History of heart disease symptoms and conditions

It appears to be, not quite all the facts in yet, but my cardiologist put me on a Lipitor hiatis to see if some of my arrhythmia issues, dizziness and light headedness may be associated with Lipitor.
After just 4 days, I am feeling pretty good! Could be placebo? I don't think so.
After being taken from work in an ambulance to the hospital and experiencing 48 hours worth of testing for a possible coronary, I asked my doctor to examine the possibility of Lipitor causing the symptoms.
I do not have a family history of heart disease. I eat well and am a moderate exerciser. When I was bumped up from 20 mg. to 40 mg. around 6 months ago, my symptoms started.
I have to decide now how much of an elevated cholesterol level I am willing to "live" with. My cardiologist said if it turns out to be the Lipitor, we'll try Zocor and maybe get a higher cholesterol level on my labs, but that's okay. How low does the low need to be??

I am a 44 yr old female. I have been on Zocor for 2 yrs. I have never had high cholesterol. I have a family history of heart disease and after my 44 yr old brother had a heart attack and the transplant, my doctor put me on Zocor as a precaution. I have had problems over the 2 yrs and have been to the doctor many times only to be dismissed as Oh, I need to lose weight, I need to get out of the house more, I need to exercise, It must be my depression....and on and on. I have never had a kidney or liver test in 2 years. I never knew I needed on and my doctor never tested me. I have over 30 symptoms/side effects of Zocor. I only looked into the side effects after my mother-in-law had muscle break down, an intestinal blockage and a ruptured bowel and almost died a few weeks ago. I couldn't believe what I found on this site. I immediately stopped the Zocor. I started to feel better right away but it was short lived. i felt great for 1 week and then it all crept back in on me for a week and then this last week I am back in bed with dibilitating fatigue and muscle weakness. I will now list my symptoms/side effects.
Shortness of breath; heart palpitations; droopy eye lid (left eye); eye lid twitch (right eye); optical migraines; numbness & tingling of my arms (from the elbows down) and my hands; My hands "fall asleep"; Itching all over; severe muscle weakness ( I have dropped things); muscle pain; joint pain (even the little ones in my toes); leg cramps; critically anemic (on 3 iron pills per day); ruptured ankle tendon (left ankle, currently being treated with a brace trying to avoid surgery); hot flashes/flushing; cold hands and feet; dizziness;, loss of balance; headaches; blurred vision; mental fog; confusion; loss of memory; loss of concentration; extreme and debilitating fatigue; insomnia; trouble staying asleep (wake every hour); huge weight gain; swelling of calves, ankles and feet; dark colored urine; gas; upset stomach; diarrhea; stomach pain; depression; anxiety; hair loss; bruises; mouth ulcers; back pain; tingling on top of head; heaviness in my thighs; EXHAUSTION! I feel like I am 100 yrs old. I have had nights that I thought I was dying and had panic attacks that I would not survive the night. I have 3 young children to take care of. I can not even put conditioner on my hair or shave my legs in the shower because I have to get out so quickly due to exhaustion. I have to lean on one elbow at the sink to brush my teeth. When I get out of the shower I can barely breath, I am wheezing, my heart is pounding and I feel like I will collapse so I have to get out and rush to my bed. I home school my 3 children and most days we do school in my bed. Everything is an effort. I can never plan anything because most days I am incapacitated. I may have a good day and can actually go out to dinner or Walmart once or twice a month and then I can't wait to get back home and get in bed because I am so worn out. I don't see how this drug can actually remain on the market. I am so angry and upset that my doctor never told me this could happen. When I asked about side effects I was told "oh no there aren't any really". My doctor never ran tests on me. I just can't believe this. I go tomorrow for blood work and I go to the doctor on Mon to discuss the results and all of my problems. I am so afraid that I have permanent damage to my muscles and possibly my heart. I went tot he doc months ago with shortness of breath and swelling and she did an EKG and said my heart was fine and I was not having congestive heart failure. I fear I was and still am! It is not normal to be out of breath just brushing your teeth and combing your hair. I hope we all get the answers we are looking for and that we all recover from this horrible drug. God bless you all!

