Zocor and muscle weakness

I don't know if I can blame Zocor on my weak thighs--my doctor says that muscle weakness as a result of the drug should include all of my muscles. I've also developed an extremely itchy neck-also not sure if this is related. Weight keeps going up in spite of increased exercise and limiting daily caloric intake to below 1500 calories.

I had muscle aces and pains most of that time but near the end of the 3 weeks I would loose the use of my left arm for periods. I would feel faint and very weak. I have had restless leg since I was a child but my legs got much worse during the 3 weeks. Finally I remembered that if you had muscle weakness you were to stop Zocor so I did. The daily muscle weakness gradually went away but I developed severe restless leg and had to go on Requip. I also started having face spasms and “turrett” type spasms in my legs that would travel up into my arms and hands. My hands would clench and I couldn't talk plain. My head would jerk and my body would shake inwardly as if I were freezing. These symptoms were worse when I was stressed or got too hot. Eventually I had to quit my job, it was very high stress. Five years have past. I now stay home and garden and paint. I very seldom leave my home and my stress level is low but when I do get into a stressful situation I still have to deal with the “loss of control” over my body. My sleep is a nightmare every night. My restless leg syndrome is getting worse and I've had to increase my Requip and will probably have to do so again soon.

My cholesterol is very high and my doctor keeps trying to get me to go on some meds for that but I would rather die than add to the painful, exhausting struggle I go through now because of what Zocor did to me.

My experience with Zocor was related to increased difficulty breathing; SOB was present with all exertion no matter how light. After awhile, I just stopped doing much of anything. The smallest exertion, such as getting ready for bed {brushing teeth, hair, washing face and putting on a night gown} invoked labored breathing and a pounding heart. After a week off the drug, the symptoms all by disappeared; now, 4 months later, I am up and around, walking longer walks and not short of breath. My problems may have been related to muscle weakness, but the heart is a muscle and the lungs function in conjunction with the heart.

I stumbled onto this website just today looking for information on another drug. Little did I know what I was going to find and so happy I did. I have been taking Zocor for nearly 5 yrs. now. My health has taken a spiral downhill. I too, have been experiencing almost every symptom that has been mentioned. Rt. shoulder pain, hand pain, pain and tingling in hands and feet, leg cramps, muscle weakness, numbness, memory loss, itching, fuzzy headed at time, can't concentrate, and trouble breathing. My doctor has told me my cholesterol is just fine the last two times I've had my checkup, but has never suggested I come off it. I guess I will be calling him tomorrow.

i have been taking zocor for about a year when i remember to take it but have been having very bad muscle weakness in my legs.I have had a few leg cramps occasionally.Also when i sit and then get up i am like an old women.The ache never really goes away.My legs are so much worse when i wake up in the morning.I am going to stop taking it for now and see if things change

I have been on zocor for over a year, about 8 months ago I began to have pain in my left arm, got and injection and it was better it started again in my left arm , this time there was pain , tingling, numbness, swelling , it got better but it moved to the right arm which is twice as bad, I am often brought to tears from the pain..I sometime describe the pain like shutting your hand in a car door. My Dr keep giving me the same meds.

Have been taking Zocor for a month. I am about to give it up starting tomorrow. Calling my doctor. I rather try flax seed in my diet. Have had normal cholesterol for life, however the last couple of years it has been hovering around 230-260 esp. since menopause. So, the last check up the doc put me on 20mg, I don't like how I am feeling. Very tired. Low level of energy, and my skin tone appears to be changing yellowish color. Has anyone else experience the dis-coloring of their skin? I am nervous.

I am 31 year old been on zocor for 8 months. Doctror prescribed it for cholesterol was 230. I have had muscle weakness, pain in shoulder, chronic neck pain,anxiety attacks, hives,and uncontrolled itching,and have been put on meds for depression.I am stopping the medication tomorrow thanks for all the posting very enlighting. Will post again in a few months.

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!

