Muscle discomfort or weakness after taking statin drugs-an adverse effect known as statin myopathy-is relatively common. It is estimated that approximately 10 to 15 percent of all persons on statin therapy will experience such symptoms. After reducing the statin dose, or changing to a different medication (statin or otherwise), symptoms will generally improve. Another rarer phenomenon is the actual breakdown of the skeletal muscle, diagnosed by the detection of abnormally high levels of muscle enzymes in the blood, which occurs in less than one percent of people prescribed statins.
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