Cholesterol drugs symptoms and conditions

I started taking 20mg of Simvastatin on 10/17 due to high cholesterol. Five days later I came home from work feeling very tired and fell asleep. I woke up feeling severe flu like aches and pains in places I didn't know could hurt and then got the chills. I stayed home from work the next day and it's a good thing I did. I awoke with a severe cramp in my upper right thigh. I have always been prone to calf cramps so wasn't too concerned. However I stopped the meds on 10/22. This continued on a daily basis and I went to the dr on 10/27. I had an x-ray done which showed a bulging disc and some uncushioned discs. She put me back on the meds BUT with a COq10 am and pm and cut the pill in half. Do you think she knew it could be from the med? I foolishly restarted and by 11/4 took myself back off, had an MRI and such severe nerve pain in my right leg that I thought I would die. It was a bolt of lightening starting at my upper thigh and coming out the bottom of my foot. It felt like a hot poker running down my leg. The episodes were on a daily basis, would come every two hours, and could last as long as 45 minutes with no relief. I am now going for pain management and had an epidural a week ago which got rid of the nerve pain but I am still numb down my right leg to my right ankle. I have been healthy for years and feel that this was all brought on by Simvastatin. Any idiot can figure out that your nerves are running through your muscles. I am angry to think that this could have caused me permanent damage.

I started taking Lipitor in April 2009 and my Dr prescribed 10 mg per day. As I usually have negative reactions to medications I compromised & agreed to take it every other day. I am a healthy 56 year old woman and the only medication I take is hormone replacement therapy. I am also in pretty good shape physically. At the end of July I herniated two disc's in my lower back, the L6 & L7, after a day of normal yard work. I could not move for two days and experienced the worst pain of my life. At the time I did not make any connection between Lipitor and this event. The recovery was slow and painful. In Sept I also began to experience sharp pains in my thigh. I read the side effects again regarding Lipitor and determined that this drug is most likely the cause. I decided to stop taking the drug and after three to four weeks the thigh muscle pain disappeared and my back pain significant decreased. Just to make sure I was not imaging the whole thing I took Lipitor twice in the past week and my back pain symptoms returned and I experienced the muscle pain in my thigh again. I was so bad it woke me up. After reading more about Lipitor and the effect it is having on my quality of life I am done with this drug. Although it did reduce my cholesterol I will find another way to control the LDL's & HDL's.

I have been taking 20mg of Simvastatin every night for about 4 years now and after coming across this site I have decided to stop taking it. I have been feeling particularly unwell for a couple of days, decided to do some research and can't believe what I am reading on this site! For the last year I have suffered terrible pain and loss of movement in my neck shoulders and arms and shooting pains in my legs along with muscle tics. More recently dizzy spells and quite severe tinnitus and headpain and fatigue. I have also found that my muscles tire very quickly when doing the smallest of tasks i.e: changing a duvet cover! The night sweats are particularly bad which I have been putting down to my age but may be to do with the statins. I am praying that these symptoms will reverse once I stop taking them but remain skeptical after reading other peoples comments on here!

I am 39 years old and work for an interventional cardiology medical device company in Tokyo, and so know the importance of controling one's cholesterol, keeping the LDL's low and the HDL's high. About two years ago, my doctor put me on 10 mg of Lipitor. Several months later I herniated a disc in my neck between C6&C7. From that point onward, I attributed all of my neck and back pain, and newly acquired total body muscle and joint pain, to the herniated disc, it made the most sense. Over the last seven months, I have really worked on my diet and began to exercise more (even though quite painful) and was able to lower my cholesterol. This resulted in my doctor lowering my Lipitor prescription from 10 mg to 5 mg. I noticed a slight alleviation of the pain I felt in my hip joints and calves. About two weeks ago I took myself off Lipitor completely and found further improvements in my total body muscle and joint pain. It's still there but greatly improved. In retrospect, I now believe the Lipitor may have been the culprit (or at least a contributing factor) to my herniated disc due to muscle degeneration in the neck, and all of the subsequent muscle pain, especially in my hips and calves. I fully understand I am not going to die from calf-pain, but may from heart disease. However, I have found my quality of life has improved tremendously over the last few weeks. Less irritability, better sleep, less pain, clearer head. I feel like I have lost two years of my life on Lipitor via personal suffering and lack of ability to do much of anything with my wife and two young daughters. We all need to take charge of our own health and therefore I encourage anyone who feels completely different after taking Lipitor to engage your physician, and make sure its the right option for you. If damage has been done to my musculature I hope I can reverse it. It is evident to me that some serious clinical studies should be done to investigate Lipitor's effect on muscle degradation and hope others will consider carefully whether or not do go on this drug. If you do, monitor yourself closely.

