Lipitor and estrogen

On lipitor for 1 1/2 years.... starting taking yoga a month ago. Had ache in knee and leg which then went to toe on other leg. Thought it was overstretching from yoga. Pain moved to hips and lower back. All very painful but worst was yet to come. Pain moved to neck and shoulders. Could not move head. Excruciating SOBBING pain. I was in so much pain for weekend. Everyone wanted me to go to emergency room but I wanted to stick it out til Monday.

PS... went on web. Saw this is lipitor side effect. never would have expected that after 1 1/2 yrs on a 10 mg dose.

Went to pain management doctor ... got Soma (muscle relaxant), an oral steroid and Percoset. Relief was almost instant.

Called my cardiologist. He says it is the Lipitor.

No more statins for me.
And back to yoga.

I saw a news headline last week that linked Lipitor and forgetfulness and immediately thought "uh-oh'. Three years ago I was in a bad car wreck and started taking a lot of ibuprofen to counteract inflammation and pain. Somewhere within three to six months of this accident my doctor did routine blood work and said I needed to lower my cholesterol. She did talk about diet changes, but because there is a history of heart disease in my family she thought it would help to put me on a Statin. She talked a little about the acknowledged side effects and I went ahead with the drug (Lovastatin at that time). My focus at the time was on the amount of ibuprofen I was taking; as I went through p.t. for the accident I expected I would be able to reduce the amount I was taking. Ten months later I was still using 800 - 2400 mg. ibuprofen a day to combat muscle aches and joint pain - from the accident I thought. Then my doctor decided I need to raise my Lovastatin level from 20 mg. to 40. mg. I immediately began to have such pain that it overwhelmed the pain medicine. I immediately stopped the Lovastatin. Within a week my pain reduced dramatically - in 2 weeks I could go days without pain med. Within the 10 months after the accident I also had dizziness and vertigo and some trouble remembering things, but I attributed all that to effects of the accident. Didn't know the Statin might be contributing to those symptoms... When I finally went back to my doctor and told her I had stopped the Statin and why, she rechecked my lipid levels and said I really needed to be on something. A few months later I warily agreed to try 10 mg. of Lipitor every other day. Doesn't sound like much and it has been enough to keep cholesterol level down - though the good stuff had dropped some, too. At first it seemed okay, I didn't feel symptoms like I had before. After about a year I told my doctor. I thought I was going into menopause because I was having mood swings and being forgetful and my libido had died. Estrogen level denied this. So I thought well maybe I'm getting depressed - depression also runs in my family. So I went to a psychiatrist and told him how I was feeling. Now I am on Wellbutrin, which seemed to help at first, but isn't helping much now - even at a higher dose. My shoulders and arms have been hurting a lot the last couple of months and I've had to up the ibuprofen again to cope. This is nuts! The Lipitor goes - now! All these posts I have read make me believe that I am not a hypochondriac and complaining about the inevitable symptoms of aging (I'm 49). I expect to feel a lot better real soon!

I'm aged 51 and have had high blood cholesterol for years, diagnosed in my mid thirties. Over the years I have tried changing diet but it didn't reduce tha bad cholesterol. Three years ago I decided maybe I better reduce the cholesterol as they say it clogs up you arteries etc. I went to the doctor and he put me on Lipitor and within a few months my levels were down to normal. I got joint pains in my hands, back, neck , legs and had sore heels after long walks. The doc then decided I'd go off the Lipitor to see if my levels stayed normal but they went back up. After a week the new pains had gone away. I came up with a plan to take 3 x 10mG a week rather than one each day and this worked with a lot less joint pain. The last test I had my levels are back up again so he put me back on 10mG a day and now three weeks later the pains have built back up and I don't like them. Desperate for a different solution I was listening to one of the Juice Plus promotions and something they said set me thinking. They said that having a high level of bad cholesterol doesn't always mean it will badly affect your arteries as it has to react with free radicals in your body to cause the damage. Their theory is that a diet rich in antioxidants will combat the free radicals and generally reduce the risk of disease which also includes any bad effects from high bad cholesterol. Now I'm wondering two things, how do I know if my high cholesterol is causing me any harm? is there a test I can get done to measure how it is or is not affecting me? Can anyone throw any more light on this?