Lipitor and moods

I am a male of 67 years old. I took Lipitor for a year, and after a few months of taking it, I felt muscle pains in my arms and shoulders, as well as my back. I felt weak and could hardly put my socks on by myself. I told my family doctor that I thought the problem was caused by LIpitor. He said it couldn't be possible, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong, so he sent me to a rheumatologist, who gave me an initial diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica. I went back for a checkup, and although the sed rate was normal, the C-reactive protein was elevated. He felt his diagnosis was an accurate one. He prescribed prednisone for me. I had some doubts about it, since I am diabetic, and was concerned about the elevated blood sugar it might cause. Well, it did elevate my blood sugar, and I weaned myself off it within three months. My blood sugar went back to normal, and while the prednisone helped the symptoms of muscle pain and aches, after I stopped it, the pain returned with a vengeance.

About a year passed after discontinuing the prednisone, and I felt worse and worse. Any time I engaged in physical activity, such as yard work, I was almost incapacitated for two or three days. I felt weaker and weaker, and by now, my activity is about ten per cent of what it was three or four years ago. I am unable to do anything physical without paying a heavy price.

I would tell the doctor that I felt the problem was caused by the Lipitor. He would dismiss my comments, saying that the pain should have gone away after discontinuing Lipitor. He sent me back to the rheumatologist with results of recent blood tests. Both the sed rate and C-reactive protein were normal. The rheumatologist touched my back and other areas, which caused me to jump. He said it might be fibromyalgia. I told him again that I thought it was caused by the Lipitor. He said the same thing my GP had said: if it had been the Lipitor, the pain would have gone away when I stopped taking it. I know the Lipitor caused the pain, because I tried red yeast rice for a couple months. The pain increased to almost unbearable, so I discontinued the red yeast rice. If I were not susceptible to the pain from the Lipitor, would the red yeast rice have increased the pain?

So here I am with a fuzzy diagnosis from the rheumatologist, and no clue from my family doctor (that he will verbalize, at any rate). My life has gone steadily downhill. I used to be a strong, active person, but now I can do very little, and my strength is a shadow of what it formerly was. What can I do?

I have been taking lipitor for about 4 yrs. now. I feel fatigue, joints pains, back pains, neck pains, especially my hands and arms. I was recently hospitalized for 5 days with a bad kidney infection which lead to a blood infection. To this day my doctor can not understand what really caused it. All my bood test for kidney problems come back normal. I also have noticed loss of memory and my moods have changed dramatically. My husband and family get very frustrated with me alot lately. After reading all these emails and side effects that people are suffering from, I have decided to stop taking this medication today and see what results occur from doing so. I will get back with results.

Hi, I never really thought about why I feel the way I do until now that I have decided to check out this site. I too feel very fatigue, aches and pains all over my joints. I feel tired all the time no energy. I am 41 yrs old and am always sick. My hand hurt the most. The back of my neck and lower back hurt very much also. I have had some memory loss and my moods have changed drastically. My husband is always telling me whats wrong now. My family never knows what to expect from day to day. I am going to stop taking lipitor today and see what happens. Maybe this is the answer I have been looking for. I too was hospitalized just recently with a kidney infection and blood disease and my doctor still does not know what caused it. Most of my test come back normal. I hope to see results soon.