Donald Trump‘s physician gave the president a clean bill of health in April, noting that his high cholesterol is ‘well controlled.’
And it seemed, in part, due to two medications, rosuvastatin and ezetimibe, which reduce cholesterol levels and the risk of related heart problems.
But when one man less than half the president’s age tried to take the same drug, rosuvastatin, he experienced alarming symptoms that raised questions about the effects of the medication on his body.
Harvard University metabolism researcher Nick Norwitz, 30, embarked on a six-week experiment to test rosuvastatin, sold under the brand name Crestor, and how it impacted his own cholesterol levels.
Mere weeks into his investigation, however, he suddenly started to have pain in his limbs.
‘It was just a cramping in my leg, in both my calves,’ he told the Daily Mail, adding that it made working out ‘uncomfortable.’
‘Biomarkers for muscle damage also rose in my blood.’
Statins are one of the most prescribed drugs in the world, with more than 200 million people taking the medication globally. Trump, 79, has been taking rosuvastatin since at least 2016, according to White House reports.
Donald Trump’s physician gave the president a clean bill of health in April, noting that his high cholesterol is ‘well controlled’
Nick Norwitz, 30, revealed that he took the same statin as Donald Trump for six weeks
His latest physical did not state his dosage, but in February 2019, Trump’s dose of rosuvastatin was reported to have been raised from ten to 40 milligrams, the maximum dose available.
For Norwitz’s experiment, he took 20 milligrams of rosuvastatin daily for six weeks and tracked his cholesterol levels. He compared the results to his cholesterol levels when he ate 12 Oreos a day for two weeks.
Norwitz has high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol – 400 milligrams per deciliter, four times the recommended guidance – because of his low-carb ketogenic diet, high in fats and protein, but low in carbohydrates.
The diet – which he follows because he has ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease – can cause high cholesterol because it makes the body burn fat rather than glucose for fuel.
But when eating Oreos every day, his body began burning glucose again, resulting in a 71 percent drop in his cholesterol, compared to a 32 percent reduction when he was taking Crestor.
High cholesterol levels are a health risk because it can lead to a buildup of plaque in the arteries, which restricts blood flow and raises the risk of blocked blood vessel and, in turn, a heart attack or stroke.
But just two weeks into taking statins, his limb pain began, which continued until he stopped taking the drug after six weeks. If he hadn’t ended the experiment, his doctor told him that he would have suggested stopping the medication anyways.
One in 100 patients experience common side effects such as join paint, muscle cramps, headaches, nausea, stomach pain and constipation.
Patients have taken to online forums to lament some of the side effects, with one person writing on Reddit: ‘I started taking 5mg rosuvastatin every other day about three to four weeks ago. Two times this week I have woken up feeling like I just climbed up a mountain and then fell off a cliff.’
Meanwhile, another said: ‘I started taking Rosuvastatin for three weeks… and slowly started to notice more soreness in my thighs, arms and calves. It’s starting to get painful to walk.’
Rosuvastatin is sold under the brand name Crestor
Rare and serious complications include rhabdomyolysis, or severe unexplained muscle damage that causes unexplained muscle pain, tenderness, weakness or cramps, shortness of breath, weight loss and skin rash. In severe cases, the drug can literally cause the muscles to start to waste away.
Doctors say the drugs may cause muscle damage because they can damage the mitochondria, the tiny energy factories within cells.
In one extreme case involving rosuvastatin, a South Carolina woman, who had been on the drug for a year, suddenly suffered a life-threatening reaction.
The unnamed 63-year-old woman’s legs began to swell from hip to ankle, became sore and weak, and caused her to fall in her bathroom.
At the hospital, doctors ran a series of tests that showed the muscle damage was likely a result of her taking rosuvastatin.
Trump’s medical team has never previously reported that he has experienced side effects of the drug.
Norwitz declined to comment on whether Trump may suffer from the same side effects he did, saying that he and the president represent ‘very different risk profiles.’
In July, it was revealed that the president had chronic venous insufficiency, a condition where veins fail to pump blood back to the heart, causing some to collect in the legs and leading to swollen legs and ankles.
But Dr Aseem Malhotra, a British cardiologist and former adviser to the Make America Healthy Again movement, alleged that the statins may be doing ‘more harm than good.’
Malhotra previously told the Daily Mail: ‘A common side effect of statins, especially as you get older, are fatigue and things like brain fog.
‘That may well explain some of the observations people have made. There’s also research suggesting statins can cause swelling in the ankles.’
Malhotra – whose anti-statins stance has drawn criticism – claimed that he raised his concerns with two unnamed Trump cabinet ministers, both of whom were ‘very concerned.’
In a response at the time, White House spokesman Kush Desai said: ‘President Trump is a champion-level golfer with the mental acuity and energy levels that most young people could not fathom having.
‘So-called medical “experts,” especially foreign ones with no relevance or involvement in the administration, should stop beclowning themselves and marring their credibility by pitching their idiotic hot takes with Fake News outlets that have nothing better to cover.’