Stroke victim 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 a caregiver for my 75 yo stroke victim Mom; on dialysis, diabetes and hypertension. I took her to the ER fearing she was suffering from either another stroke or heart attack but they couldn't find anything instead of spots of pneumonia in her lungs. The ER doc prescribe her Levaquin 500mg, and she became "looney" for 5 days; verbally combative, talking to herself incessantly while slipping in and out of consciousness in between. Short term memory was lost - big time! On the 5th day, I read the med literature Walmart Pharm inserted in the bag. IN BOLD LETTERS, IT WARNED: BE CAREFUL IN GIVING THIS MED TO ELDERLY. They may be more susceptible to suffer from side effects of dizziness, weakness and tremors. So I stopped giving it to her that very day, the next morning she open her eyes wide but slept for 2 days. As if to regain strength from what she went through for 5 days. Then, 2 days ago, she suffered from tremors or muscle spasm in her injured leg which caused her to scream in pain. I wonder if this still the side effects of Levaquin!?!

Leizel S.
Gloucester, VA

Topamax has completely altered my life. I had a year and a half of daily migraines, with only a day or two of let-up each month -- my migraines are "common", not "classical", just to clarify, and my symptoms are more like that of a stroke victim's.
Now I only have bad premenstrual migraines (no solution to that yet). I still have migraines with Topamax, but it is like they have been pushed way down.....
I'm on 200 mg/day.
Side effects of Topamax: Mostly marvellous! The sexual side effects I really want to say something about, because I couldn't find anything about this when I first had them. Please allow me, and forgive me for graphically saying this -- this is about anatomy, and I needed to know I wasn't alone when I first experienced this: I experience marvellous spasms in my anus and vaginal walls sometimes, especially during sex, and I've had spontaneous near-orgasms a few times (though once in a grocery store, which was NOT NOT NOT pleasant). My libido has skyrocketed. It's been wonderful. It's been beautiful.
Sometimes I get a definite "Topamax buzz", especially in the afternoon. I sleep much better, and with a migraine can actually push myself, whereas before it was the end of the world. I can push myself, period. That used to be an impossibility.
Definitely, Topamax impairs my ability to speak sometimes. But my ability to think? It's improved 100%. I used to be a writer, and have now returned to this. It would have been unthinkable before Topamax.
I have intense tingling in my extremities, which can be awful at times. I find the negative side effects most unpleasant some days, like the facial twitches -- mostly the left side of my mouth, and sometimes both of my eyelids (like right at this moment). The fatigue, blech.
But honestly, compared to the migraines symptoms, these side effects are a dream. .....And the weight loss is a bit worrisome at times -- though my body looks great I always have to worry that I'm eating enough. I am getting my life back now. Topamax has some wretched side effects, but some beautiful ones too -- it re-opened my mind, gave me focus again.... and the migraines were hell. I am so very very grateful for Topamax.

I was taking Lipitor for 1Year. I began to fall and I couldn't get up. I was hospitalized and a neurological workup indicated that I had fibromyolysis caused by Lipitor. I stopped taking Lipitor. I was given a walker and sent for physical therapy. After many sessions of being treated as if I was a stroke victim I was released because I wasn't making any progress. I spent 3-4 months in the walker and 6 months with a cane. I was ver active prior to this, but it took a year to be able to walk without assistance. 3 years later I am about 85% recovered. I lift weights and walk about 3 miles a day. I am thrilled, since I could not even lift my legs initially. I still have weakness in my left leg and balance problems. I want to get the word out. I have been interviewed on local television twice. I woul like to go national . Len ***