I am a 70 year old woman, I have been on 20mg Lipitor for high cholesterol, 200 total and 25mg of Spironolactone for a not so high blood pressure, for 3 1/2 yrs. Oh, my God, the Spironolactone is a potassium sparing diuretic that is very dangerous and has many uses I didn't know about or the terrible side effects, it causes breast cancer. It's also used to treat women who have an over growth of hairiness, or on a higher dose to treat hair loss and I've gone bald on the top of my head! Plus all of the good foods we're supposed to eat for high cholesterol, fruit & veggies one isn't to eat on this drug, because of lot's of potassium, what a huge contradiction. And muscle pains, and rashes, (eczema, atopic dermatitis) that I've suffered from both.
Anyway, Lipitor, had know idea about the side effects until I looked it up on the internet and read these posts on here.
I stopped taking Lipitor last week and Spironolactone 2 days ago.
I had cholesterol test last week too and saw my dr. Wednesday. He said it was okay that I stopped the Lipitor, but not the other one, why not the other one worse then Lipitor and why am I on this strong drug, geez.
The pain and burning started in my hip for no reason, then my ankles with eczema which started soon after Lipitor, then my fingers, numbness, can't pick things up, tingling, burning. Then my feet, yes, just like all of you I have these same problems. This is not just coincidental, this is from the drug Lipitor. I get severe joint cramps in my legs, feet and fingers.
For now on before I take any drug I've prescribed I will thoroughly check for side effects and not take it if they're seriously impairing like Lipitor. I feel like a cripple and older then I should feel, I almost just felt like why live anymore if this is how it's going to be.
Since I've stopped Lipitor I feel a little better, I read that it causes permanent muscle and nerve damage though, oh I hope not, I can barely walk anymore or get up out of my chair. This is all drug induced toxicity of my system. Thanks so much everyone who posted for sharing and enlightening all of us who are suffering from this drug and others.
It should be banned along with Baycol, (a statin) which was banned a few months ago because of these same side effects. With the studies that it only helps maybe to prevent heart attack, well I'd rather be able to walk again and hopefully all this will go away, the rash, etc.

Dizziness, back ache, severe hip and shoulder pain, transient global amnesia, after discontinued taking of Lipitor, speech problems, loss of words.

I took Zocor for 25 days when I suddenly had such pain at night in my upper arms that I couldn't raise my arms up at all. It's been 2 full weeks since I stopped taking Zocor, and every single night around 7 I develop severe pain somewhere in my body, usually in my hands, knees or feet. It's in a different place almost every night. Tonight it's in my left hand across the whole top of my hand, below the wrist. Can Zocor cause this kind of pain so long after stopping taking it? And I only took it for 25 days! Please help - this really hurts and I hope it will improve.

Joint pain in fingers, joint pain in knuckles, wrist weakness after a week on 10 mg daily dose of Zetia. Amazing reduction in bad cholesterol and triglycerides when used with daily maximum 80 mg dose. Zetia was discontinued because of these painful side effects. 68 year old male.

