Vytorin and anxiety attacks

I am a 45 yr old female and I have been on Vytorin for about 2 yrs or so for my cholesterol problems. Was on Lipitor before that and was getting leg pain so I stopped taking it. When blood work time came around it was still up so my doc put me on Vytorin. I have noticed that I feel like I'm dying. I have severe neck,back and arm pain, cold and hot attacks, can't sleep, chest pain,blurred vision, sudden stomach cramps, nausea, throat and ear aches, and bad stomach problems. I have had heart cath, ekgs,endoscopy, blood work and everything keeps coming back normal. Matter of fact, I went to the heart doc today and he put me on a 24 hour monitor and for low heart rate that has gradually gotten worse over the past few months.He even mentioned a pace maker. I don't even want to start about the depression and anxiety attacks that I have. They are AWFUL. But the more blogs that I have read, I think I know where the problem may lye. The Vytorin, so as of tonight I will NOT take another one..I just hope that there is no permanent damage done as far as my liver. I hope you all the best and I will let you know how I start to feel in the next few days...

every day my feet, legs up to knees, hands and up to mid forearm and face become tingly, numb and very weak to where I cannot get out of my chair or out of bed. Sweaty and chilled, headache, neck ache, thirst. I am on vytorin10/80. 63 yr old female. It sucks!

Hey guys....I'm 27 and have been on this for about 2 years and everything was ok, until a month ago. First... abdomen uncomfortableness, not really pain. Then, I was driving and it seemed like I just couldn't hold my neck up and it was so tired. I just wanted to lay my head down. Weird random muscle pains in my legs like the calfs and thighs. Then one night a pain in my left shoulder blade.....more muscle pain. Oh...and really crazy sweaty feet and sweaty joints like in the back of the legs and in the arms. This went on for about a month. I am posting this because I want to get the word out that it doesn't matter what age and totally normal healthy people can get this. The side effects were not Terrible but weird and not fun. You don't have to have the whole gam-met of anxiety attacks and insomnia. I have been off for 2 weeks and it got a little better...we'll see. Time to take fish oil instead. I will post later. Cya

Guys - I just have to make a little follow up to my earlier post in January of this year. After giving it consideration and after reading all of your posts - I truly felt that I should stop this poison. And I did. Cold Turkey......

First day - mentally, I felt like I had been freed. Probably just a psychological thing, but nonetheless...
Second day - okay...my head felt clearer....my ear started to feel better...ah....my back...it's starting to feel less stiff...
Third day - no heating pad at night....I feel "lighter" (for lack of a better word)
Fourth day - my thighs don't hurt anymore.....I'm still tired.....very very tired...but the anxiety seems to be subsiding....I feel like I've come out of a strange fog....
Fifth day and on - my hubby says it took me a good two weeks to come around to "me" again.....now I'm still continuing my 2 TBS of flaxseed a day.....slowly losing a little weight - 5 pounds at this point.....15 more to go.....and thank God my chest doesn't hurt anymore. I don't feel like I'm dying (well, I still have anxiety attacks - but that's a separate thread - haha)....

My hubby just got diagnosed with cholesterol problems as well and he's on Simvastatin (sp?) which I believe is Zocor....and no problems. It's all in the makeup of a person, I'm convinced.

So everyone - if you feel like you're dying on this crap Vytorin, try to free yourself....even if it's just for a month....eat really well...take your flaxseed.....and see if you can get off of this horrible poison that OUR bodies don't accept...

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now....."-)

I've had a heart attack at age 46 (2000) and had two stents put in. I have been on various cholesterol medicines. If my cholesterol went down my triglycerides went up, leg pains were horrible. In 2004 the Dr did another angioplasty my arteries looked clear. In 2007 I started having chest pains and went in for another angioplasty, I had two 90% blocked arteries and One 70%. I have been taking Vytorin for over two years, I started with 10/20, I had moderate cholesterol and a little high in triglycerides, and a little high in my liver enzymes. My doctor increased me to 10/40 since the angioplasty, yes everything dropped in to normal ranges except my liver enzymes which have now doubled.I have had very strange eye attacks, it is like my eyes go numb, anxiety attacks, depression, horrible lower back ache by my hips, shoulder pain coming on lately. The good thing is that this comes and goes, it is not constant, but when it hits it is bad. One thing I think I have been an example for, is Vytorin doesn't work any better than anything else, because if it did I wouldn't have had 2 more blocked arteries,
Now I am concerned about the 3rd one he did not put a stent in it and upped my dosage hoping it would keep it from clogging. I fear I am doomed...

I'm crying reading these posts. I thought there was something wrong with me. I'm 41 years old - and my family has a health history of "making" cholesterol. Both parents were on statins. My total cholesterol was 267 a few months ago - LDLs were 171 and my HDLs were 42. I started taking flaxseed meal every day - and within a few months, my cholesterol dropped to 193, my LDLs were 117 and my HDLs were the same.
My doctor's didn't think it was the flaxseed - they had prescribed Vytorin which I reluctantly took for about a week. They attributed my lowering numbers to the statin, not the flaxseed - so I followed their advice and started taking the Vytorin about 3 weeks ago......
Now I don't know if it's coincidence, but I have developed a severe left ear problem....and have taken 2 separate antibiotics, but to no avail. I have also developed a severe pain in my left shoulder, the back of my left arm and sometimes it shoots into my chest.
I suffer from anxiety attacks, so of course, to me, this is a heart attack, but since I've been tested so many times and I'm a healthy woman, I know that's not it. I thought I'd log onto google today and search out what could possibly be causing these troubles. I read these posts and I literally have been crying for about 15 minutes. My doctors have told me that Vytorin is almost a "magic" pill. They said if someone could tell you that you could take this pill and it would reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke by 50%, why wouldn't you take it? Given the history of your parents, it would be foolish to not.
I have also been given instructions to lose about 25 pounds (not bad), and I know that if I could just exercise, eat well and take my flaxseed as well as making sure I eat 2-3 meals of fish a week, then I have to be better, don 't you think?
Do you think statins are the only way to go? I'm so happy to know I'm not alone - I'm not going crazy - I'm not experiencing any heart attacks....my anxiety is ten-fold lately - I wake up after a full-night's sleep feeling exhausted. I have four wonderful children and a wonderful husband - I live for them - and I feel so sad and depressed lately.
Oh my gosh everyone - do you really think that the Vytorin would have such an incredible impact on all of our lives?????

I very recently started having something like anxiety attacks, I was doing things that were totally out of character for me (mood swings, anger, saying mean things for no reason, ending valuable friendships, getting badly depressed for no reason, withdrawing from my usual activities, not keeping up with things as I normally do, isolating from people, finding that I was beginning to hate the entire human race though I have always loved people and my entire career was devoted to working with people, being forgetful though I usually am not, etc.) and I became very concerned that something had happened. I kept thinking, “This is not like me. I am not myself. Its totally out of character for me to neglect things like this or to do some of the things I am doing. Something has gone wrong.” I started wondering if I was becoming senile though I’ve never seen that happen with any family member, sometimes wondered if maybe I was developing a brain tumor. I had pulled my health plan brochure and looked at mental health benefits available to me. Vytorin apparently caused much of the mental and emotional issues that I was experiencing so stopped taking it. I stopped taking it just a couple of days ago but am already finding all of the mental and emotional problems I was experiencing have gone away.