Schizoaffective disorder Symptoms and causes Very rarely, statins can cause life-threatening muscle damage called rhabdomyolysis (rab-doe-my-OL-ih-sis). Rhabdomyolysis can cause extreme muscle pain, liver damage, kidney failure, and death. The risk of very serious side effects is extremely low. Only a few cases of rhabdomyolysis occur per million people taking statins. Other possible but rare causes […]