Muscle group symptoms and conditions

I am a 57 year old male, who is in very good shape and active playing sports. I had a bad cold and had just finished a 3 day "burst" of prednisone per my asthma specialist. I am supposed to keep it on hand and take it if my usual meds and "rescue" inhaler are not working, and I feel that I am going into an infection (asthmatic bronchitis). The steroid treatment did not work, so I saw a doctor who prescribed Levaquin (with a coupon for $15 off) - for 10 days. The pharmacist remarked that they had seen a LOT of these coupons and that the drug reps must be doing their jobs. I read the warnings which noted that "in rare instances, ...". after I got home. Since I was leaving town immediately and did not have time to change meds, I took the Levaquin. I have suffered leg cramps for over three weeks now and don't know when or if they will disappear. The cramps appear in my hamstrings, groin, thighs, and calf muscles. They are debilitating. Sometimes I can barely walk. I am no longer able to play racquetball. I try to stretch out and warm up thoroughly before physical activity, but the cramps still appear in one muscle group or more - then I stop immediately.

I have been on Lipitor for about 4 years. Now I have an arthritic right knee and the left knee has a little bit of arthritis. My arthritis started getting really bad in both legs my left leg was just as bad as my right leg. Muscle pain was tremendous and getting up and down stairs. furniture, and the car. Then the day before Memorial Day I could hardly move, I thought I was losing both my legs. I could only walk a little bit. No energy. I too had blurred vision with this drug but the doctor said that it probably was just my diabetes. I hurt from the shoulders all the way down to the ankles..It felt like every muscle group was involved. Earlier this year the doctor put my Lipitor up to 40 mg from 20 mg even through my ldl was only 93. My last ldl was 67. The doctors say your cholesterol cannot go to low but I am wondering with all the side affedts I had. I took myself off Lipitor on Memorial Day this year and I feel better. The pain is gone except for the arithritic pain but it is not as bad as what it was on Lipitor. Soo I am done with statins I will lose weight and exercise.

My Cardio perscribed Lipator four years ago. It did lower my cholesterol 30 points but I noticed some of the classic Lipator side effects. Intermittant dizziness, headaches and memory loss that could have been due to high bp, bp meds, internal chemical unbalance, anxiety, etc. No conclusion.

After six months or so I started having muscle spasms and then loss of strength. After about year I couldn't raise my arms level or sleep in a bed. Anti-inflamatories and analgesics helped but not enough. After several months of sleeping in a high backed chair, I was desperate. My research found the cause could have been the statin Lipator, so I went off of them. The symtoms were relieved and within two weeks they were mostly gone, except for weakened muscles which have never fully recovered.

So far that's classified as anecdotal.

After a few weeks of relief, I went back on Lipator as a test. The symptoms returned immediately. When I stopped, they were relieved again. Now that's close to proof.

Doc perscribed another statin, Pravocol. It worked and I thought we might have the answer. Several months later I developed tight muscles in my neck which I did not relate to the statins. It was a totally different muscle group. After a month or two of barely controllable headaches and neck muscle pain, I tried going off the Pravocol. Relief!

Another on/off test gave me all the proof I needed. I wrote my two doctors and told them I was off stains - permanently. After the government issued the new overly agressive guidelines of "cholesterol under 100", they wanted me to try low dose Crestor every other day. After a while I started getting similar symptoms and stopped statins forever.

What is most worrisome about all of this is the way the medical community is not recognizing the seriousness of the statin problem. When I canllenged my cardio to report it to the FDA, he refused. "It's not clinically proven." Otherwise he's a good doctor, although I've had to lecture him on the trade off between living longer at any cost and the quality of that life.

I turned 70 two months ago and lead an active life.