Cholesterol test symptoms and conditions

I have been reading all of your Simvastatin experiences with high interest and would like to share my adventures with all of you as well. My story began seven years ago when I was relatively healthy and enjoying life. My doctor prescribed Lipitor for my elevated cholesterol and two months later I found myself in the emergency room after having a severe bout with vertigo for the first time in my life. I have since spent the last seven years fighting this debilitating illness which continues to haunt me after having seen every top neurologist in my area and having taken every neurological test available. It would be as difficult to convince me that I was not somehow "poisoned" by Lipitor as it was for me to convince my doctor.

I was eventually prescribed Simvastatin 40MG and seemed to stabilize for a few years even though my dizziness problems persisted. Suddenly I began experiencing bouts of upset stomach and severe lower abdominal pain. I allowed my doctor to order basically every nasty test known to man in an effort to discover the cause of this new problem, but all have come up negative so far. Eventually I began to experience total exhaustion in the middle of my work day, not to mention the back, neck, and muscle pain that has been described so vividly in this forum. Basically, I have become a 53 year old man who feels much older, has absolutely no energy, and rarely has a day when I can honestly say I feel alive and well.

I am not a doctor and I can't honestly prove that Simvastatin is the cause of all of my problems. However, I do have common sense and after reading all of your thoughtful comments on the subject I would be foolish to at least not suspect that the drug may possibly be making me less healthy and not more healthy. Thank you all for opening my mind to this possibility and I certainly plan on discussing this with my doctor very soon, who may no longer by my doctor should he continue to insist that I take this nasty drug.

I am in shock and so glad that I came to this website. I have been taking simvastatin for about 5 months now and this morning I decided to do a web search with the words simvastatin and headaches. Everyday I for the last two months I have been asking myself why am I having these terrible headache. My Doctor did a CT scan, I had my eyes tested, I had my hearing tested, my blood tested and everything comes back good. I realized that I have to do something about this problem myself because my doctor prescribed another pill for the headache and that's that. Today I did not take the medication and I will not be taking it again. The symptoms that everyone described are so real to me but the headaches were the worst. I have to thank you all for posting this information. I now feel that I will get my life back.
Thanks verdul1

I am a 62 yr. old female and in good health. In January 2007, my doctor ordered a cholesterol test and the results indicated a number of 237..."bad" cholesterol was not horrible, "good" cholesterol was very good. The doctor put me on 20mg of Lipitor without any hesitation... After a week or so, I started having horrible leg and muscle pain, so when I went back in 3 months (cholesterol 181), I told him I couldn't take this med, so he put me on Zocor. Really bad joint pain with this one, so I went back again in 3 months(cholesterol about the same) and told him again that this one had similar side effects and diarrhea. He then put me on Crestor...took this med, but was so lethargic and in a fog, my family told me to get off of that one. Went BACK to the Dr. in 3 mos., told him I couldn't take this one...he put me on prescription strength fish oil (6 per day) saying that this one should not have side effects. Other than some gastric/intestinal rumblings and some diarrhea, it was ok, but when I had my cholesterol checked it had gone up HIGHER than when I started this whole ordeal, so he put me on Welchol...saying that this one was not absorbed in the blood...blah,blah, blah... Still had the gastic/intestinal issues, SO when I went back 3 mos. later in March 2008 (cholesterol 200)and having already stopped this one myself, I told him I was NOT going to take any more meds for this "issue," and I would manage it with diet and exercise. I told him that this was supposed to be the best time in my life, and I was tired of feeling so poorly. He blatantly told me that if I did stop taking the cholesterol "you'll probably have 10 good years and 10 "crappy" years, and he was visibly angry about MY personal health decision. I had at one point during that the 1 year + mentioned to him about the information that I had been reading online...he pooh-poohed the whole "internet" thing, indicating that he had better information (I"M THE DOCTOR" syndrome!). Needless to say, I don't trust him, BIG PHARMA, or anyone else who says that these statin drugs are NOT harmful...My husband has since stopped taking Lipitor, due to our children and me noticing lapses in his memory. These drug companies and doctors are totally ignoring the side effects and health issues of the unsuspecting public. Hopefully, the truth will emerge, but how long it takes...who knows??????? I am glad I'm not on them anymore...I feel GOOD, and I know that whatever aches and pains I have ARE from aging and not drugs!!

In response to dtrzaski post Im am sending out this question to everyone. We know there have been stool/stomach/weight issues. Are there any other children that it has been discovered to have high cholesterol. My son was discovered to have high cholesterol at around 3yrs old, apprx 6 months after starting Singulair (regardless of a very healthy diet lots of fruit and veggies!) Any thoughts out there?

