{"id":438281,"date":"2026-02-21T17:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/438281\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T17:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:41:12","slug":"atorvastatin-can-have-life-changing-side-effects-in-some-people-nhs-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/438281\/","title":{"rendered":"Atorvastatin can have life changing side effects in some people, NHS say"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHS has warned that a prescription medicine used to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attacks can cause a rare side effect for some people. <\/p>\n

Atorvastatin is part of a group of medicines called statins which works by slowing down the liver’s cholesterol production. <\/p>\n

It’s meant to lower ‘bad’ cholesterol (LDL) and raise ‘good’ cholesterol\u201d (HDL) in your body. <\/p>\n

Doctors prescribe atorvastatin to people with high cholesterol or those at risk of heart disease<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Usually taken once a day, with or without food<\/a>, the medicine is meant to work well when combined with healthy<\/a> balanced meals, exercising regularly<\/a> and not smoking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the NHS<\/a> has listed some serious side effects on their website, including ‘a rare long-term condition that causes muscle weakness’ called myasthenia gravis.<\/p>\n

\"MyastheniaMyasthenia gravis is a rare autoimmune neuromuscular disorder affecting over 700,000 people globally (Getty Stock Images)What is myasthenia gravis?<\/p>\n

Myasthenia gravis ‘most commonly affects the muscles that control the eyes and eyelids, facial expressions, chewing, swallowing and speaking’ and can also ‘affect most parts of the body’.<\/p>\n

While it can affect all age groups, it typically starts in ‘women under 40 and men over 60’.<\/p>\n

Symptoms of myasthenia gravis: <\/p>\n

\u2022 Drooping of eyelids<\/p>\n

\u2022 Blurred or double vision<\/p>\n

\u2022 Trouble smiling or making normal facial expressions<\/p>\n

\u2022 Difficulty chewing food or swallowing<\/p>\n

\u2022 Slurred or unclear speech<\/p>\n

\u2022 Weakness in the arms, legs, or neck<\/p>\n

\u2022 Shortness of breath, sometimes with severe breathing problems<\/p>\n

\"RoughlyRoughly 22,855 people are living with it in the UK (Getty Stock Images)Treatment for myasthenia gravis<\/p>\n

While there is no cure, treatments like surgery, medication and emerging therapies are used to manage symptoms.<\/p>\n

The NHS advice is to avoid ‘anything that triggers the symptoms \u2013 some people find that things such as tiredness and stress make their symptoms worse’.<\/p>\n

They also suggest to take medicine that improves muscle weakness and to consider ‘surgery to remove the thymus gland (a small gland in the chest linked to myasthenia gravis)’.<\/p>\n

“It is common for people to have ‘flare-ups’, where symptoms are very troublesome, followed by periods of remission, where symptoms improve,” the NHS says. <\/p>\n

“While remission can sometimes be permanent, this is rare in cases of myasthenia gravis.<\/p>\n

“If severe, myasthenia gravis can be life-threatening, but it does not have a significant impact on life expectancy for most people.”<\/p>\n

\"AA common side effect includes nosebleeds (Getty Stock Images)Common side effects of Atorvastatin<\/p>\n

The NHS<\/a> said that these ‘common side effects of atorvastatin happen in more than 1 in 100 people’:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Nausea or upset stomach<\/p>\n

\u2022 Headaches<\/p>\n

\u2022 Nosebleeds<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sore throat<\/p>\n

\u2022 Cold symptoms such as a runny, stuffy nose or sneezing<\/p>\n

\u2022 Constipation or excess gas<\/p>\n

\u2022 Diarrhea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHS has warned that a prescription medicine used to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,104,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-438281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-nhs","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}