I have been on Lisinopril 20 mg for the past 9 years. I can't believe I have taken it for such a long time. I noticed some strange chest sensations 2 years after taking it but pushed through it. Then I developed breast cancer and went through the chemo and radiation while continuing to take it. In the last 2 years and more recently in the last 3 months, I felt so many skipped beats that I had to check it out and I also have had significant hair thinning. I had a holter monitor, resting EKG, lots of bloodwork and was told that everything was normal. Normal???? Then why was I feeling so rotten and scared every time my chest decided to heave or get funny sensations in my throat. Doctors do not want to hear these types of complaints especially when you think it is related to a medication that they ordered.
So I decided to try an alternative approach. I have been taking fish oil, coenzyme 10, cholesterol nutritional supplement, Vit C, Vit E. I started these about a month ago while still taking Lisinopril. I finally stopped the Lisinopril yesterday so I'll see if I have any improvement of my symptoms.I also went to a website that showed 1% of people can have skipped heartbeats while on Lisinopril Here is the URL
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Hope this helps many of you who have similar episodes. MHS

I'm only on 10mg Simvastatin and 10mg Lisinopril. I have type 1 diabetes and a minor TBI from a heat stroke. If I stop taking these then after a day or two I will start feeling barely controllable fits of rage. Sometimes I still get angry but for some reason the lisinopril and Simvastatin seem to ease it. I also have hypogonadism. I like my combo of simvastatin and lisinopril in the morning with my 20mg adderall. Little bit of redness on face but the benefits seem to outweigh.

My total cholesterol was 220 and LDL was 157; I started taking 40mg last week and within 2 days I just felt horrible. I felt weird and yuck in my stomach. There was a fog in my head and 2 days ago I was so dizzy I was almost falling over; I had to catch myself with the walls and doors. The next day, yesterday, I started having higher blood pressure and racing pulse with heart palpitations every 45 seconds or so, which makes me breathe deep often. I have felt pain in the back, arms, neck, and hips. I have also had weight gain and stomach irritability. Last night was the first night I did not take my medicine and even though I don't feel all that better I will see how it goes. I fought taking this medicine for over a year now and since my cholesterol went up I figured I'd try it in hopes my level would drop, but I can't handle this, I'm only 38!

I am a 52 year old female and my bad cholesterol is fine but my good cholesterol is low. I have been taking Lipitor now for a few years and have numb hands and feet to the elbows and knees. My feet are extremely sensitive, worse at night and now I'm getting sharp pains that feel like a bug just bit me. My tongue is also always numb and I do get migraines.I have insane stomach issues and food intolerance. I also take medication for high blood pressure, acid reflux, & thyroid. I have now been diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes but control that with diet so far. Until four years ago I had nothing wrong with me. I am slim and healthy. I had a lump in my thyroid which was removed and there was a trace of cancer. Then like dominos all the other conditions lined up. I have had MRIs and all the tests and doctors insist that I am not a severe enough diabetic to have neuropathy. I can hardly wear shoes now and it hurts when I wear runners while I walk and exercise. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? I hate that my health has become so much a part of my daily life. Does anyone have neuropathy as a result of Lipitor and am I even taking the the right medication since I don't have high cholesterol?

I don't know if I can blame Zocor on my weak thighs--my doctor says that muscle weakness as a result of the drug should include all of my muscles. I've also developed an extremely itchy neck-also not sure if this is related. Weight keeps going up in spite of increased exercise and limiting daily caloric intake to below 1500 calories.

I am a generally active and fairly healthy 77 yr old who had been taking 10 mg of Lipitor for over 12 years with no obvious adverse effects. Recently I started having pain in my right leg, severe enough to wake me at night. This was followed by a significant weakness in both legs, and for a while, accompanied by a lightheartedness. The doctor had me take a series of lumbar and leg x-rays which didn't show much of significance. He wrote a prescription for physical therapy, which I did not follow.
I did internet research on my own which made me aware that Lipitor could be the cause, in spite of the fact that I had tolerating the drug for so many years. I told the Doctor of my suspicions and we agree to stop the Lipitor for at least 6 weeks to see. A few days later, all my symptoms were gone. So be cautious, adverse effects from Lipitor can occur anytime.

