I just spent 3 days in the hospital due to taking simvastatin. ...

Rosema - I hope you will bring the following recent article to the attention of your physician. Hopefully, it will prevent harm you suffered from happening to other patients. Good Luck.

THE TROUBLE WITH STATINS
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2008/feb2008_Alleviating-Congestive-Heart-Failure-With-Coenzyme-Q10_02.htm

All statin drugs block the biosynthesis of both cholesterol and CoQ10, which explains statins’ common side effects of fatigue, muscle pain and muscle weakness, and a worsening of heart failure.

When CoQ10 levels are lowered by statin drug therapy, one of the first changes to occur is a weakening of heart muscle function, known as diastolic dysfunction. This has nothing to do with diastolic blood pressure, but rather represents impairment in the relaxing or filling phase of the cardiac cycle. After heart muscle contracts, it takes a great deal of cellular energy, or ATP, to re-establish the calcium gradients such that muscle fibers may relax. Thus, if diastolic dysfunction is severe, it can result in congestive heart failure.

In 2004, a study published in the American Journal of Cardiology showed that diastolic dysfunction (heart muscle weakness) occurred in 70% of previously normal patients treated with 20 mg a day of Lipitor® for six months. This heart muscle dysfunction was reversible with supplemental CoQ10. Heart failure that develops after years of statin drug therapy can be termed statin cardiomyopathy and may well be playing a role in the epidemic of congestive heart failure in the United States.

It is important for the reader to be aware that for every adverse side effect caused by statin drug therapy, one can find a drug company-sponsored trial concluding that statins actually benefit the condition they may induce. Good examples are studies that suggest statins are useful in the treatment of cancer, when in fact some studies suggest that they could be carcinogenic; another study suggests that statin therapy may be helpful in dementia, when other evidence indicates that statins impair mental function; finally, studies that conclude statin therapy improves heart failure, when in fact it appears to weaken both skeletal muscle and heart muscle.
In an effort to determine the prevalence of adverse effects from using statins, we studied 50 consecutive new patients, all of whom were taking a statin drug at the time of their initial visit.

All 50 patients were found to have one or more side effects from statin therapy, so we discontinued their statin drugs and began supplemental CoQ10. Patients were followed for an average of 28 months with the following observations in the prevalence of adverse effects:
A high prevalence of skeletal muscle pain and weakness at 64% on initial visit was reduced to 6% in follow-up.
Fatigue decreased from 84% to 16%.
Shortness of breath went from 58% down to 12%.
Memory loss was reduced from 8% to 4%.
Peripheral neuropathy decreased from 10% to 2%.

There were no adverse effects from stopping statin drug therapy with no cases of heart attack or stroke during follow-up. Overall, there was an improvement in heart muscle function on discontinuation of statin therapy and addition of supplemental CoQ10. However, due to powerful propaganda surrounding both cholesterol and statin drug therapy, many patients and physicians are afraid to stop statin therapy.