Lipitor and six months

I had 95% occlusion of the major artery in my heart July 2007 with no symptoms except slight shoulder pain on 3 occasions. They did a cath and inserted 2 stents. Started with Lipitor 10 mg. and my LDL dropped from 75 to 112. The MD wanted to double the dose, but I refused because of intermittent nocturnal nausea. MD switched me to another statin and I had immediate muscle involvement and severe nausea at night. She wanted me to try another statin drug and I refused. After a 2 month period of no statins, she put me back on Lipitor 10 mg. daily. I decided to cut the pill in half and take it twice a week, then move to every other day and gradually go to 10 mg. daily. Immediately, the nocturnal nausea started again. Last night I awoke at 2 a.m. with nausea, sweating, sore muscles around my rib cage. Still no sleep at 4:30 a.m., so I got up and tried to eat something. This has been the pattern every night since I went on Lipitor.

I don't know if I can take this any more.

CK

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.

I had been taking Lipitor for well over six years to help lower my Cholesterol count with no know side affects. A problem developed about two and a half years ago with nerve damage that gave me excruciating pain in my shoulder and arm. After an MRI and three cortisone shots I was referred to a neurologist for help. He had no idea what was causing the problem.

About six months after many doctors could do nothing for me, and referring me to a physical therapist, my wife showed me a story in a magazine, which I can no longer find, that talked about problems with Lipitor that had not been properly documented. The article talked about exactly the side effects I was having. The article said there was a problem with nerve damage. It had been well documented that some people had muscle problems, but it was not know there could also be a problem with nerve pain.

I contacted my doctor and stopped taking Lipitor. Two months later, the pain just disappeared. The very day the pain ceased, I had a visit from a good friend of mine who is a Radiologist and who had studied Lipitor because of a problem he was having.

He explained that Lipitor was doing the job it was supposed to do, namely keeping the liver from producing all fats. The problem I was having was that I had injured a nerve and Lipitor was keeping the liver from producing a particular fat needed to help heal that nerve. It seems that the myelin sheath around the nerve needs that fat to help the nerve heal itself, and Lipitor was preventing the production of that particular fat.

Once I quit taking Lipitor it took about two months for the healing fat production to do it's thing. Recovery of the nerves in that arm has been very slow, but they do seem to be healing now.

I thought this was such an important finding that I notified all the doctors I had seen about this problem. To my great surprise I heard from no one. Not even a thank you. I guess that since they didn't find the solution, they just were not interested.

I hope this discussion helps someone else. Thanks for listening.

I have been on 40mg/day of Lipitor for 5-6 months and this is how I feel: totally drained - no energy at all - horrible lower back pain - I've been in physical therapy for the past 6 weeks. My neck muscles, back muscles and hip muscles were in constant spasms. Right after beginning Lipitor I woke up with vertigo and still have the dizziness. I was convinced that I must have some horrible disease and was dying at age 47. I stopped taking Lipitor 3 weeks ago and starting taking fish oil, vitamin c, coq10, b vitamin, daily vitamin - the muscle spasms are a little better - still have lower back pain, brain fog, some dizziness. I am so tired all the time - it's so difficult to work a full time job right now. Has anyone else had these same symptoms? Does anyone know how soon I should start to feel better?

My father has been taking Lipitor for 5-6 years. It wasn't until my mother passed away in Dec. '07 that I started looking into his health. He used to be a hard working and vibrant man, but sometime in the summer of '06 he started doing less and less around the house. His hands would ache and so would his joints, he could not grip things like he used to, he would wake up at night in pain. He is 77 years old and had a stroke about 8-10 years ago. After looking into Lipitor I saw all the possible side effects and it warns not to take if you are over 70, have had a stroke , etc., etc., BUT the doctor kept him on it. Feb 4th, I talked him into getting off of it. We will let the doctor know after a month or so. Hopefully he still has a chance to get somewhat back to the man and workaholic father I know him as.

I have been on lipitor for about 2 yrs. Six months ago I developed tendenitis in my right elbow also bicipitel tendenitis in my right shoulder for no reason , I am not a tennis player or a golfer....... I knit. funny but not really. I can hardly lift a dish cloth . Now for the last 2 months I have developed calf pain. Last night woke in the middle of the night with upper thigh pain, thought I should check out more indepth side effects on the internet and am shocked to find all of these entries, but I also feel thankful because as of today I am stopping my lipitor and will go for natural remedies.

Started taking Lipitor in Sept. 05, six months later I am dizzy &/or disoriented, severe thigh & leg pain, numbness in my hands & legs, shoulder pain... nausea at times... drinking alcohol makes it much worse... thought I was having a heart attack one day... was taken to the emergency room... blood tests all night... then a stress test the next day... on my release papers the cardiologist who was assigned to me wrote on them in big capital letters "DO NOT TAKE ANY MORE LIPITOR"! I am off it two weeks now & am only slightly improved.... I still get all the symptoms... the doc said it could take months to clear up! & my regular doc tried to defend herself on prescribing it to me until she saw the hospital lab reports... I told her I will never take a statin again... I am pursuing natural healthy things now... we'll see how the labs are in two months.... it's been a very scary experience & still is... BTW... I am a 49 year old male.

My son (28) was put on Lipitor about six months ago. He has severe sleep apnea and has gained weight; cholesterol also has gone up, hence the script for Lipitor. Recently he has appeared confused, and extremely slow at completing tasks. He goes into a room several times, forgetting why he is even there. I also suspect paranoia. The only medication script or otc he is using is Lipitor. We have not been to the doctor yet as things just came to a head this weekend, but after reading about others problems with Lipitor I'm insisting he immediately stop taking it. My fear is that he would be left on it, and the medical professionals would suggest "counseling", which would not help. Lin.

It seems like my energy level is way down and iI am having leg cramps.

My sister was on lipitor for six months and had leg problems and she got off it.
It was a couple of months before things she recovered.

Started lipitor on Friday and by Sunday I was feeling AWFUL. Aches and Flu like symtoms, like I fell down a flight of stairs. By Monday morning getting out of bed was difficult, so tired and so many aches and pains. Back, neck, knees, etc. I was on lipitor for a total of 3 days and stopped taking it. Same thing happened about six months ago, when I was on Mevacor for 1 week. I had pains and burning pains in my thighs and lower back.

Guess I am NOT a candidate for statin drugs.