4 years ago i was given simvastatin 20mg for high cholesterol when i was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes....last year (November) i stopped taking it after someone commented after hearing me complain about aches and pains and asked if i was taking statins....i checked and found i could relate to several reported side effects...over the last 10 months my aches and pains had slowly disappeared and my cholesterol was recorded at 4.9 in July ....however 4 weeks ago i suffered an optic nerve stroke and my doctor immediately put me back on simvastatin at 40mg despite my complaints is there an alternative i can take as i don't want to risk loosing any more off my vision and as the aches and pains are returning ...i will reluctantly take it but carefully monitor myself....

I am not sure of the origin, but I have my issues outlined below since I switched to the mail order Simvastatin. I was getting it from Rite Aid for over 2 years without issues. I found out mail order Simvastatin was made by same company as Rite Aid, TEVA.

My issue is throbbing in neck, high blood pressure (HBP), twitching in eyes (prob due to HBP), uncomfortable in general. I also know that I took pill in morning and by 9am issue would start and get worse into lunchtime, where is was the worst, then subside by 2 or 3 pm. Doc said it was nerves and stress and gave a script for that. Also said get off of simvstatiin for 2 weeks. Well without much or any change to the stressors in my life work, stock market, etc, I am not experiencing the throbbing or HBP. I have not taken the script for stress or the Simvastatin either. Didn't like the idea doc said you can get addicted to stress pill. I will get back in Simvastatin shortly, but do expect to be back where I was within a week or so. Anyone else experience this throbbing and HBP.

Well I have been on Lipitor 80mg for years (family history of high cholesterol) although no hearts attacks/strokes ever been attributed to the h/chol....without sounding like I'm a hypo I have 3 disk out in my lower back & years ago suffered intense back as a result...the pain which seems to be now all over is horrid ...I have been thinking that it was perhaps arthritis & old age (59yrs).....several months ago I mentioned it to doctor he said Lipitor could cause side effects but he'd keep an eye on it....well this morning after googling "Lipitor" iv'e made a decision & that is to get rid of this medication...everything I'm reading sounds just like what I have been experiencing...thanks for the input I think I have come to realize that it is the medication that is causing all my problems.

I took levaquin for 10 days and then cipro for 10 days after being misdiagnosed with bacterial pneumonia when I really had cocci mycidioidosus (valley fever) a creepy lung infection from a fungus that lives in the dirt here in Ca . Within a few days of stoping the antibiotics I experienced severe joint pain,dizziness,swollen neck ,hives,pain and tingling in my legs and feet,taste perversion,neck pain,hallucinations,nightmares,suicidal thoughts,dead skin,head ache,conjunctivitis. All of which I thought were valley fever related . A few weeks later I started noticing loss of vision and an inability to focus or concentrate on anything. I have ruptured 5 tendons and sometimes can't lift my right arm off the table.
I'ts been a year and 3 months and I still suffer from these side effects and about 3 months ago I started to notice some hearing loss and then ringing in my ears so load that it wakes me up!

This drug has ruined my life.I have lost 2 profitable businesses,a house a car .a commercial building, my credit score is 309 from 760 a year ago.All from a stupid antibiotic that should not be sold in the first place unless you are going to die if you don't take it.....personally I would rather be dead I think.

I think that we (the 1000's of people effected by this drug) should protest,march at ORTHO McNEIL's doorstep and perhaps the FDA....write a letter ,call or write to OPRA...do something ...It's not right that they get away with selling this crap.

Please email me ...I see 1000's of you on these sites...lets get busy!

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Thanks for reading

I was prescribed 500mg Niaspan in hospital following bypass surgery.Doctor nor nurse advised me of side effects which I complained about shortly after taking and advised what I experienced was normal. Heat,flushing from neck up that lasted about 1/2 hour. Been taking for 10days now but symptoms are not daily and still last about 1/2 hour. Tonight I took pill at 9PM and heat,flushing feeling started over 2 hours later and diminishing after 30minutes.

