Along with having post-polio symptoms, I also have hypertension and high cholesterol, and until a few years ago, before the Medical Profession decided that the total number for cholesterol should be below 200, I was not concerned about my high cholesterol, because my good cholesterol (HDL) was extremely high, and I was told by my doctor that only about 6% of the population had as high an HDL as I did.  Anyway, about two years ago, with a change of doctors, and a change in this thinking by the medical profession, I was put on Zocor.

My new doctor is very conscientious, and so I have a blood test every three months to check my enzyme level. I had my bloodwork done in January, and everything was fine.   The past month, I had been having severe muscle pain, fatigue, and just a general feeling of unwellness, and so I went back to my doctor, who had more blood tests done, except this time it showed an increased level of creatine phosphokinese-- muscle breakdown.  She immediately took me off the Zocor.

Now I have been on statins for about two years, and my blood tests had always been normal, up until now, and so when the muscle pains started getting worse, I associated it with my post-polio, even though I knew that muscle pain was one of the more serious side-effects of Zocor/Simvastatin, I was totally relying on the fact that I have my blood tested regularly, and so if something was wrong because of the medication, it would show up in my blood test. Also, I thought if I would have a reaction to the medication, it would show up within a few weeks of being on the medication, not two years later.

Anyway,  it has been one week since I have been off the medication, and I am starting to feel a lot better.I am grateful to my doctor who listened, and ordered new blood tests. What's ironic, is that if there was not an elevated level of creatine phosphokinesis present in my blood this time, I might still be taking the medication, and if untreated, this could eventually lead to poliomyositis, the very disease that I am now struggling with.