Statins

Good afternoon everyone.

As a newbie on the forum a quick introduction first. I was diagnosed with PPMS two years ago and walking and balance have deteriorated steadily since then. However I am still upright (mostly) so am trying to keep that way. This forum has been incredibly helpful in answering a lot of my questions, even though you didn’t know I was asking them so thank you.

My latest question is this. My Neuro has recommended Statins (for MS not cholesterol) which I am now taking without any problems (I’ll try anything once). However it says on the packet that I should avoid grapefruit and grapefruit juice. Not that I eat/drink this a lot, but because I’ve been told to avoid it, my brain keeps reminding me how much I like it.

Do any of you know if consuming grapefruit with statins is a big no no or is it just an advisory?

thanks

Sharon

Hi Sharon

Unfortunately I do not know the answer to your question, but hopefully someone will be along shortly who will know.

Have a good day

Pam x

Sadly, I have no idea about grapefruit and statins, but bet a friendly local chemist will be able to provide a decent explanation.

A quick search came up with this explanation.

The Connection Between Grapefruit and Statins

Have you ever heard that you shouldn’t mix grapefruit and certain medications? As it turns out, this claim is true. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, grapefruit can affect the rate at which drugs are processed by the liver.

That can be dangerous, because slower breakdown of the drug means you’ll have more of the drug in your bloodstream. This can cause certain side effects and affect how well the drug works.

One such drug group that has a serious interaction with grapefruit is statins.

http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/grapefruit-and-statins

Hi Sharon I too was told about not drinking grapefruit juice with statins, though I can’t remember when and by whom, I’ve been on Simvastatin for eleven years now. Not a problem for me- I don’t like the stuff!

Going on from this, I take warfarin and you can’t have cranberry juice with that.

Pam x

Thanks for all your responses. Looks like I shall be giving grapefruit a miss.

Sharon

As for fancying something that you don’t even like because you have been ‘told’ not to, is that just MS or sod’s law?Have a good week guysM