I had posted this question a few days ago about Desogen.....or birth control pills in general. I wanted to know if there was some association with birth control pills and cholesterol. I reciently had a cholesterol test done and one done eight months ago and the results are quite different going from normal range to low high. I am forty, very healthy with diet and excersize, although I do have a father with high cholesterol who had a bipass at age 63, also extremely active and healthy with diet. My doctor is quick to put me on medication. Of all places, I opened up this months Glamour magazine and found a tiny little article about a study on the association with birth control and hightened cholestrol, just a theory possibly.

I had an experience with Loestrin 24 Fe that caused me to have to stop taking it. I'm 43, in good health, non-smoker, no weight issues, no blood pressure issues. My longtime OB/GYN said that there were 2 types of BC pills for women "of my age", Yaz and Loestrin 24 Fe. He mentioned that more women have reported to him that they had sex drive issues with Yaz but that more were reporting skin (acne) issues with the Loestrin....figuring it was counter to the point if I had low sex drive issues, I opted for the Loestrin. Started on it in March of last year...spotted pretty much every day for 6 weeks...then moderate spotting with light "periods". At about month 3, I started having moderate headaches. At month 5, I was in a movie theater seeing a movie with my boyfriend and all of a sudden, I felt what was like a wave of heat start at my toes and radiated up to my head....and then I felt paralyzed....couldn't move and felt like the room was spinning. An hour later when the movie was over, I was having trouble walking straight and remained shaky and dizzy. The next day, I had a migraine for only the 2nd time in my life, the first one having been 4 years earlier. Went to my regular doctor the next week and she gave me some migraine meds and told me that my blood pressure was up and my blood sugar was off the charts. She advised me that if I stopped taking the pill, it could make my symptoms worse. At this point, I was at my 4 days with the brown iron pills. To test the theory, once my 4 days were done, I took the first white pill of a new pack. Within 30 minutes, it felt like someone had hit me in the back of the head with a 2 x 4! That was all I needed to know. Later that week, I went in to give blood for a cholesterol test and to do a glucose tolerance test (never had any issues with this in my life to this point). The glucose tolerance test results were normal but my cholesterol was 239. That was July. Called my OB/GYN and he said no more pill...we could try the Mirena IUD once I had my next cycle. Went to see him in Sept to have it installed but ended up having it removed the first week of Feb of this year because I was dizzy, bloated, had acne, had severe headaches again, was extremely fatigued and my sex drive was in the toilet. The day it was removed, my stomach flattened back out and my fogginess lifted. Sex drive is back, skin is clear...feel like a real person again...AND my cholesterol was down to 196 without any real changes. My research tells me that the estrogen has an effect on your blood lipids so for me it impacted my cholesterol. The progestins in both the Loestrin and in the Mirena are what gave me the headaches.....I just can't take that drug. Good luck to all of you....I just don't think most of us "of a certain age" can take hormonal birth control.

I'm a 47 year old male and have been on 20Mg Daily Lipitor for about 4 years. Everything was mostly fine until about 1 year ago when I started experiencing severe hip and groin pain. I played hockey regularly up until that time and assumed the problem was a hockey related injury, though never remember any specific incident that may have been directly responsible. I told my doctor I thought it was a sports hernia because the symptoms and suspected cause held a close resemblance. X-Rays, MRI and Bone Scans were all negative. Physical Therapy was a useless waste of money. I was in agony for over a year and barely able to walk some days. Could no longer participate in hockey or other sports. Even coaching youth sports was a challenge due to the pain that greatly limited my mobility. The maddening part of it all was the doctor's had no explanation and just wanted me to continue with Physical Therapy. My wife casually suggested to me that maybe it was the Lipitor as she had heard some recent news on TV related to Lipitor and muscle pain. I told her she was being ridiculous and that's when I started to do some internet research and came across this site. It's all starting to add up. I've been off Lipitor for a week and the pain on my left hip is almost completely gone while the pain on the right side has shown significant improvement. While I am seriously happy that I think I have found the cause of my pain, I am incredibly angry that not a single doctor (I saw a total of 3) even suggested the possibility that the problem might be the Lipitor. They all new I was taking it. I know the drug has had highly positive affect on most people and saves lives but I feel that I've lost a year of my life to it.

60 year old female - 115 lbs. Got a cholesterol test result which was way off - 3 times as high as all other tests. Rather than retesting to make sure results were accurate I was given a prescription for 80 mg of Lipitor. Felt terrible - cut my dosage in half 6 weeks later - and stopped altogether about a month after..was experiencing major muscle pain and lethargy/depression. 4 months later got a sudden rotator cuff tear in left shoulder - not from doing anything unusual at all. Had this shoulder repaired - and THEN had to have 2 more surgeries to fix a MAJOR tear on my right shoulder - all within a year of taking this Lipitor. Had not experienced any problems before taking medication.