I am going to copy the address to this page and personally drive around to local family practice offices and discreetly drop piles of them everywhere. I pride myself on my medical knowledge and background having worked one way or another in the medical field all of my life. I take into account every aspect of a new medication after a life altering labor and deliver drove me to have a bright shiny new Norplant installed before it had time to be researched and tested properly, i'm still awaiting the final outcome of that young, uneducated, made out of fear of unimaginable horror and lack of RELIABLE READY INFORMATION ABOUT ALL OF IT'S SIDE AFFECTS. I believe every person is different and no one person will tolerate the same information the same way.
Except for the Mirena apparently. It seems almost UNIVERSALLY bad for a women's body and was MOST LIKELY conjured up by some ill treated ManBoy.
All that being said to the women who were in NO way warned of any of the negative side affects,(most likely older women who finally found mr right but under no circumstances want to go back to diapers sleepless nights and college tuition worries...) Thank Goodness for the WorldWideWeb and access to information. I am over 35 and have a family history of heart disease, there are very few options for birth control for me. This seemed like some sort of modern day miracle and while I suspected someone having as *significant* of a period as I, should probably...have one regularly...I too was *woo'd* by the prospect of a shorter, lighter, possibly infrequent period. However I was not warned that the other 3 weeks of the month I would rather be dead than alive. Turns out my body is smarter than I am and just days after finding this site and putting it all it finally passing the *MirenaBlock* ...I made an appt for a check and my body had spent the last 4 months attempting to push it out.
I'm never lucky enough for the *magicpills* to work, to those who are *KUDOS* but don't belittle those women smart enough to pursue a logical explanation to a sudden change in every aspect of your life. Information is knowledge and if you look most of those *BITCHY* women who called you babies have has the *device* installed less than 6 months...lol Kharma's a bitch and I think the Mirena has pissed off *Mother Nature* good luck lol and yes...I too within HOURS ...felt better and I EMBRACE the wonders of modern medicine daily...just not the horrors !

I've been taking Niaspan for about six weeks now; I started out at 500mg for the first three and I'm now on week three of 1000mg. I hadn't had any side effects and I was thrilled because I can't take statins (though I do take Lovaza with success). My doctor mentioned -- but did not stress -- the "take an aspirin ahead of time" or "eat something with it) thing, so I haven't been. Three nights ago I work up from a very weird dream about my house being on fire and couldn't go back to sleep, partly because I felt hot. I got up and looked in the mirror, and as others have described, I was beet red on my neck, chest, and arms, and very itchy and hot. The "rash" was mottled at the edges. It reminded me of sun poisoning. I wasn't sure what to do; it was 5 am and I knew my partner had a bad night with sleeping already, so I didn't want to wake her. I took a Benadryl. I was wide awake, so I got onto the computer to do some stuff (never thinking I should research the damn thing!), but about 20 minutes later, I felt itchy on my stomach. I went into the bathroom and looked again. My stomach and lower back were now getting it! Interesting. I went back to what I was doing, then about 10 minutes later, my stomach was hot, so I looked again. Now my stomach and all of my back were covered, and I noticed that my neck wasn't as red. Hmmmm... 20 minutes later I looked again, and now my neck and chest were pretty clear (but still itchy) and my butt and upper thighs were getting it (stomach and back still had it). I could actually feel it breaking out on my legs! 20 minutes later, my stomach and back were clear, and my legs were covered. about a half hour later, it was completely gone. I wracked by brain trying to figure out if it was something I ate, a new detergent, a drug interaction gone wrong, but I could think of nothing. I never associated it with the "flush" my doctor told me I could get. This was so much more than a flush. The next night I was so tired that I took a half an Ambien and slept through with no problems (and remember, I had no issues before this, at least that I could remember). I thought it was a fluke. I then spoke to my father yesterday about The Rash, and he asked if it could the the Niaspan, as he had taken it before (but the flushing had been too much and he stopped). I did some research and through that I found this page. Bingo! I had already taken the Niaspan, so I couldn't try the aspirin first. Last night, I woke up at 3 feeling hot and looked, and sure enough, it was starting on my face and neck. I took a Benadryl and went back to bed. I finally fell back to sleep. I'm still a little itchy, though nothing unbearable. Tonight I will try the aspirin a half hour before and eating something non-fatty with the Niaspan. I'll give it a week to help, then I'll call my doctor. I hate to give it up if it works because I am just about out of other options to lower my cholesterol.

