Diagnosed with type symptoms and conditions

I initially started taking Lipitor from my doctors prescription about two and a half years ago, after I was diagnosed with type two Diabetes. (as well as taking blood pressure medicine and a diabetes pill twice a day) I didn't really notice any side effects for a about a year and a half,(I now realize that I was starting to have them, but didn't know they were attributable to lipitor)until about 8 months ago when my doctor increased my liptor from 20mgs to 40mgs. She did this because the cholesterol limit had been lowered.

I immediately started to get more tired and fatigued. Lots of muscle aches and lethargy. I noticed more tingling (especially at night or upon waking)in my right arm and especially my fingers on both hands. As well as feeling of having arthritis. I previously had some tingling and shoulder pain in the past, but I had always attributed this to the fact that I am a cameraman and carry cameras on that shoulder. (I had memtioned some of my pains to my doctor 8 months ago and she sent me to get an x-ray for my neck and shoulder which ended up negative.) At this same visit 8 months ago, my doctor increased my Lipitor dosage and then I really had more noticeable problems with my right neck, arm, elbow and fingers. I could not sleep on my left side because my whole neck would tingle, and I was having severe pains in my right elbow like tennis elbow, I also developed a trigger finger (kind of a bad arthritis feeling)where I can barely close my right middle index finger. It hurts and throbs most of the time, and I can't close it normally without pain. And when I try to open it up, it kind of pops open like the knuckle is stuck...I am going to get it x-rayed. It was also very hard to concentrate, and my memory was getting worse.

I recently went to see my doctor about all this fatigue and muscle aches. I asked her if my symptoms could be from the lipitor (because she once said to tell her if I develop any bruises or muscle aches) and she said they could and that some people won't take statin drugs because of the side effects and that people do a lot or research on the internet. Anyway, she was going to schedule a blood test for muscle enzymes that would possibly show muscle weakness from my prescriptions, but she looked into my mouth and said Aha! You have strep throat! And she totally blamed all my symptoms to strep throat and prescribed antibiotics. She even said that my finger could be a by-product of the strep throat. I never even had a sore throat! I took the antibiots for the 3 days and then I did my internet research and found this site and I couldn't believe my eyes that so many people were having the same type of symptoms and problems from taking Lipitor.

Well here I am 3 or so weeks later and I have stopped taking Lipitor! I have a ton more energy and am not tired all the time. I can also concentrate better and I also noticed my memory and attentiveness has gotten better since I stopped taking Lipitor on August 7th. I still have my trigger finger though, it hasn't gotten any better. But most of my muscle aches have gone away. I am going in soon to my doctor again and show her all this information from the web site.

I will probably try some of the natural remedies that I have read about on the website to lower my cholesterol and also mention these to my doctor.