Lipitor and experiences

I was prescribed Simvastatin 40mg four weeks ago and had horrendous side effects almost immediately eg deep depression, diarrhea, bad stomach aches and night cramps in my legs. Last week my doctor prescribed Lipitor 10mg and I feel no better in fact probably worse. The worst side effect for me is the stomach aches and constant diarrhea and complete lack of appetite. There can be absolutely nothing in my stomach any more. Does anyone else have these symptoms? After reading peoples experiences on here I feel I should stop taking this medication immediately!

Karen

I have been on Lipitor for 5-years. I've been on 40mg of Lipitor, and just today my Endocrinologist (I am a Type 2 Diabetic) just increased the Lipitor to 80mg. I am not filling the prescription until I speak with my Cardiologist who is the original prescriber of the Lipitor for me. But after reading posts here, I have determined that most of my symptoms are all related to this Drug, including I think, my chest pains. I had a heart attack in 1995 and double-bypass surgery, and am on a plethora of drugs, and would like to talk to more of you about this and your experiences - So please email me and I hope we can talk about this together.

People are now beginning to post their bad experiences with Lipitor on Youtube. This is how those who suffer from this drug will be heard. I encourage everyone to take this all important step.

Firstly, thanks to all who make this exchange possible.
Over the last year I have developed pains and problems but never contributed this to be related to Lipitor.
Basically it started relatively harmless and progressively got worse.
By now the most affected parts are neck, Knee, Hips, lower back.
Over the last 6 weeks it has become very pain full to do basic tasks such as walking and I have become less and less active.
4 weeks ago I stopped playing volleyball because my knee popped.
Several days ago I thought it was unreasonable that I degenerated from a healthy and active person only 1 year ago to a person riddled with problems.
This is when I linked this to Lipitor.
Reading everybody else’s problems, mirrors my experiences rather accurately.
So I came to the conclusion, that my change in lifestyle is causing me more harm, than Lipitor is doing good.
Yesterday I stopped taking this medicine, I will try and maintain a good diet and eat lots of flaxseed oat meal for breakfast.
I will monitor for improvements and discuss this with my doctor later.
Perhaps with exercise and diet I can either control it or possible go on a reduced dosage.

Again, thanks to all and good luck

I used lipltor for about 6 months. I started to get pain in my arms and legs. My arms and legs became weak and I could barely walk up the stairs at night to go to bed and also started getting leg cramps that were vissible under the skin. It has been about a year since I stopped taking the lipitor and most of my problems went away fairly quickly after stopping. I still have pain in my legs especially the left leg. This has not gotten any better for months. Are there others who have had a similiar experiences?

I started taking 20mg Lipitor 10 years ago,when I was 53 yrs old, as I had a heart attack from unstable agina and high cholestrol.For most of this time I have suffered aches and pains, excema on my hip and stomach areas and severe leg cramps. For the past 12 months I have felt lethargic, in a 'switched off and isoloated'' frame of mind with painful hand joints and foot swelling. My eyesight has deteriorated quickly and I feel plain OLD!! After reading other people's experiences I am going to stop taking lipitor/statins immediately and monitor any change carefuly.

I am totally shocked at what I have learned about Lipitor. My physician prescribed 10mg for me over 4 years ago. No major problems until recently. Severe neck/shoulder pain for about 3 months. Dr said it was a pulled muscle. Gave me Skelaxin. No help. Went to Chiropractor--yanked, cracked, beat, etc--no help. In the past 2 weeks or so I have developed pain in my hips, back and legs. Blamed it on being 52 years old. As I read some of the experiences on here I could relate to each one. I also have gained about 30 pounds in the past 4 years, short term memory is terrible. NO ENERGY> 3 years ago-Dr started me on Wellbutrin for depression, then added Zoloft. I am to the point now I want to get off of all this and see how I could really feel. Not sure about withdrawals. Any comments on stopping the meds?

I have been taking Lipitor for about 5 years now and have had numerous things happen to me. Just trying to find out if they relate to the Lipitor or not. Have developed extreme fatigue and depression over the years. Always seems like I am in a fog. Have tried numerous anti-depressants trying to conquer this. Nothing seems to work and the problems continue. I was thinking that I just have to live with it and then I thought about the Lipitor. Has anybody experienced any of these symptoms too? I am on 20mg.

Hello all,

I myself live in Canada, but a brother of mine, who still lives in Germany, seems to be suffering from the typical statin-drug adverse effects. He is off the drugs now, but the symptoms persist. What can he do to rehab himself.

Here the symptoms: impaired muscular coordination impaired sense of balance... can walk only with a stick. Impairment of finer motor skills - he has difficulty writing and he experiences difficulties swallowing. Slurred speech. Listening to him you'd think he is more than a little drunk. He feels dizzy, disoriented; pain at the back of the neck; pain in abdominal muscles
and in legs. He has trouble raising his arms to reach for something up a little higher than his head and experiences intense pain if he tries to hold an arm up in a horzontal position for more than say a minute.

He was on two German statins, one called "Zokor" and the other "Baycol" for some five years. He went to see half a dozen doctors and came away with half a dozen different diagnoses till finally one took the time to find out what drugs he was on and suggested he go without the statins for a while.

Has been off the drugs for more than a year but the side effects, though somewhat improved, persist. What can he do to rehab himself faster?

Thanks for any suggestions.

waterbuf, alias Bud ***

I have been on Lipitor for some time, but only recently realized that it might be causing my severe calf-muscle cramp.

A few weeks ago I went to hospital, as I had continuous high-level pain in my left calf and couldn't walk. They thought it might be DVT after flying.

Although one of the two blood tests came back positive for DVT, the ultrascan revealed nothing.

Since then I have experienced moderate pain (especially when first getting out of bed in the morning) in BOTH calves and the right one has had a large area of bruising.

It doesn't seem to be getting any better and I am going to STOP Lipitor and see my doctor.

I am rather worried, reading the experiences of others, that Lipitor may have caused permanent damage, from which I will never recover.

Colin *** (70)
United Kingdom