I am 39 years old and work for an interventional cardiology medic...

I am 39 years old and work for an interventional cardiology medical device company in Tokyo, and so know the importance of controling one's cholesterol, keeping the LDL's low and the HDL's high. About two years ago, my doctor put me on 10 mg of Lipitor. Several months later I herniated a disc in my neck between C6&C7. From that point onward, I attributed all of my neck and back pain, and newly acquired total body muscle and joint pain, to the herniated disc, it made the most sense. Over the last seven months, I have really worked on my diet and began to exercise more (even though quite painful) and was able to lower my cholesterol. This resulted in my doctor lowering my Lipitor prescription from 10 mg to 5 mg. I noticed a slight alleviation of the pain I felt in my hip joints and calves. About two weeks ago I took myself off Lipitor completely and found further improvements in my total body muscle and joint pain. It's still there but greatly improved. In retrospect, I now believe the Lipitor may have been the culprit (or at least a contributing factor) to my herniated disc due to muscle degeneration in the neck, and all of the subsequent muscle pain, especially in my hips and calves. I fully understand I am not going to die from calf-pain, but may from heart disease. However, I have found my quality of life has improved tremendously over the last few weeks. Less irritability, better sleep, less pain, clearer head. I feel like I have lost two years of my life on Lipitor via personal suffering and lack of ability to do much of anything with my wife and two young daughters. We all need to take charge of our own health and therefore I encourage anyone who feels completely different after taking Lipitor to engage your physician, and make sure its the right option for you. If damage has been done to my musculature I hope I can reverse it. It is evident to me that some serious clinical studies should be done to investigate Lipitor's effect on muscle degradation and hope others will consider carefully whether or not do go on this drug. If you do, monitor yourself closely.