Lactose-Free Statins

Many people who take statin drugs to help lower their cholesterol suffer from muscle pains that the drugs cause.

An article in the Jerusalem Post quotes Prof. Jeff Aronson, clinical reader in clinical pharmacology, University of Oxford, UK, on a new statin drug Ezetrol (ezetimibe) that may lower that risk and may also be lactose-free:

Simvacor is simvastatin, one of a group of drugs (the statins) that inhibit an important enzyme in the synthesis of cholesterol, reducing its production. They can all cause muscle stiffness, pain and tenderness, although the risks are different with different statins. In rare cases there can be severe muscle damage. Ezetrol is ezetimibe, which lowers cholesterol by a different mechanism: It reduces its absorption from the gut. There have been a few anecdotal reports that ezetimibe can also cause muscle damage, but because it is a much newer drug, it is impossible to say at present what the risk is and whether it is less than with the statins. It may be that someone who has had muscle pain from a statin is at a higher risk of muscle pain from ezetimibe, but there is currently no information about that.

You should ask your doctor to see whether this might be a possibility for you, but there is always more risk with newer drugs because they lack the wide usage that brings out previously unknown problems like muscle pains.