Monday, February 18, 2008

On the Move

The leg pain that I wrote about yesterday was acute enough to interfere with sleeping last night; it's also migrating. It began in my right hip, moved into the outside of my right leg (particularly involving the tendons just above the knee, making it almost impossible for me to lift my right leg sideways more than an inch or so), and by last night it had moved to the back of my leg, creating severe pain in that area when I fully extended that leg. I'm still having sharp muscle pains about six to eight inches above the knee as well, and now there's some pain involving the calf and the shin.

Don't know for sure what's causing it, but there's been no change in exercise routines, no injuries, etc., so I have to suspect that generic simvastatin might be a contributing factor. I went to Doctor Mike's office to have some bloodwork done today, and I'm going to discontinue the simvastatin for a couple of weeks to see if there's any improvement. Of course, if there is, then I'm left with a bit of a dilemma: what do I do to help reduce bad cholesterol if I can't take statins? I'm already limiting my diet and exercising, but the statins had been a part of that routine; without them, I suspect I'll see a rise in bad cholesterol levels. Even so, I might have to live with that option, because if it turns out that the simvastatin is causing this severe pain, I'd rather go without statins and be able to exercise and function pain-free.

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