Medical examiner 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 am in the family with the 86 year old man that committed suicide because of this drug. He was my father and I will never be able to see him again. This drug caused such severe side effects for him that he did not know what he was doing and killed himself leaving his wife of 59 years, 7 children and a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He had everything to live for and had no effects of depression or other problems until he started taking the medicine. The drug made him sicker instead of better. My family has asked that we received a drug screening from the Medical Examiner to determine the combination of drugs that were in my dad's system at his death. He was also prescribed prednisone, which we have since found out should that the drugs should not have been given together. I would like to take this doctor to task for his incompetence in prescribing an elderly man medication that could cause this result. I am very angry at the physician and will pursue legal actions when we receive the Medical Examiners information. No family should have to suffer the loss that we have had and no experience the void that we have in our lives. My father was a healthy, 86 year old man with a family history of living past the age of 100. We figured he had another 20 years to go. I know that my taking legal action will not bring back my father but I would like to somehow make this drug side effects public knowledge so this DOES NOT happen to another family. This weekend is Father's Day and my only way to talk to my father is standing my his graveside. I should not be doing that. I should be celebrating another Father's Day with him at his home. This drug and his doctor caused his death. DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG....consult your doctor if he even mentions it in a course of treatment. I would like to be able to present evidence to the Food and Drug Administration of the terrible effects of this drug and the combination of drugs that are given with it. My daughter even said she would like to be the one presenting our family story to Congress during hearing concerning removing this drug from the market. That is my goal....this drug should be removed. I have contacted the Food and Drug Administration and suggest that everyone else do the same. If they get enough complaints, they will have to open a dialog on the drug and some of the families will have the opportunity to speak about the effects of the drug on their lives. I will always miss my father and love him dearly. I know that he was not in his right state of mind when he committed suicide and that the drug caused his actions. My mother found him that day in April when she came home from the store. She will never be the same nor will our family. Again, DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG!!!!!