Cholesterol medication muscle soreness side effects?

[Mace111]

I have been on provastatin for a couple of years and have noticed very sore stiff muscles (expecially at night).  My doctor has changed my medication to Crestor which I was told to first take one a week for a couple of weeks, then (2) pills a week for 6 weeks then he will order another blood test.  How long does it take after I go off the first medication before I should be able to tell if it is the medicine causing my muscle soreness? My cholesterol was a total of 282 with a HDL cholesterol in the 80's.

[Owsleygirls]

I am unable to take any statin medication as I get severe muscle cramps with each one.  I was placed on Zetia but since going on Medicare I find it too expensive to purchase.  Any suggestions for other medications would be appreciated.

[erijon]

It normally will take a week or less for all side effects to go away. Remember, your statin has a half life of about 14 hours which means after 14 hours you have eliminated half of the medication. You will then eliminate half of the remaining have after the next 14 hours and so on and so on. As you can see, it takes a considerable amount of time to get it completely out of your system,

Jon