I've been on lipitor and other generic forms of it for the last 8...

My best friend of 35 years died of sucide. He was the least likely of any human being to commit suicide. Re-Reading his last emails he talked of fatigue and thought lipotor was causing this problem. The day after he died we had planned to go hunting with me-we talked 12 hours before about our trip. We had also vacation plans and tickets too. He planted tomatoes a few days before. All indicators that my best friend was not planning on suicide. Has anyone else knows of suicide. He was a type one diabetic also.

This dangerous drug can cause MANY side effects . . . drs. don't know or care about the side effects, because with the drugs co's . . it is a big $$ business. Your body/mind needs cholesterol to function. Don't let your dr. con you.

The physicians are partial to their product (lipitor) and are not going to cast any blame on the product they prescribe or themselves. They will deny it causing the side effects.

I agree with 777. Its a business. Competition for the almighty dollar. Your dollars, and the insurance company's dollars, which is essentially ALL the consumers' dollars since we pay in the premiums for the insurance.

Each statin customer is worth an average of $1,000 per year, so its important to keep you on that statin for as long as possible. And they acomplish this thru fear tactics of a heart attack or stroke if you don't comply. They call LDL "bad" and sell you a pill to get rid of it. But truth be known, the connection between elevated cholesterol and heart attacks is very weak. Half of the heart attacks happen to people with low to normal cholesterol levels.

Lipitor does cause lots of side effects including stomach problems. I was taking lots of Zantac for the stomach upset and severe heat burn during my 5 years on Lipitor.

I also had muscle loss, cramps and soreness, memory loss and loss of mental focus, cloudy vision, and my doctor didn't believe me at first either. I also stopped taking it and felt better within days and my doctor was convinced.

That was three years ago and I continue to feel better but not quite to the point of where I was before taking it. I found that taking 60 mg of Q10 every day helps with the muscle pain because statin drugs lower your Q10 level. Just to let you know, nans, the stomach problems did go away within a week and have never returned since.

I have done a little reading about statins over the last few years and posted some links at www.geocities.com/timtax2001/lipitor.html

Most people that live to be very old actually have higher cholesterol according to Doctor Ravnskov. He explains that in an article at www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/benefits_cholest.html

Hey, join the club. All statin-based drugs (inc lipitor) are the cause of these mentioned side effects. Here is the big problem. Most doctors that prescribe them, don't blame the meds because in most cases these bad effects appear later on (like 6 months to a year or more) AFTER you start taking them. However, what I found was that after I had STOPPED taking them (against my doctors suggestion) I felt so much better it was amazing. Of course, my cholesterol numbers went up again. Pushing 290. Then, of course my doc said that the risk of stroke or heart attack is high with a high number like that and STRONGLY urged me to take them again. This time I started back with Lipitor. (my first round of meds was Lovistatin) This is no lie. A month into taking this crap again, the fatigue came back. By fatigue I mean that even after a good nights sleep, I can be up for an hour or two and my eyes actually ache telling me to go to sleep. So if I have the opportunity, I do. Bu then after being up for say another 5 or 6 hours, again a little later in the day, my eyes feel heavy and ache, and I need to sleep again. Also, I was feeling pretty good the other day with a normal amount of energy, so I decided to go for a bike ride. I got about a block away and felt like I needed to rest already. Last week, again I felt like I had a normal amount of energy, and went out to mow my lawn. I worked for about 20 minutes and felt out of breath and sleepy tired as if I just got done playing an entire baseball game and had a couple of beers after...just lethargic. I also should mention that during both rounds of taking these meds, I had a lot of upper neck and shoulder aching as well as frequent dull headaches.

The period of time in between these two rounds of taking these statin cholesterol-lowering meds, I felt incredible. No muscle aches, virtually no headaches, tons of energy. I produce videos, and on several occasions I was working 10 hour days for a week straight and never felt tired. Now I struggle to get thru a day of little activity and frequently feel the need for a nap.

Here is my big question. Doctors prescribe these meds as soon as they take a blood test and see a high cholesterol "number". Where does it say that just because your number is high, does this mean you have clogged arteries somewhere in your body? Does it mean that? IN other words, what does it REALLY mean? If I go for a full body scan (you can buy this service now...about $900) it would show up any clogged arteries or problems. Right? If I have a clogged artery somewhere, and they find it with a scan, then I could just skip the drugs, (and feeling like crap for the rest of my life) and they could repair the bad artery and I live ache and pain free until a car runs me over or something...right? I feel that the doctors are "prescription-happy" (and I know why-free vacations from the drug mfg’s)

Other bad side effects that I had, slight loss of memory. Things that I know I should have easily remembered, just were not there. I mentioned that to my doc, he said, "you ARE getting older (56) . And I am going tell you this straight. The period of time in between taking the dope, my memory became razor sharp. My wife could not believe the things (short and mid term) that I was recalling. (Long term didnt seem to be affected by the drugs) I was even impressed with my own memory. It was almost unbelievable. Another strange side effect I had, was the tendancy to slur my words on occasion. This really worried my. Not slur like someone who had a stroke ( i did not) but more like forgetting what to say, not coming up with the word I needed for the sentance. Again, after stopping the dope, no more problems. And the last bad side effect I recall was a slight drop in my motor skills. I work on cars for a hoby, and I wold drop a wrench out of my hand for no ggod reason...more than just once. Walking down a flight of stairs, I would have to go slow towards the bottom, and hold the rail as I felt like I was going to miss the last 2 or 3 steps. I NEVER had any of these problems prior to taking these statin drugs. I mentioned all of these to my doctor, and basically he blew them off, trying NOT to associate them with the dope. I see him in a week, and it will be interestiong to see if my "numbers" came down as I have been on 20mg every other day in this last round, but the problems are all back again, and I feel I need to get off ASAP. Please reply if you have experienced any of these symptons that I have described here...and good luck...we all will need it.

Right after I posted my side effects (post by doncenk) I found this. Read it thorouly... you wont believe how many things I just stated were found in these studies..this is scarey.

http://www.heart-health-for-life.com/lipitor-side-effects.html

right after I just posted a lengthy reply (post by doncenk) I found this online. It is scarey how close these studies findings are to my own experiences.

http://www.heart-health-for-life.com/lipitor-side-effects.html