Hey mamas,
So my hubby took generic Lipitor for cholesterol, had an adverse reaction and got a terrible low back ache. He went last week for a blood test and his creatine levels came back high. The doc is out of town but the nurse wants him in to see the doc ASAP when he returns nxt week. I put a call in today to see how high his levels were bc after a quick check on the net, this can be serious. He is pretty dehydrated so we are working on that. So, how concerned should I be? Have any of you had this experience and just gotten better? He has to go back for a follow up test and that will tell much more. We are going away together for a few days and were planning to enjoy ourselves, eat, drink and be merry, but we are wondering if he should drink any alcohol? If any of you have experienced this and can share some insight that would be so great. Thank you
Got back w/ nurse, he is high but not critical. They believe it is related to the statin but expect it to come down with hydration. We have follow up next week. Thanks ladies!
P.s. he was only on the stuff for about a month thank God!
I agree with Doris Day...... the statins cause muscle breakdown, which releases myoglobin, which should be filtered out by the kidneys, but can affect the kidneys (thus the low back pain)....
at least if you get cleared by the ER, you would be able to relax more fully.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000473.htm
Hi. I'm a combat medic and deal with dehydration pretty regularly. I'm NOT a doctor, and any advice I give is completely based upon my experience as an EMT and combat medic.
High creatinine levels indicate a problem with kidney function. Which can be caused by dehydration, and in this case probably is. As you've already stated that he is dehydrated, getting him properly hydrated should level him out.
So get him well hydrated. I suggest that you use watered down Poweraid or Gatorade. Not full strength. Put 2/3 cup of Gatorade into 2 cups of water and have him drink it. Do not use ice and do not chill it. Ice cold drinks require metabolic energy to process. He doesn't need to be expending that energy while getting hydrated. He should also not guzzle it.
As for your vacation, once he's hydrated, I don't think that having a couple of drinks will hurt him (2 or 3, no more), but he needs to ensure that he's drinking water and hydrating the whole time. 1 cup of water per drink. He'll know he's doing well when his urine is clear, not yellow or orange.
Don't worry too much, I'm pretty sure his abnormal levels are due to his dehydration. And getting rehydrated is pretty easy. Just be sure you slow down on the hydration once his urine is running clear...and just maintain that level with 6-8 glasses of water per day. If he begins to feel nauseaous while rehydrating, slow down.
I go along with Christ Lee and Doris Day on this one. Hydrate, hyrdrate. You don't want to have to "clean" the blood. The machinery and the amount of time to do that is expensive plus you have to use blood plasma in exchange for your old blood.
Statins do cause muscle pain and other things. I can't take them so I was put on another product to reduce my cholesterol.
Stay away from the alcohol right now and get the kidney thing under control so that there is no permanent damage.
Keep us posted.
the other S.
PS My hubby had to have his blood "cleaned" and it took several weeks to get it where it should be and he was in a life threatening situation until it was cleared up.
I in no way mean to panic you but...as a young widow who lost her husband to kidney failure I suggest you hop on over to the er to get him hydrated. While is is not impossible to rehydrate someone it isn't as simple as some fluids out of a cup. When my husband would dehydrate it would take bags on if fluid to get him better. As others have said kidneys are pretty important and let me tell ya dyalisys is not so much fun for anyone involved! Better safe then sorry!
I think you need to get him to the emergency room. I have a friend who took Lipitor and they had to clean his blood. His adverse reaction to the statin was life-threatening and cleaning his blood had to be done right away. That's why I think you need to get him to the hospital. You would hate for his kidneys to be shot.
I would head to the closest urgent care center (not necessarily an ER b/c this isn't really an "emergency") and see a doctor TODAY. Whether or not he can drink alcohol seems kind of minor right now. Get him checked out TODAY and ask the doctor who sees him about alcohol and sun exposure.
Yep, you've got to get this checked out. No waiting for doc. Find an emergency room or an urgent care doc. Kidneys are pretty vital.
You could call your docs nurse and try to get her to refer you to a specialist. See if she can get you an emergency appt with someone.
I'm not a doctor, just someone who's seen this. High creatine level indicates kidneys are affected, I went through this with my Dad who had kidney failure, his doctor had tests run every 1 to 3 months. Terrible low back ache indicates his kidneys are affected, too.
NO alcohol or eating foods hard on his kidneys, http://www.livestrong.com/article/345992-what-foods-are-h... Stop "working" on hydration, have him do it or the consequences could be quite serious. His kidneys could shut down, affecting his other organs if he doesn't protect them from further damage.
Being proactive until he sees the doctor (I'd call his, ask who's seeing his patients this week or go to an ER). Sorry, the nurses blew it on more than one occasion with my Dad, the doctor reamed them for it, your husband needs to see a doctor, as it is, his may refer him to a kidney specialist if he isn't one.
Best wishes!
Call the nurse and ask for a referral to another doctor. If she doesn't have one, look one up in your insurance. Why wait? Good luck!
He is dehydrated. That will raise creatinine. Have him start rehydrating and make sure he gets enough fluids every day. Get a retest done before you hit the panic button but do it after he is rehydrated.
My hubby took Lipitor for cholesterol with bad side effects too...horrible achiness and forgetfulness. It did not get better with time. He eventually switched to a different kind of chol. medication and a diff dosage and that works really well for him. I say have your husband stop taking the medication and then go in to his doctor and try out something different.
Good advice so far. On your vacation, I suggest that you focus on doing fun activities instead of eating and drinking to be merry. There are some great non-alcoholic drinks out there, like smoothies. Let his kidneys get some rest.
