title":{"rendered":"Painful Side Effect of Statins Explained After Decades of Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/painful-side-effect-of-statins-explained-after-decades-of-mystery.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the most common reason patients quit statins, and it\u2019s a very real problem that needs a solution.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>Around 10 percent of people who take <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/us-no-1-prescription-drug-faces-major-recall-heres-what-to-do\">statins<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/experts-reveal-how-to-actually-lower-your-cholesterol\">lower cholesterol<\/a> experience mysterious muscle pains, causing many to discontinue these potentially life-saving medicines.<\/p>\n<p>Now, researchers from Columbia University and the University of Rochester in the US have revealed that statin-associated muscle symptoms (SAMS), such as aches and fatigue, result from an influx of calcium into muscle cells, which leads to tissue damage and potentially life-threatening complications.<\/p>\n<p>Statins work by blocking an enzyme that\u2019s required for the biosynthesis of cholesterol in the liver. As a result, levels of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/new-drug-lowers-bad-cholesterol-by-58-in-clinical-trial\">\u2019bad\u2019 LDL cholesterol<\/a> are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hopkinsmedicine.org\/health\/wellness-and-prevention\/how-statin-drugs-protect-the-heart\">reduced in the blood<\/a>, helping to prevent one of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/just-one-drug-could-treat-americas-top-two-killer-diseases\">America\u2019s top killers<\/a>: cardiovascular diseases like atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty deposits in blood vessels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s the most common reason patients quit statins, and it\u2019s a very real problem that needs a solution. Around 10 percent of people who take statins to lower cholesterol experience mysterious muscle pains, causing many to discontinue these potentially life-saving medicines. Now, researchers from Columbia University and the University of Rochester in the US have [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}