Roughly 20 million Americans use statin drugs to help reduce cholesterol in patients at high risk for heart attacks, and they are among the most widely prescribed drugs in the world. Statins are popular and effective, and although they are considered safe, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lists several potential side effects, including muscle pain and damage. Doctors say the benefits outweigh the risks.

Some patients disagree. Studies have shown that people taking statins were plagued with muscle pains severe enough to prompt them to quit taking the drugs. A 2005 study in the journal Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy found some patients were in such severe pain that they were confined to bed and unable to walk. A 2007 study in the journal Clinical Therapeutics found that patients on the drugs were twice as likely to experience muscle weakness.

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Scientists believe these muscle weakness and pain events are connected to drug interactions, not the statin drugs themselves.

“If you think about the drug interactions, then you can better predict who is going to get into trouble and who is not, and maybe you should be using that information to select your drugs,” Dr. Underberg, a clinical assistant professor at the New York University School of Medicine told the New York Times.

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Other side effects of statin drugs, according to the FDA, are; memory loss, which is believed to be reversible upon discontinuance of the drugs; the development of Type 2 diabetes due to increased blood sugar levels; and rare cases of liver damage.

ALERT: 4 Things You'll Feel Before a Heart Attack

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