I am a 42 male, I have always been healthy and felt healthy as long I can remember, I never went to the doctor. So this year, 3 months ago to be exact, I decided to do “the right thing”, start taking a physical at least once every years, who know something might be wrong with me and I don’t know it.
Anyway, after I took the physical and some blood tests, my doctors office calls me and they told me that the sugar was a little high (124) and that I am at risk for Diabetes, so they started me on a diabetes medication. Although my Cholesterol wasn’t high, they suggested starting Lipitor (20 ML) just in case because I am at risk and I don’t want to take chances.
A month into it, I started having some back pain, but never suspected medication. I was exercising at least 4 times a week, some cardio and free weights, so I thought, I might have made the wrong move while exercising or maybe sleeping without knowing it ( although I never recall such a thing). Usually it takes a few days for the pain to go away when I did the wrong move, but this pain wouldn’t go away. A month after that (last month), a sharp pain started on my right wrist (shooting pain), that goes up my right arm until my shoulder blade and upper right back. The pain was so sharp and wouldn’t let go, all day, all night and every minute in between. Also, I experienced some numbness on some of my right fingers (especially the thumb and index). I never suspected the medication. Of course the doctors wanted me to take all sorts of tests and MRIs etc..you name it. They also wanted me to go on pain pills (strong ones), I never did, and I used Advil instead, which did not help much. This pain ruined my two week vacations to France (I didn’t not want to forgo the airplane ticket and the hotel, they were already paid for).
I started “googling” the web for “sharp back pain”, just to get some clues, which led me to side effect sites, which led me to this site. I decided to stop all medications immediately 3 days ago, the pain went away, I still have s slight numbness on my thumb, although it is much better, I will keep you posted. Thanks to all the people who shared their story with us, I know that everyone of us could be a different case, what worked for me doesn’t necessarily work for someone else, I know that many here are frustrated about these side effects and whether they are permanent or not, I wish I have the answers. One thing is sure, Lipitor could be poison for some people, I felt going down fast for the last 3 months with no way to stop it, glad I found this site.