Polyneuropathy symptoms and conditions

I am a 54 year old male who started taking Lipitor about 4 years ago. It seemed OK at first, but over the next several years I began to have increasing amounts of joint pain after exercise. Nor muscle pain, joint pain. And it seemed to be a result of exercise. By the time I stopped it, I was hurting after everything, not just exercise. I felt better within the first two weeks, but it took about 4 months for me to be able to exercise vigorously again. Over the years I seemed to have forgotten how much vitality I used to have. I am a physician, and because of the long lag time until I felt better, I wondered whether improvement might have related to other factors, so after about 5 months I decided to restart Lipitor. It surprised me that after just one dose, I got back all of the joint pain and fatigue when I was at my worst on Lipitor. I was really hurting. Needless to say, I didn't take any more.

Coincidentally, a physician friend of mine who had statin induced polyneuropathy had a similar experience. After his symptoms went away he found that after only one dose the entire polyneuropathy came back.

Stopping and restarting the drug is a way to test the correlation between the drug and the side effect. For such a large spectrum of side effects to recur after only a single dose, it argues that the problems that my friend and I had was due to some sort of immune memory response. I have not seen this in the medical literature.

I am off it now for about 8 months and am able to comfortably play singles tennis and jog - much more energy (and I took 200 mg of CoQ10 a day with the Lipitor).

I started taking Neurontin about 4 years ago.My neuroligist started me on it for Polyneuropathy(nerve damage in my feet and legs)He started me out on 300 mgs. (taking 2 three times a day) It was a miracle drug at first,since my feet had been hurting(burning,stinging,numb toes and balls of feet felt like I had been walking on sharp rocks bare footed and they were bruised)for 2 years.Then they started hurting again after I had been on it for 2 weeks.So he increased the dosage to 400mg taking it 2 three times a day and same thing happened.So he increased it to 800 mg. 2 three times a day.I started getting blisters on my tongue and alot of swelling in my feet,ankles and legs,so he decreased it and that all went away.So he slowing started increasing it and those didn't come back.
I went to another dr. because I moved and he decreased it because thought I was taking too much.And the pain became worse.Well I had ins. whenever I was taking it before and then I didn't have it anymore after about 8 months of being on it.It is so expensive so I had to cut way back on it because I couldn't afford to take the full dosage I was suppose to take.And that is how I know it works for the pain.While I was cut back on it,the pain was almost unbareable.I am taking 300 mg. 3 in the am,2 at noon and 3 at bedtime and my feet and legs still hurt,but I know from experience that if I wasn't on it I would be in unbearable pain.
I am on alot of various drugs.I also take Lamictal 25 mg. 1 four times a day for the neuropathy.And I also have fibromylgia.I seen where alot of people have fibro and it is being treated with this drug.It doesn't seem to help my fibro.Or maybe it would be alot worse if I wasn't on it.Don't know.I take Elavil 100mg. 1 at bedtime,Zanaflex 4mg. 1 at bedtime for the pain and fibro,Synthroid 0.1 mg. 1 a day,Pravachol 40 mg. 1 a day for high cholesterol,Metaglip 2.5-500 mg. 1 a day and Avandia 4 mg. 1 a day for diabeties and Vicoden 5 mg. & apap. 1 every 6 hours for pain.
The Neurontin seems to interact well with all these drugs.
I have dry mouth and some confusion which affects my ability to think and carry on multi-tasks.I am trying to get on my diability.I applied twice and was denied and I got a lawyer and we went to court before the judge 2 weeks ago and it will be 3 to 4 months before I hear if I am getting on it or not.