Pravachol and heart palpitations

My MD put me on Pravachol in August due to my elevated cholesterol, and the sudden, premature death of my beloved brother from a heart attack caused by his high cholesterol. I'm a very active, busy, 54 year old full time paramedic. So I'm no dummy in the ways of meds and health care. After being on this stuff for a couple of months I noticed that I was having a lot of unexplained pain in my lower back and legs. At first I attributed it to my job, which involves a lot of heavy lifting. But it kept getting worse, to the point of having great difficulty walking because of severe pain in both hip joints.I felt like I was an 80 year old woman. I couldn't even stand to use an elliptical machine or swim at my fitness center. I was also extremely depressed, lethargic, and having heart palpitations. I had pain in my shoulders, neck, back, kidneys, hips, and thighs. I stopped taking it 3 days ago, and have already noticed improvement. I think I'll try to lower my cholesterol with diet, weight loss, and exercise instead.

I was on Pravachol 40mg for 4 years. It got my cholesterol down from a bad 7.8 to 4.8 and it was great. I was even able to eat my beloved dairy products with impunity. Then, the pain started in my legs about 9 months ago. Was also experiencing calf cramps at night that were so bad I came out of bed screaming. I didn't think about that, because as an ex-athlete with 1 shoulder and 3 knee surgeries + lots of breaks and wear and tear, I just though it was from that or menopause. I also had a lot of heart palpitations and put that down to stress and menopause (I am 51). The leg pain got so severe when walking, etc., that I thought it was DVT. Constant, deep aching in my calves and cramping.. (and I still didn't think about the side effects of Pravachol)! Didn't mention this to my doctor. I lost 12kg, so my doc put me on 20mg, thinking that less weight = less cholesterol. Then I had my blood test. Always got the 6 month blood tests for elevated CK levels (indicates muscle damage) and liver functions. Got a call from Dr. next day saying to stop Pravachol immediately, as the CK levels were almost double what they should be. (Folks, I was taking CoQ10 all the time, too!) One week off the Pravachol and the pain and cramps disappeared and so did the heart palps and a lot of the other "funny" stuff happening to me. You have to consider that Pravachol can damage muscles and the heart is a muscle, so..... However, two months after going off the pills, my cholesterol was up to 6.9 (only bad one went up.) Not good. I have a genetic predisposition for this disease (mom, dad, brother) and it can't be controlled by diet. Both I, mother and brother tried...no avail. I am now on Ezetrol and will have a test in 2 weeks to see what it is doing. No pain from this, but boy am I having bad sweats! Has anyone else experienced these sweats? However, if it drops my cholesterol and doesn't damage my muscles, I'll carry around a bucket.
I do believe that you really have to think hard about taking any of the statins because of their action on the body. For Heaven's sake, if you are on statins, get those 6 monthly blood tests! It could save your life. I've heard anecdotal evidence of muscle damage without the CK being elevated on the blood tests. That is scary.