Zocor and doctors

I'am 45 year old female and I have been on simvastatin 40mg for at least 6 months. Here in the past 3 weeks I have had very weak legs and arms,they felt like they were wet noodles. I also was getting these week spells where it felt like I couldn't lift my arms or legs cause they was so weak.I had pain in my ear and big bad headaches that wouldn't leave. My heart feels like it skips a beat and I get very bad anxiety attacks. I have been to the ER several times and they can not find anything wrong. I even got very dizzy. The ER doctor told me that the dizziness and headaches was from a inter ear disturbance,well I think the inter ear disturbance might have come from the simvastatin after running across this web site. I'm going off the simvastatin tomorrow! Oh yeah and forgot to mention the weight gain and the tiredness and how I feel like a couch zombie. I think I'll stick to my salmon oil.

Same here folks. I've been on Zocor for 2 months and have a constant pain in my left leg on the side of my calf. Always there; sometimes I get up from a chair and have to wait a minute before I move. My doctor advised me to go off for one week and see if I'm better but after reading these articles I want off it AS OF TODAY. NO more. I'm calling the doc and asking for another med. This is too scary - permanent damage may rise from this. Thanks for sharing and good luck to All.

I am a 58-year-old woman that changed from zetia to zocor about 6 months ago because of the price of zetia AND I had tolerated the zetia ok but my chol was still elevated. My initial dose of zocor was just 10 mg, even though I had a lot of aches and pains from the slighest exertion I really did not connect this to zocor. After my last checkup, the doctor wanted to up my dose to 20 mg daily because my chol was 228 (liver functions were all ok). I have been doing that for 6 days and my legs have become very achy, my left knee has swollen above my kneecap (which is very painful), and my lower back hurts. I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping and feel draggy all the time. I got on the net to research these symptoms when I found this site. I am going to go off this med and see if my condition improves! I will post an update as to the results.

I was prescribed Zocor for high cholesterol. Almost immediately I began to experience body aches -- some days more severe than others. I would take ibuprofen and it would help. Then, I started getting a pretty strong pain on my hip which radiated down my leg onto my foot. The pain was so severe, even the Motrin 800 mg. pills didn't help it. I am 53 years old, but I felt like a 90 year old. I had problems walking, especially after sitting for an hour or so. I had problems with stairs. Even laying down was painful. I tried heating pads, ointments, etc. When I told my doctor about it, she said that this was a typical side effect of statins, and that because I am diabetic, I need to continue taking Zocor to keep my cholesterol down. Just the other day, I stopped taking Zocor for 3 glorious days and guess what? NO pain!!! I resumed it because my doctor insists that I stay on it, but I wish there was something else I could take that wouldn't cause pain.

i am a male 48 years old and have been taking zocor for only one month now and started getting a lot of heavy headache pain, and nausea,sinus headache and not feeling of working. ever since i feel always tired and not been able to proform at work also i m constipating with no bowel movements .

I've been on Zocor 40 mg. for 9 months. After being on it 4 months I began to have symptoms. Dizziness, vertigo, tingling in hands and on scalp, stabbing pains in head and chest, eyelid and finger twitching, throbbing of arteries above each ear and head tremors. Went to ER when vertigo and tremor got unbearable, they found nothing. Been to several doctors and not one of mentioned that these symptoms could be from Zocor.
Internet research enlightened me and I stopped taking it yesterday. Will advise if symptoms decrease.

i was a healthy 35 year old male but had high cholesterol, so the doctor prescribed lovastatin (mevacor) and tried it for a month but developed muscle weakness. months later, i'm still experiencing severe muscle spasms and my neurologist is stumped -- mri's, spinal tap, emg -- all normal. I just want to feel normal again. can anyone help? please email me!

This is my second post on this subject. The short story is I had a stroke at 43 years old, doctor prescribed Zocor to me, 90 percent of side affects posted here.

I went back to the doctors afraid I was going to get the treatment from mmy doctor that most others got "your crazy, and it's psycholog". To my surprise the doctor knew exactly what I was going through with the only information that I was on Zocor.

The doctor was aware of the undocumented side affects and told me stop taking it immediately. She prescribed Lipitor and so far so good.

Most of the side affects have gone, the foggy head totally gone. The doctor said I was lucky to be recovering so quickly as most take months and some times years from the damage of Zocor. The longer you take it the longer the recovery time which makes sense. The doctor said that Zocor is cheap and highly dangerous.