I saw a news headline last week that linked Lipitor and forgetfulness and immediately thought "uh-oh'. Three years ago I was in a bad car wreck and started taking a lot of ibuprofen to counteract inflammation and pain. Somewhere within three to six months of this accident my doctor did routine blood work and said I needed to lower my cholesterol. She did talk about diet changes, but because there is a history of heart disease in my family she thought it would help to put me on a Statin. She talked a little about the acknowledged side effects and I went ahead with the drug (Lovastatin at that time). My focus at the time was on the amount of ibuprofen I was taking; as I went through p.t. for the accident I expected I would be able to reduce the amount I was taking. Ten months later I was still using 800 - 2400 mg. ibuprofen a day to combat muscle aches and joint pain - from the accident I thought. Then my doctor decided I need to raise my Lovastatin level from 20 mg. to 40. mg. I immediately began to have such pain that it overwhelmed the pain medicine. I immediately stopped the Lovastatin. Within a week my pain reduced dramatically - in 2 weeks I could go days without pain med. Within the 10 months after the accident I also had dizziness and vertigo and some trouble remembering things, but I attributed all that to effects of the accident. Didn't know the Statin might be contributing to those symptoms... When I finally went back to my doctor and told her I had stopped the Statin and why, she rechecked my lipid levels and said I really needed to be on something. A few months later I warily agreed to try 10 mg. of Lipitor every other day. Doesn't sound like much and it has been enough to keep cholesterol level down - though the good stuff had dropped some, too. At first it seemed okay, I didn't feel symptoms like I had before. After about a year I told my doctor. I thought I was going into menopause because I was having mood swings and being forgetful and my libido had died. Estrogen level denied this. So I thought well maybe I'm getting depressed - depression also runs in my family. So I went to a psychiatrist and told him how I was feeling. Now I am on Wellbutrin, which seemed to help at first, but isn't helping much now - even at a higher dose. My shoulders and arms have been hurting a lot the last couple of months and I've had to up the ibuprofen again to cope. This is nuts! The Lipitor goes - now! All these posts I have read make me believe that I am not a hypochondriac and complaining about the inevitable symptoms of aging (I'm 49). I expect to feel a lot better real soon!

Male, age 39, bp at worst 148/88 in Dr.'s office, 137/78 at worst at home, both parents had history of heart disease before passing away at age 67, 20 mg. of lisinopril.

Side effects experienced during the 9 months on this stuff: Anxiety, CHEST PAIN!, tingling in hands and feet, pounding heartbeat at night, drowsiness, stomach discomfort.

First, let me say that the medication worked in keeping my blood pressure down. I was in the 115/65 range at best, 130/80 at worst (rarely).

BUT, this stuff made me feel like absolute crap and led to many sleepless night due to anxiety. I would have chest pains along my rib cage. The pain wasn't usually in the same spot, but moved around. These sharp, stabbing pain episodes lasted anywhere from 2 minutes (pain coming every 30 seconds or so) to the entire afternoon (resulting in two trips to the ER where the EKG was normal).

With a history of heart disease in my family, I'm very aware of chest pain of any kind, and this drove me nuts until I found this website. I thought I was having heart attacks! My doctor had no idea that chest pain could be a side effect of this drug and when I told him it was #4 on the list of most side effect complaints, he was shocked. He thought it was well tolerated.

I went off the 20 mgs for about a month and then the doctor talked me into going back on 10 mgs after a doctor.'s visit and a 148/88 reading. I was fine for the first day, then the anxiety and chest pains returned along with the drowsiness (couldn't make it past 7 PM without falling asleep in the lazy-boy). Enough of this crap! I threw out the bottle. No more.

