IF YOU’RE TAKING STATINS, you may want to take Coenzyme Q10. I’ve been taking low-dose statins for nearly ten years, and I’ve noticed that adding a CoQ10 supplement really made a difference in terms of energy and vitality. I’ve mentioned that to a few other people and heard the same thing. For a while I was taking a resveratrol supplement that also contained Coenzyme Q10, then I switched to one that didn’t and noticed that I didn’t feel as good. As an experiment, I stopped the resveratrol and started just a Coenzyme Q10 supplement and it became clear that it, not the resveratrol, was the reason I had felt so good on the earlier supplement.

UPDATE: Reader Mary Forman writes:

As a physician, I’ve recommended plenty of Coenzyme Q10 for statin takers without having to provide references. However, isn’t it pretty unusual for Instapundit to make a recommendation of this nature without some linky goodness?

Well, that’s because I’m writing from personal experience. If you google statins and Coenzyme Q10, you’ll find that statins deplete blood levels of Coenzyme Q10, though there’s some question about whether they deplete it in tissues and organs. It’s all pretty inconclusive. But this is about my experience. Use it as you choose.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Manny Klausner writes:

After reading your post about your taking low-dose statins, I thought you’d be interested in knowing about my experience.

I had been taking Simvastatin 20 mg for nearly 3 years and I was having some adverse side effects that seemed to be related to the statins or my blood pressure medication.

I told my internist in August that I was now regularly practicing Tai Chi, and had improved my diet — and I’d lost 10 pounds — and I’d like to discontinue the statins and my blood pressure medication. I stopped taking the statins and was examined by my internist nearly 3 weeks later.

My cholesterol levels (after 18 days without the statins): 177 total; 115 LDL & 50 HDL. My blood pressure was 110/70.

My doctor said that I don’t need to take the statins any more and reduced the dosage of my blood pressure medication.

He said, “Keep doing what you’re doing; it’s obviously working.” I expect that he’ll take me off of my blood pressure medication on my next exam.

My blood pressure is awesomely low. Cardio in combination with the statins gives me good blood numbers, but neither seems to make as big a difference on its own. But that’s my experience. There seems to be a lot of individual variation here. The Insta-Wife’s cholesterol is borderline high, but is actually lower now than it was when she was a vegetarian who ran marathons. I credit the addition of bacon to her diet — is there anything it can’t do? . . . .