I urge anyone coming across this website to see your doctor for a medication change ASAP.

I will post again in six months and give an update.

This is a message that I wrote earlier on, but I think it´s good to repeat it because I want to encourage people to read and make up their own mind about the cholesterol issue.
_________________________

It`s very disturbing to read all these stories. I really feel for you.

My experience comes from seeing what happened to 3 people close to me. They all took statins.

I started to look for information on statins, and other medications in 2004 , and it continues to this day although two of my relatives are dead.

I have nothing to do with the health or pharmaceutical industry.

I saw the suffering and it made me very angry.

I am an ordinary lady in her sixties who live in Sweden.

The situation is almost the same here as in the U.S.

There is very little discussion about risks/benefits with this kind of medicatications - or others.

I think it`s a good idea to turn to the Internet and books to get other views about the cholesterol issue.

Is it really true that it`s the cholesterol that is causing heart disease?

Are you sure?

Please visit:

www.thincs.org

www.ravnskov.nu

www.spacedoc.net

www.statinalert.org

Also search for "Stopped our statins" on Google.

You will find a lot of information.

Under "print articles" you will find a very informative article from The Weston Price Foundation.

Also search on the names of the different authors below.

Here are som books:

The Cholesterol Myths (Uffe Ravnskov)

The Great Cholesterol Con (Antony Colpo)

Book with the same title (Malcolm Kendrick)

Overdosed America (John Abramson)

The Truth about the Drug Companies (Marcia Agnell)

There are many more.

For more information about these books turn to the Internet.

It´s good to have some other information than the one given by doctors because most of them have been "educated" by the pharmaceutical companies themselves - and why should they talk about risks, side effects etc. They are interested in profits.

Finally - here are some side effects that I have seen:

pains in legs, hands, elbows, shoulders, knees, hips, cracking noise in ribs, muscle weakness, loss of hair, head ache, burning, tingling sensations in hands and feet, numbness, difficulties to swallow, loss of taste, ringing noise in ears, cramps, insomnia, irritation, depression, difficulty with short-term memory and then advancing into more serious problems.

These side effects - i 3 different people - all over 65 - did not come at once.

All of them had taken statins for years (Zocor)

It doesn´t matter which product -all statins have similar side effects.

My relatives also had some other medications which makes it even easier for doctors (and patients) to say that it`s just old age.

I am happy for those who get problems right away because then there maybe a chance for the patient and the doctor to see that there is a connection.

You really have to look out for yourself and the people around you!

Good Luck.

l

I was reading the various side effects and I have one more to add. Has anyone experienced vertigo--not dizziness but spinning. It lasts for about 15 seconds and it's enough to scare you to death! I've also noticed that the whites of my eyes turn red.
I've also experienced pain in my legs, heels and knees. It's so difficult to walk that I had cortisone shots in my knees and three series of epidural in my lower back. No doctor ever thinks it could be from medication. I've been on Zocor 10mg for two years
I've gone to more doctors now than I have in all my years. Everyone is a specialist. No one treats you as a whole. Now I have to go to a neurologist for the vertigo.
I'm thinking all this is related to Zocor. The only other medicine I take is Protonix.

Has anyone had severe headaches, loss of TASTE for food? My husband is taking 20mgs of Zocor and he has a terrible pain in his back in the center of his shoulders, knees crackle when getting up from a sitting position or bending to pick up something. His vision is getting very blurry, to a point he finds it hard to read, bouts of depression, cannot sleep, but, always tired, no ambition, thumbs lock-up like a Charlie horse, cannot lift anything heavy anymore. He started taking Zocor 40 days ago, and never been on any other cholesterol medication before this. 40 days ago he did not have any of these symptoms! I have a question for the people that have stopped taking Zocor and all other statins, what are you taking to keep your cholesterol and triglycerides down? Has anyone tried flaxseed; fish oil; cholesterol off and/or omega 3? I too, have many of these side effects, especially my left knee (my doctor says I will need a hip operation!!!!) sometimes I need a cane to walk, my eyes are also very blurry at times. We need help or suggestions, cannot get from doctors, they believe medication can do no harm. Would like to hear from those who stopped Zocor and all statins, thanks for reading, Helene