I am 34 years old and my family has history of heart disease. I went to get checked and doctor put me on lipitor and I have been on it for 3years now and I feel aweful I can't sleep at night and my arms and neck and legs ache like when yI was a child and had growing pains. Recently I have developed pain in my left arm and when I extend my arm and point my thumb down it fells like a burning tearing sensation. A few nights ago I was listening to coast to coast am and they had a guest on who was talking about statin drugs and side effects it was really interesting if anyone is concerned about these side effects I strongly suggest checking out the coast to coast am web site and search for the February 5th show notes.

In July I was put on lovastatin for moderately elevated cholesterol, I have a family history of heart disease. After being on it for a week I started feeling achy, and flu-like symptoms. My joints and back hurt. My doctor had me go off for two weeks and try again. This time after just two days all symptoms came back. Again, my doctor took me off the lovastatin and a month later had me restarted Zocor (simvastatin). My back pain got worse and the back of my legs started aching and getting charleyhorses at night. My doctor checked a CK level which was normal and her nurse advised me to keeping taking the drug, that it wasn't doing any harm to my muscles and that my side effects would probably get better. Two weeks later I woke up in the middle of the night with restless arms and muscle twtiching all over my body. Another CK level was done and it was normal. I have seen two neurologists and they seem to think it is lingering effects of the statin drugs. I have been off of them for a month and still have twitching, although I think it is a little better. I am really getting tired of this and think that something is really wrong. Has anyone else ever experienced somethimg like this?

I have been on lipitor 40 for about 6 weeks. I am 50 and pretty fit - doc prescribed it because my cholesterol was 6.7 and I have family history of heart disease. The last 2 weeks I feel like I'm getting the flu. Joint pain and very tired. Have trouble motivating myself to exercise. Although I have had psoriasis for some time, it also seems to have become worse since taking the lipitor. I would rather try to reduce the cholestorol level naturally but doc said its in my genes. How do I work out if I am generally run down and stressed (which could be the case) or if I have genuine lipitor side effects? What will happen next?? It's pretty scary reading some of the posts on this page...

I have inherited high cholesterol and have been on Lipitor for over a year,first 10,then 20 now 40 mg. For the past year I have gone from exercising 4 to 5x's a week to feeling like Im 80 (Im 43) chronic shoulder pain,neck pain,hip pain and leg pain. I have been to pt,neurologist,orthapedic dr. and even had an mri. No diagnosis. Today my chiropracter asked what meds I was on and was really concerned that my problem could be the liptor. Has anyone had success with flaxseed oil and omega 3 for lowering cholesterol?? I was reluctant to take this drug to begin with but with my family history of heart disease, I went along with it.

After taking Lipitor 10mg for 14 months with no effects till Sept 2005- i now have knee swelling and thigh muscular aches when standing for any length of time, and since mid- Nov, have had very sore hips and muscle aches in that area, plus general stiffness after sitting for a while. Am now having sleeping problems as i have lower back pain which has come on in the last 2 weeks. I went to a liver specialist as the count was up, but apart from asking about my reaction to Lipitor,didn't suggest this as a posibility. I am to see an arthritis specialist on feb 6 th. I was in Europe for 3 months from Jun to Aug and walked everwhere and did lots of stairs! Now I get a lot of pain if I walk only minor distances. I;ve been told it could be a virus or polyarthritis or polymyalgia-but noone is sure. Should i go off the statins? It seems from your letters that it is impossible to tell if it is Lipitor causing these symptoms as the recovery period varies so greatly with each person. I have a family history of heart disease- do i try something else to lower the cholesterol? Meryl- Sydney

I am 58 years old , I have a family history of heart disease. I have had 7 heart attacks since the age of 39 in 1986. My blood pressure has always been a little low even though I was a smoker. My normal bp for the last 20 years has been approximately 115/75. I had a quintuple by-pass in 1997 at the age of 50. I have done GREAT until April 20, 2005. I had another MI, and 6 days later, April 26,2005 I had another MI. I was prescribed lisinopril. Since approximately mid June, 2005 I have had EXTREME anxiety and mild depression. My PCP and Cardiologist tell me it is not the lisinopril. I do not believe they could possibly know ALL the side effects of lisinopril!! Any one out there with this problem???

