Lipitor and neuro

I am a 52 year old male from South Florida. Two years ago my Dr prescribed Lipitor. I started to feel weakness in my legs after mowing the lawn but I dismissed it as just being worn out from the summer heat and humidity. About six months ago the little toe on my left foot became numb and it spread to my other toes. I get continuous spasms in my left big toe and now the toes on my right foot are becoming numb. When I sleep at night I am continuously being woken with leg cramps in my feet, calfs and thighs. My feet feel heavy, my legs feel weak. There are times that I just lose my balance. I have a physical job and when I get home I don't want to do anything. I am going to see a neurologist on 3/31 to see what he thinks. My biggest fear is that I now have permanent damage. I have not read any articles about individuals having a full recovery after stopping the medication.

What a wonderful site.. thanks for all of you and your stories. I too was a Lipitor user ... 20mgs/day for at least 6 years. I didn't notice any problems until last summer. I couldn't grip a golf club so I didn't play all summer. My doc told me it was arthritis. Strange, no history and never had any problems til then. As the months went on, things got worse. Burning in my upper left arm muscle, so intense it would cause me to have to sit down. Heart racing, pain in back, shoulder and jaw, I thought I was having a heart attack. Started reading about Lipitor and told doctor I wanted off. Of course he said no way and he did an MRI thinking it was skeletal. He sent me to a neurologist, who immediately told me I have statin myopathy. Cause...Lipitor!!! Amazing he admits this, also told me his own doc prescribed it for him and he will not take it because he sees too many patients with these side effects. I am liking him and his honesty. I have been off Lipitor for 2 weeks now. Hands are much better but muscle weakness and burning and sometimes tremors persist but I am optimistic that this may take time but I will recover.

I've been on Lipitor @ 20 grams for several years. Because of arterio diseases, my doctor upped me to 40 grams. Within a week I began to have a series of near seizure like episodes wherein my right leg collapsed. This lasted only seconds then within a minute a second such seizure. I had four such incidents then it stopped for 10 days, then the same thing again. Additionally, I have had the right hand go rather spastic on two occasions.There was no paralysis involved. Because I had cardioangioplasty and a stent inserted at the beginning of August, I thought it might be an after effect. This was discounted by my cardiologist. In early July, my left carotid artery totally occluded. My vascular surgeon was puzzled as to why this happened because a year ago testing showed only 25% stenosis, but doesn't see any relationship to what may be neuro problems. Today I took an EEG prior to seeing my neuro doctor tomorrow. Only because I overheard a man and his wife talking at the hospital yesterday, did the magic words come out about his having the exact same symptoms as I have encountered. I'd never said a word about my experiences until I heard him. His cardiologist had taken him off Lipitor. Additionally, he noted a reddening of my skin low on my forehead and recently I've had difficulty with pustules breakout on my head. This gentleman had the same trouble. All interesting. I've been at the Internet all day.
My son in law went on Lipitor a few months ago. Like me, he's a big guy. My daughter told me he is encountering difficulty with his middle ear. Anyone know anything about this potential side effect. Lejacle

I am(was) a healthy,very active 53 year old female who began taking lipitor on November 24th. After a week, I began to experience muscle spasms in my legs and contacted my doctor. She attributed it to panic. I had my husband take me to the emergency room because I was frightened that I had ms als or some other"s" All tests cane back negative. I started experiencing pain in my bicep calves and eye. I was constantly fatigued. My husband was talking with a friend who was having similar side effects who eventually stopped taking lipitor. I happened to speak with a well respected orthopedic surgeon who suggested that i go off lipitor. I went to a neuro who said spasms were benign. I have all sorts of tests(mri, mra,cat scan,cardio tests and numerous blood tests (all negative (cpk slightly high soon after i stopped meds.) I am off lipitor for over a month and began taking coq 10(by the way Canadians patients are told to take this with lipitor.I am still having spasms in my calves but energy seems to be back. I am documenting everything i have been through in case of a class action suit and i suggest you all do the same. if my symptoms are permanent my life is greatly impacted. I am so angry at my doctors for not knowing all the side effects of this drug.