Cognitive ability symptoms and conditions

I have been on 20 mg Lipitor for years, and as I also have Rheumatoid Arthritis, all my symptoms have been blamed on that. I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and put on Lyrica because of the muscle aches and depression. My lower back, hurt in a car accident when I was 17 years old, had gotten so much worse that I had 12 steroid shots in my lower spine a couple of years ago. They didn't help my back at all, but my blood sugar went from normal to diabetic levels, and I am now on Byetta to try to lower it.
I am a 56 year old woman who was the math specialist in a school district until last December when I had to retire early. My back pain was so severe that I could no longer go from school to school carting materials. I could barely make it from the parking lot to my office. Mentally I was not ready to retire, but physically, I was (and am) a wreck. I have severe muscle pain in my shoulders, sometimes one or the other, but always present. I have tingling in my right hand, especially in my fingertips, and have trouble gripping and drop things easily. In the last few months the pain in my right thigh and calf has gotten unbearable. I thought at first it was sciatica, but I have had sciatica before, and this isn't the same, although there is tingling, burning , but the pins and needles is so deep in the muscles I have just sat and cried, or wanted to scream. I have wished I could just cut my leg off. And...I am on some pretty heavy duty pain killers for the RA: a small dose of prednisone plus Enbrel, Methotrexate, and Vicodin, and this pain is cutting right through all these meds. I get severe headaches, I went off Lipitor for 5 days and seemed a little better, but then went back on, and it came back.
Since I no longer work, I sleep longer, am exhausted ALL the time, have terrible mental fog, am clumsy, cannot stand for more than a minute or so without wanting to scream, cannot walk more than a few yards...just getting to the car is an ordeal. I tell people that I can only shop in shoe stores and furniture stores...the only stores with places to sit down.
I no longer cook or clean, cannot play with my granddaughter, even holding a book to read can be too much, and I love reading. I feel I am just dying bit by bit as I lose parts of myself.
My doctor is really into lowering cholesterol, and has put me on Zetia in the past few months...and it has been in this time that the pain in my leg has gotten unbearable. He wants my cholesterol to be between 50-60, and has said that the Zetia along with the Lipitor will do that. Is this normal or in any way reasonable??? I am having a full blood workup done tomorrow morning, and I want to go off the Lipitor starting the day after.
I came across this web site tonight while looking up Lipitor side effects, and I am shocked. I have so many of these symptoms, and there are so many I had no knowledge of at all. I knew about the muscle aches, but that's all. I hope someone can help me with what supplements and vitamins I should be taking. I started taking CoQ10 a month or so ago. What else should I be taking for my health? I know vitamin C and fish oil, but don't know how much or anything else. Right now I am just stunned with the thought that all of these problems that have left me unhappily retired, exhausted and in constant pain can all be caused from a drug I have been taking to help me be healthier.

I started prednisone last week because of an allergic reaction I had to I dunno what (yet). I started with a solumedrol shot, followed 12 hrs later by a kenalog shot, followed 12 hrs after that by oral prednisone q 24 hrs. The 'fog' is fucking horrible; I can't think straight. I'm at the end of a medic class and have finals this weekend - and I'm scared that I'll be in the middle of a fog during the exams and will fail miserably.

It's unlike anything else I've experienced. It's not a drunk or stoned feeling, it's literally like I've lost cognitive ability and cannot process information. For instance: I wanted to make some tea and forgot how to turn on the kettle.

Does anyone else experience wild mood swings? I'm not normally a tearful person, but the past few days have seen me crying uncontrollably for no reason whatsoever - and this morning, I started laughing whilst I was crying and just couldn't stop. My family think I'm losing my mind, and were I not taking prednisone, monteluklast and fexofenadine I'd agree with them. As it is, I feel somewhat reassured that it's the medications that are causing these symptoms, but holy cats, is it ever weird to feel this way.

I feel so bad for you folks who are faced with the prospect of long-term cortico-steroid therapy. If any of you would like to talk, please contact me at ****** .

Good luck, y'all!

For about 6 months I experienced severe cognitive disturbances. I had trouble remembering things, and making basic connections. I also had chronic fatigue, and terrible headaches, severe depression, moodiness, trouble sleeping, and trouble making sentences. I was so out of it that I couldn't make the connection with the medicine. I was 16 at the time, and my doctor thought it was just normal teen issues or something equally absurd My eyesight became worse, and my usual ability to retain information in school was butchered. Once I got off it, I felt much better. I could think again, and no was no longer forgetting important things, like my best friends name. However, it has been a half year since I got off, and some of the symptoms still persist, although in a much less degree. I am afraid of permanent damage, especially with my cognitive ability.

Hi, my 14 year old daughter was prescribed Topamax about 6 months ago due to migrains that started when she had Mono. The mono lasted a good five months and the nuerologist to whom we were referred prescribed Tomamax after nothing else worked.

This morning as she was leaving for school, she said " I will take Aleve twice a day for the rest of my life, the Tomamax has made me stupid and I can't take it anymore!" With that my beautiful, brilliant daughter was out the door.
I am sick that I didn't look into this drug sooner. I found this site and am floored at all the side effects that sound exactly like hers. She has always been an A+ sudent who works hard, she lately has been saying she feels dumb, can't remember things, her knees hurt, her hair is falling out, she can't think, she is depressed etc. I have been downplaying her symtoms and blaming it on the mono. I am outraged at the craziness this drug has obviously caused and my failure to recognize the cause.

My questions now are, can she quit the Topamax immediatly and when, if ever can she expect her cognitive ability to return?

Please tell me the effects are not life long and what my next step should be to help relieve her of these symptoms.

Peace, Becky