Lipitor and long walks

Wow! I must be the latest in a long line of Lipitor users and apparently pain sufferers. I have been on Lipitor for over a year. I am 56 years old, active and healthy (thank God). Around November 2008, I noticed a "twinge" in my left hip while sleeping. This has gotten progressively worse over the months and I thought it was due to arthritis (which runs in my family). But after reading these blogs, I am not so sure. If anyone has anything definitive regarding this, ie: tests, studies, etc., I would really appreciate a point in the right direction for more information. I was thinking (until today) that I was headed for hip surgery or something equally drastic. Now that I have a clue that it may be the Lipitor, I want to investigate further and then, if necessary, change to another medication that won't break me down like this. My heart goes out to anyone that has suffered through hip pain. It is a miserable, painful condition that saps your energy and your desire to even move sometimes. I appreciate any help you can offer. God bless all of you. - L. B. ******

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?