I'm 66 yrs old white female and I have been taking lipitor for 3 months now and I take 5 mg a day. While I take 5 mg a day lipitor, I had a problem with my memory, my Husband noticed it. I decided to call the
drug store to talk to the pharmacist to see if I could cut my dosage into a
half of pill and he said it would be ok. I was taking the half of lipitor for two wks and my memory started to inprove quite a bit. my memory was still not
completely back to normal. had problems grasping what I watched on a history channel, I couldn't recall what the topic was about. I did have a cholesterol test taken and my Doctor said my cholesterol went from 268 down to 180, my LDL drop from 185 down to 75. My doctor ask me how I was doin on my lipitor and I told him about cutting my pill into a quarter and also I was taking coQ10 , my Doctor was amazed about my test turning out really good. I found out that any Statin drug depletes the body of coQ10. my primaryDr told me to continue taking coQ10 with the quarter pill of lipitor.I'm doing great on a quarter pill. I would like everyone to know that if they ask their dr

I have written several times on this page. The latest, I told you my cardiologist was unhappy when I took myself off of Lipitor and he is trialing me on another statin, Crestor. I immediately had similar signs plus nausea. I have again taken myself off of statins. I do not have a family history of heart disease but do strokes. My husband takes statins so far with no problems. I am going to try and take over the counter fish oil and Niacin and not tell my doctor. Then, I will take a cholesterol test and see what happens. I am going to watch the diet sooooo close and really stick to exercise. If it does not work, I do not know where to turn. I just don't think everyone can take statins and doctors won't admit it and think the affects without it are worse than with. I will keep everyone posted on my over the counter stuff.....nelll

Inherited high cholesterol. Recent blurred vision in left eye that started with a vitreal detachment but led to loss of vision prompted the eye specialist to contact my primary physician. After MRI, etc., determined vascular disease. Immediately place on Zocor 40 mg per day along with low dose aspirin. That was 2 months ago. I now have ankle swelling, heart palpatations, weight gain all in the middle, night sweats, hot flashes and awful dreams. Had a fasting cholesterol test done on Monday. Results - Satisfactory (whatever that may mean) since the doctor did not bother to quote the levels on the small postcard sent to me to give results. I WILL be telephoning his office first thing Monday morning!

I suffered a large MI 22/11/2003 and as well as three stents, was placed on a drug therapy that included 40mg lipitor. My life expectancy is not long and I have already exceeded expectations. on 8/12/2003 I had a left side stroke and during the next six months, the pain and immobility in my left side increased which I considered to be my fate after my stroke. I collapsed two weeks ago and was hospitalized while tests were carried out to find out the reason. I am still under review but I took this as an opportunity on discharge to stop the lipitor and see what happens. After ten days the pain in my left foot and ankle, left hip and pain in the chest almost vanished. The left shoulder pain was reduced to being almost non-existant and the lower back pain also. I could almost run upstairs now and no longer feel like a cripple. However I re-introduced a 10mg dose of Lipitor and within 24 hours the pain, discomfort and immobility were back to as bad as before. I do not intend to suffer the last few months of my life in agony and will consider other options. I am having another Liver function and cholesterol test in 10 days time. I will see what my values will show then.

I'm really glad I found this board. It reassures me I'm not nuts. I'm a 53 yr old woman. I'm overweight and underactive. I'm on 10 mg Lipitor and just started 2 days ago. I also take Toprol to reduce my blood pressure which is now at 120/80. I started the Toprol last week. The Toprol puts me in a daze during the day. I take the Lipitor at night. This morning I woke up groggy. I felt light-headed and spacey. Funny taste in mouth. Tongue kind of burns. Some pressure in ears. My feet were freezing and the left foot tingly. It took hours for my feet to warm up and feel normal. Sometimes my scalp feels tingly too. I went to my doctor because I was feeling light-headed and had other symptoms. So I'm going through a series of tests: stress test, brain MRI etc. Most of my labs came back great. Here's my plan: if there are no other problems with my heart or brain I plan to move my diet toward vegetarianism. I've already started doing that. I also found a gym that I hope to join. After 6 months of a good diet and exercise I'll ask my Dr. if I can come off the Lipitor for a certain number of months. We can do a cholesterol test and see where I'm at. Staying on any statin long term doesn't sound safe at all. Thanks!