What harm could it do to combine grapefruit with a cholesterol-lowering drug such as atorvastatin or simvastatin? Some of our readers have had serious incidents, possibly as a consequence of an interaction.
Q. A week ago, around midnight, I slid to the floor of my bathroom and was unable to get up. My arms and legs did not function and I laid on the floor for eight hours until my son picked me up and put me to bed.
I went to the hospital but neither my doctor, a neurologist nor an MRI provided an answer. I was discharged after four days and there has been no recurrence.
I believe a combination of Lipitor and grapefruit (which I had been eating daily) might have been responsible. Am I right?
Grapefruit Interacts with Atorvastatin, Lovastatin and Simvastatin:
A. Researchers have found that grapefruit can increase the activity of many drugs including the cholesterol-lowering medicines atorvastatin (Lipitor), lovastatin (Mevacor) and simvastatin (Zocor). The resulting higher dose might increase the risk of complications.
While we can’t confirm that your muscle weakness was a reaction to Lipitor, we can tell you that hundreds of people taking this or similar medicines have reported side effects such as memory loss, muscle pain or weakness.
A Reader’s Story of a Statin Reaction:
Here is just one report:
“I started on cholesterol-lowering drugs about 3 years ago, just before I turned 40. My cholesterol was about 215.
“Shortly after starting simvastatin, I began to feel sick and went to see the doctor, who thought it was the flu. I never stopped going to work and continued to go to the gym where I logged my performance. After a month, my work-outs showed that I was not doing things that I was capable of doing for the past year. I continued on for about a month and still didn’t feel good.
“I called the doctor’s office and told a nurse how I felt and asked if it could be the simvastatin. She called me back and said that it wasn’t the drug. After 3 months of treatment, I went to the doctor for a follow-up visit. He did a blood test that showed everything to be OK. After about a month, I began to have a numbness that ran from my right testicle down the back of my leg to my right knee.
“I scheduled another appointment with my doctor. He examined me and sent me to a specialist. He thought it was a nerve problem not associated with simvastatin. I went to the specialist. I told him my symptoms of weakness. I told him I was having the sensation of warm water poured on my back and hip. I sometimes would stumble because my leg would not hold for a split second when I walked. He confirmed that something was pressing on a nerve. When I sat in a certain position, he would get no reflex motion from tapping the back of my right ankle. Again I asked this doctor if it could be the simvastatin. He said he did not think so, but he would run some blood work and rule it out.
“After 10 days of not hearing anything from the specialist’s office, I called to see what was up. The nurse said everything was OK or they would have called me back. If everything was OK, I wouldn’t have been at the doctor’s office. I finally had had enough. I was sure that it was no coincidence that I had started feeling bad right after I had started the simvastatin.
“Within two months of stopping simvastatin I felt like my old self. This subject became a hot topic for me following all that I had been through. I began discussing simvastatin with others. Two coworkers were put on the drug and both had immediate reactions. The doctor’s nurse’s husband had reacted badly to simvastatin and had to come off the drug. My father had been put on Zocor and had to be taken off. I was discussing the story with my brother and found that he was on simvastatin and was having weakness in his legs but he associated the problem with another physical illness.
“I asked my father’s doctor if most people react poorly to simvastatin and he said that only 2% have had bad side effects. Either I am surrounded by the entire 2% or some drug maker is doing a great snow job on the medical community.”
We are sending you our Guides to Cholesterol & Heart Health, Grapefruit Interactions and Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs so that you can learn more about these medications and be alerted to drugs that don’t mix with grapefruit.
In the years since this post was first published, it has become clear that more than 2% of people experience muscle pain or weakness as a reaction to a statin drug. The potential for grapefruit or grapefruit juice to increase the possibility of side effects from atorvastatin, lovastatin or simvastatin has not changed.
Revised 2/25/16