Dizzy, like getting sucker punched in the head; dizzy while LYING DOWN? This also happened with other statin. While bending over to pick something up or tie a shoe, almost fell on my head. Yet, cardiologist thinks it's "all in my head." It sure IS!

Amazing! Like you, I've fallen into this trap. So healthy and in shape at 59, (more like in my 40's), working out every day, happy. Now, after 2 months on Simvastatin, 20mg every other day, my shoulders and neck muscles are so inflamed, swollen and there's more hurt in my upper body than ever in my life. For the past week, I've been having trouble even getting my clothes over my head! Also headaches have started which I've never had before. I thought it was the relatively wet summer we've had this year in Denver, and was believing the weather had brought me into full-blown arthritis. I am so disappointed in myself to have poisoned my body this way, especially after telling my trusted MD for the previous 3 years "no thanks" to a satin drug. Thank God for my chiropractor sat me down yesterday for a consultation for why I was so much in pain. When she found I'd gone on a satin, the light bulb was lit. I will never taking any satin again and will work to always be as drug free as I can be after this lesson. Thanks to those of you who give me hope that I may feel better very soon (yes, it's no way to live) and I pray for no permanent damage from this "Simvastatin".

Two days after taking my first Niaspan ER tablet I began felling itchy all over my body. The itchiness was so troublesome it kept me awake most of one night. I called my doctor's office to report the side-affect, which is listed as "serious" on the information page included with the prescription, but received no response. Obviously they don't care. In order to counteract the symptoms I took two XYZAL antihistamine tablets, which has eased the symptoms, somewhat. This may no be the most safe drug to take in order to lower high triglycerides blood levels.

DOESN'T ANYONE REALLY READ THESE POSTS????? Please don't take anymore of this poison.
Send in a medwatch report by going to www.fda.gov. That is the only thing that might help save others from this horrible nightmare.
I'm going on 5 years since I was poisoned by levaquin. I still have the effects of that horrible poison.
Tell everyone you know not to take it.
Change doctors. Find one that reads and knows what to give for a virus and isn't looking for kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies.
Go to www.fqvictims.org and you will find some helpful hints to help you through this.

What brought me to this site is the fact that I have a bitter taste in my mouth that gradually occurred since I have been on Simvastatin 40 mg for about three weeks. I have also noticed a strange burning/numbness in my heels only, which has also been gradual. I feel more sleepy most days and not what I would call fatigued, but just like I don't feel like doing anything. I eat more just to try to get the taste out of my mouth and don't feel like exercising. I also finally went back to my Pilates class and felt unbalanced when trying some simple stretches. I usually have excellent balance. I guess my question is: Are these things related, and are they going to just get worse?

I'm writing this at 4:50am as I am awake because of a flushing episode. I've been taking Niaspan ER 500mg to raise my good cholesterol for about 9 months. So far it's raised only from 33 to 36. Doctor wants it above 40. My bad cholesterol is fine.

This is probably the 4th time I've had one of these flushing attacks in 9 months. My skin is itchy from head to toe and my body looks like I have a sunburn. The itch is pretty intense almost burning. I never take aspirin before but I heard a low dose (81mg) is supposed to help. I actually just took an aspirin now however to see if it shortens this episode. I also noticed the first time this happened that clothing makes the itch even more intense. So needless to say I'm sitting in bed typing on my iPhone w/ out my shirt on trying to get through this.

I noticed the first couple times these seem to last only 20-30 minutes and this particular one is nowhere near as intense as the first time. Or perhaps I'm just more prepared for it because I was also thinking of going to the ER the first time. In case anyone wonders why this happens, I've read 'niacin converts to nicotinamide in the body, and this is when flushing occurs', during that conversion process. Anyhow I heard there was a flush free ' nicotinamide' form of the drug you can take if the flushing is too much or too often.

Well it's now 5:21am and it's starting to subside to a point where I might be able to sleep. I think removing clothing and trying not to move around or scratch too much certainly helps when you have one of the flushing attacks. Good luck everyone.