DO STATINS MAKE WOMEN FEEL TIRED?

June 19, 2012 WOMEN on statins, the anti-cholesterol drugs, are at risk of fatigue, a U.s. study found.

Two in five women taking the pills had less energy than before, with one in ten reporting they felt ‘much worse’.

While experts stress that patients should never stop taking their pills before speaking with their doctor, it has been suggested that for some women, this side-effect could outweigh the benefits of the drug, which work by blocking enzymes involved in the production of cholesterol.

so should women carry on taking the pills?

‘it’s difficult to monitor fatigue — you can’t measure it like cholesterol,’ says Kausik Ray, professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at st George’s University. ‘Fatigue is a common symptom, especially in women, but can be due to other causes.

‘For example, you may have an underactive thyroid and in premenopausal women, fatigue could be related to anaemia.’

Dermatologist Dr David Fenton points out that tiredness could also be a side-effect of the lifestyle measures many implement when prescribed statins, such as taking up exercise and losing weight.

‘You need to discuss this with your GP,’ says Professor Ray. TODAY’S ADVICE: Feeling unusually tired is now a recognised common side-effect of statins for men and women.