The atoms in glucose are rearranged over the course of many metabolic steps until finally cholesterol is made. Cholesterol is necessary for cell and tissue membrane integrity as well as being itself changed into various steroid hormones. Its just that too much of it clogs arteries. Thus it was found that statins inhibit (poison) one of the steps (indicated here by the red line that cuts one of the synthetic arrows). Unfortunately synthesis of ubiquinone (aka coenzyme-Q) is also affected, and ubiquinone is a necessary component for the fundamental oxidation of foods by mitochondria and their making energizing amounts of ATP. Thus, while statins block cholesterol synthesis, they also block the making of ubiquinone causing a drop in ATP and all the consequent side-effects.*
If the mitochondria detect a persistent defect in this energy pathway (aka: the electron-transport pathway), they will begin emitting into the host cell some components which trigger apoptosis (a programmed sequence of reactions leading to cell death). One outward symptom of excessive apoptosis is accelerated aging.**
It is thus suggested that if you are taking statins AND suffering tired feelings and charlie-horses, put yourself on a regimen of ubiquinone - about 100 to 150 mg/week, which is about 3 or 4 capsules spread over a week. Over-the-counter ubiquine is usually sold as CoQ-10 in the vitamin/nutrient supplement section of your supermarket or drugstore.
* More technically, "B" in the diagram is farnesyl-pyrophosphate, which can be folded up in a next reaction into something akin to ubiquinone, or can join with a second farnesyl-pyrophosphate and the two become squalene ("C"), which, when folded up becomes cholesterol, some of which in turn can later be modified into various "steroid" hormones or even vitamin-D.
**The "gold standard" of medicine is that lengthened life-span should be the result of taking a medication. This is assumed with the taking of statins and lowering the chances of stroke and heart attacks. BUT there is no evidence that statins increase the life-span because they accelerate agng!