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

I stopped taking Zocor 6 weeks ago on advice of a metabolic specialist. I started to feel the best I have for four and a half years. I was going about my daily routine last week when it dawned on me I had no muscle aches or pains at all. I was feeling so well, not depressed or tired. I have been sleeping well at night time and now I only have pleasant dreams. I wake up refreshed and full of hope and the stiffness in my body had gone completely. I take the dog for a walk daily and the other night I found I went for a short jog with him, I couldn't believe I could actually jog. I had been finding it impossible over the past four years to gain any level of fitness,although I exercise daily, and have always eaten only the healthiest food. I never lost weight during the last four and a half years, and gained a lot of flab on my stomach. The metabolic specialist stated that the Zocor had destroyed muscle and replaced it with fat. Now that I am not taking Zocor I have started some light weight training, and I have found this to be beneficial. I will see my GP in 2 days time to report my good health. I will never take Zocor or anything like it eg.Lipitor or any statin drug. I believe these drugs are not beneficial to a person's health. I feel sure I will lead a normal healthy life from now on with sensible exercise, continue with good common sense cholesterol lowering foods to compliment my optimistic outlook. Even although I have a family history of heart disease, I believe I will have a better lifestyle looking after myself the natural way. I prefer to believe what I have read on this website from the people who really know what it feels like to be suffering continually from aches and pains, and feeling as though I was a constant pain in the neck for my family. I have had so many of the side effects described I felt like I was a hypochondriac and so I gave up complaining about all of my symptoms to my doctor; exteme fatigue, feeling unwell and depressed, swelling in my legs, trouble walking up 2 flights of stairs, stiffness, particularly in my legs, feet, more so on the right side, sometimes stiff neck(which the Dr said was a wry neck), burning sore feet continual, waking at night with my lower body just aching like a toothache, feeling freezing cold; sometimes I would wake and the joints on my lower trunk where my legs start felt like they had ridges of built up swelling or calcium. I have had bleeding gums at times, and sometimes mouth ulcers. 2 years ago I had unexplained vaginal bleeding, my stomach had blown up and I looked like I was 6 months pregnant although I was post menopausal (early menopause). I had to have a curette because they thought I must have cancer, but there was no explanation for the bleeding. 2 months ago I had tests for diabetes, my blood glucose tolerance test came back with a concave reading, which the GP could not make sense of, so this is why I was referred to a metabolic specialist. The specialist could not fault my dietary intake. It was found that I also had a severe depletion of iodine, although I had been tested for hyposthyroidism 2 years earlier and nothing showed up. From time to time I have had abnormal liver function tests, put down to overuse of paracetemol or anti inflammatory drugs.....so I stopped taking these completely and managed the pain with some help from a psychologist friend with self hypnosis. I believe that all of my symptoms were due to taking drugs, and prior to taking Zocor I had no need to ever take anything. It was only because the GP recommended Zocor after a High Cholesterol reading and I was considered to be in a High Risk Category because my Mum died of a sudden heart attack and my dad had Angina. Mum died at 61 y.o. and dad at 78 y.o. I am 54 y.o. and started taking Zocor at 49 y.o. I stopped taking Zocor 6 weeks ago, now feel great and would not recommend it to anyone.

I started 10mg Lipitor 18 months ago. I was 41, in very good physical shape (marathon runner), but had an elevated LDL that my doctor wanted to bring down because of my family history of heart disease.

In the past 18 months I have endured constant backaches, knee joint pains, calve pains, and constant headaches. Once I was hospitilized for severe dehydration that the doctors could not explain.

After reading all the posts here, I will stop the Lipitor for awhile and see if things improved.

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone with a similar story.

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