Red yeast rice?

[Hulkbulk8]

I have been taking metformin for about two weeks with every meal
(2000mg Total split through the day)
and then realize that my weight drastically was dropping, muscles were fatigued and I was starting to get more tired through the day. I was getting leaner but losing size. My diet is spot on as I am eating 3000-3200 clean calories.
400g protein
250g carbs
70g fat

Anyhow I stopped the Metformin about 2 weeks ago thinking that was the problem. Well weight is still dropping!
The only thing I think it could be would be the red yeast rice I am taking 2400mg split am and pm. I read this....

Rhabdomyolysis (breaking down of muscle tissue) is a known side effect of hepatic 3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA) inhibitor (statin) therapy such as atorvastatin and other statin drugs. Since red yeast rice is supposed to work in a similar way as statins, such as LIpitor, it is possible that the risk of red yeast rice use in high doses or for prolonged periods could be similar to side effects as statins in terms of muscle tissue damage.

I have been on the red yeast rice 2400mg a day for 3 months.

Not sure if it's from the red yeast rice or the Metformin that is causing the muscle weakness and fatigue?

Thoughts

 

[Stewie]

Yes it's possible, if you had unadulterated red yeast rice (which is hard to come by) which contains monacolin K --lovastatin. Which has been shown to lower coenzyme Q10 levels.

The irony of this is some people won't take a statin due to the potential of rhabdomyolysis. Yet they'll take RYR because it's natural. It's the same thing as lovastatin.

I'd suggest taking 300-400mg a day of ubiquinol along with 250mg twice a day of magnesium glycinate and 1,000 mg of citrulline 2 to 3 times a day.

 

[MuzzleMan]

It's as Stewie said, they both are the same thing. Both statins and red yeast rice are fungal toxins. And although red yeast rice is safer than statins they too have been implicated with some serious adverse events, such as neuropathy.

Statins are tightly linked to muscle disorders, higher mortality, cancer, cataracts, erectile dysfunction, neuropathy, etc. Statins and a Dr. Oz advertised diet pill, garcinia cambogia extract, are also substantially associated with diabetes and this was found to happen even with a low dose of statins over a prolonged period of intake - study the scholarly report at The Dangers of Cholesterol-lowering Agents like Statins, Red Yeast Rice or Weight Loss Supplements: Hyperglycemia

Users of red yeast rice may face a similar risks. Because it's likely that not all of the adverse effects seen with red yeast rice use are due to product contamination but to physiological perturbations in the aftermath of blocking cholesterol production (read the article cited above, especially look at Figure 7 to see how irrational it is to block the production of cholesterol!).