I was put on Lipitor 10 mg. last Spring about 8 mos. ago. I have ...

I suggest that you stopped taking this dangerous drug ASAP before you have worse side effects. Going to drs. is a waste of time. All they know is to push drugs instead of natural products and alternatives . . . . unfortunately, they don"t know about the side effects or don't care.

certainly you should stop taking it and you should just TELL your doctor that you REFUSE to take it. if you "discuss" it, he will surely suggest that you try another statin- there are about 6 on the market right now. they are all THE SAME. if you have a bad reaction to one, you will have similar bad reactions to the others
diet and exercise have only good side effects

Forestseaqski, I just got back from Maui and snorkeled Ulua beach until both my calves cramped up terribly! Even after returning to my home in WA, I have been awakened in the middle of the night with excruciating calf cramps. Even right now, my claves are twitching a lot. I ran 12 5K races last year and my running seems ok, but my partner can't believe all the twitching that is going on and says I should go see my Dr. I also have an appt. for Monday. I thinkl I'll go off the Lipitor and see if these symptoms abate.

Staggering how we can age in 8 months in such a random manner! The low % of people who have a bad reaction to statins apparently jumps to 25% when they have an active lifestyle. Hmmmm. My current alternate to looking at my cholesterol levels at the 230 level (I believe this level, or at least 200+, is essential to an active lifestyle) is to take chewable CoQ10, vitamin D and E, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Acetyl L-Carnitine, resveratrol, fish oil and flaxseed oil. I am taking the medications to reduce my blood pressure - even though the side effects of these are identical to possible symptoms of high cholesterol!
If I am wrong, at least it is my own life I am gambling with. I am on the fence on Niacin

What you describe is what many people on this site has described.

It`s also what I saw in a person very close to me, but to begin with I had no idea that cholesterol lowering drugs could cause such agony.

I think it`s wise to know why you take a certain drug.

What I mean is - look for independent information on the Internet and in different books. Alway find out who is behind the information.

Of course, this is not easy to do if you suddenly get ill - but may people take this kind of drug to prevent something that they think might happen in the future and have the time to do some "research".

Please read "The Great Cholesterol Con" (Anthony Colpo), The Cholesterol Myths (Uffe Ravnskov), Malignant Medical Myths (Joel F. Kauffman), Overdosed America (John Abramson).

Google "Stopped our statins".
Under print articles (to the left) there is an informative and interesting article about the different statin studies and the side effects that his type of medication can cause.

When it comes to side effects - they are much more common than what is in the package insert. The side effects reporting is not good enough.

Many patients are just referred to some other speciality with their problems or told that it must be old age.

Trust your own instinct and "educate" yourself.

That`s the best way to help yourself and the people around you.

I have read your posting with great interest. I have been monitoring statin side effect complaints for seven years now, and let me assure you that everything you describe sounds like classic statin induced symptoms.
Inhibition of the mevalonate metabolic pathway not only depletes CoQ10 from muscles, it inhibits the LDL cholesterol itself which serves important functions in the body.

Lots of these side effects are actually written on the packet "if you get unexplained sore or weak muscles" you may be having a serious adverse effect, stop taking the med and see your doctor. Then these poos (drs) ignore the drug manufacturer's own instructions blaming everything but the medicine ignoring the simple and logical process of elimination - simply unbelievable and in my opinion negligent. Med safe the New zealand equivlant of the FDA has twice written to doctors telling them of increasing reports of adverse reactions to statins including phycosis, perception disorders and viloence but these practioners still keep ignoring the problem. I lost my mind, became extremely violent, wreaked in pain to the point of not being able to walk 800 mtres and was preparing for the "end". I am still taking pain killer 13 months since ceasing statins, I am 80% weaker than what i was but I am feeling heaps better than the worst of this trauma. I am presently preparing a written complaint of criminal negligence to our police and medical council over this. I am also now of the firm and well researched belief that there is no evidence whatsoever that high cholestrol reduces longevity, in fact the opposite. Why did these doctors who we used to trust educate themselves only to become sales rep's puppetts?. Good luck to you, there are millions of us.

My father was on lipitor 10mg for 8 year's and he got similar side effect as you and he is not fully recovered yet ,he got with low does all side effect gradually but yours coz it is high does you got it at once,this medicine only help to lower cholestrol but damage entire body system and for a longar period of time could be fatal and all doctors ignoring side effect which is a pitty,cholestrol can be lowered very easliy with herbs not medicine .if you really concern about your cholestrol this is very safe method and very helpful turmeric.ginger,fenugreek,dill all in powder form is very effective.half tea spoon of the powder with warm water dramatically drops cholestrol good luck

Wow, you discribe my symtoms exactly. The pain moves around. First my hips, my knees, back and now my neck. I have always had zero problems but my medication is different. It is called simsantic or something like tht but it is a generic of those meds. Anyways, once I discovered these could be side affects, I went off of it but the pains have not gone away. I feel old and have trouble jogging, going up stairs etc.
My question is if I went off the meds, has the harm already been done and irrevisible? Let me know what you find out. I have had MRI's and Xrays done with no results.. no findings at all. Everyday I wake up and say.. something is wrong with me. This has now been like 7 months and again started with those meds.

Have been there and see it with several of the cholesterol lowering drugs. I now walk a mile a day, drink lots of water and trying to watch the diet with low fat foods now.. I'll never take that stuff again. I think the problem is that the medication is produced quickly for market without allot of research. It is a proven fact that more money is spent of advertising the drugs than researching them. Go figure. No wonder the side effects are so horrendous.

Since you stopped taking lipitor do you feel better? My husband started lipitor 10mg about 3-4 months ago and he claims he feels weak, not as strong as he use to, complains about abdominal pain, with more frequent diarrhea. He just said to me this morning, maybe it's the lipitor. I think he will stop the medication after reading some of the peoples side effects.