Cramps, muscle soreness, pain and weakness. Sounds like a bad day at the Olympics!

No.

They're the side effects millions of people suffer when they take cholesterol-lowering drugs or statins, drugs designed to protect against a potential heart attack or stroke. Their discomfort isn't life-threatening - just a nuisance - but it makes many patients uncomfortable enough that they stop taking them

World-wide, about 52 million patients are prescribed statins. Up to 30 per cent of these patients suffer some sort of muscle pain, causing more than half of them to want off the drug. That decision has significant implications, said Dr. Steven Baker, an assistant professor in the department of medicine of McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

They could wind up in a coronary care unit or medical ward and need cardiac rehabilitation as well as blood pressure and blood thinning drugs - all adding up to billions of dollars in costs to the health care system.

Dr. Baker believes the answer to preventing muscle problems caused by statins may be in adding a safe natural health product to the patient's treatment regime. To prove his hypothesis, he has a 40-patient study underway - the first of its kind. During the eight-week study, all 40 patients are prescribed a cholesterol-lowering drug. In addition, half receive a natural health product while half get a placebo.

As well, creatine kinase (CK) - a muscle enzyme - will be measured and subjects will undergo a 45-minute treadmill test and blood and strength tests.