I started taking Zocor 6 months ago, switched from Crestor because of muscle weakness. About a month and a half ago started to get fuzzy head and could not sleep thru the night. I awoke up to five times a night and could not go back to sleep. I had tingle feeling on my head above the ears. Sometimes I had to get up from whatever I was doing and walk around and it felt like an “anxiety attack” with a feeling of tightness on the back of the neck. My knees are weak and I can feel them whenever I get up from a chair or getting out of the shower. A few times, I felt sharp pain on my right shoulder blade and my head hurts a lot. Cold and hot flashes mostly at night and sometimes in the morning after the shower and during the day together with the “anxiety attack”. Once in a while I would have warm flush feeling on my face. I also have a few pimples like tiny bumps on my head. I could not carry on my normal daily life for the last month and a half. I could not concentrate on anything except constantly feeling the fuzzy head/head heavy/pressure on my head. I also had a MRI on my head and brain to make sure there are no tumors inside and it came back negative. I just found this website a few days ago and I told my doctor that I am taking myself off of the Zocor for a while. I am feeling at least 50% better already after a few days. I am hoping the rest of the side effects would go away eventually. I feel for you all who have been taking this drug for many years.

It`s very disturbing to read all these stories.

I really feel for you.

My experience comes from seeing what happened to 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 forther 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.

I can't really say I have anything new to report. I had been taking Lovastatin for maybe a couple of years, first 20 mgs, then 40. I don't remember having any problem with that. Then about 4 months ago my Dr. switched me to Zocor, 80 mgs because my cholesterol was 240. First I started having numbness in my feet and legs, cramps in my feet and Charlie horses at night in my legs. I mentioned it to my Dr. but he just seemed to feel it's part of the aging process and not to worry. Then my knee started hurting so bad I couldn't bend it and could hardly get up and down the stairs. I went in and they said I had arthritis and gave me Nabumetone and Vicodin which I didn't want to take because of the side effects. I finally gave in because the pain was getting worse. I was supposed to take two pills bit I only took one and I only took the Vicodin if I just couldn't stand it any longer. I took the drug for about 3 weeks and I wasn't getting any better. In fact my other leg started hurting, and my elbow and two or three times my lower jaw felt numb and I thought, Oh my God, I'm having a stroke. Anyway by some miracle I found this web site and see that many others are suffering the same symptoms that I'm having. What is wrong with the doctors? I am trusting my Dr. with my life. I'm sure he's heard similar complaints before about these drugs, but he acts like it's no big deal. I told him I don't want to take this anymore and he said well sometimes people do get some muscle pain but you can take a over the counter medication, not sure of the name, CO-2, something like that.
I'm wondering what's happened to the Dr's integrity? Why do they keep pushing these drugs when they know they are harmful? I guess I have to look for another Dr. My Dr. is with Kaiser. I guess they all pedal the same poison. So sad that we are controlled by the drug companies for profit. They are killing us. Look what happened with the HRT drugs. Meanwhile I'm afraid to quit this drug cold turkey since I was on such a high dose so I'm cutting the pills in half, 40 mgs, and then in about 2 weeks I will go to 20 and hopefully by then I will have selected something natural and safe. I am 67 years old. Before this I was active and I used to walk my dog a mile everyday. I can no longer do that. Right now my leg hurts so bad I don't want to take another pill but I'm scared if I quit cold turkey something terrible will happen. It's a holiday...

on zocor since dec 2006, i have alot of other medical problems, arthritis, fused foot, very bad lower back and some osteoporesis, but i believe more so, than not; that my symptoms increased after a change in dosage. now i'm very tired, extreme muscle weakness, knee pain, having trouble walking, weight gain (10 lbs in last 2 months) and unbelievable swelling in ankles and top of foot, very painful
It's hard to blame zocor on this, but i don't just want to wear compression socks and so forth, because that could be masking the cause, and maybe just a change in lipid medication will change things around. it's a vicious circle, cant work out or walk, to tired to do anything, but work 14 hours a day, it's such an effort to walk (I keep blaming the weight gain) but maybe its really the swelling and joint pain along with the muscle weakness that's to fault.

Everyone who is experiencing muscle weakness or muscle pain should discuss this immediately with their doctor.
It may be the beginning of "rhabdomyolysis" a serious life-threatening side effect of Zocor.
Toxic-mediated rhabdomyolysis may result from prescription and nonprescription medications, including Zocor.
Rhabdomyolysis is the breakdown of muscle fibers with leakage of potentially toxic cellular contents into the systemic circulation.
A Guest Nurse

I started Zocor the night I had a heart attack and the leg aches and muscle problems started that next day. I was even taken to ulta sound lab looking for blood clots the pain was so bad. I continued taking 40mg twice a day for six months before the Dr. listened and then he tried other statin products. I am female and 57. This yo-yo affair with statin drugs continued for another 18 months before I refused to take them again. I am still having problems, muscle aches and etc. I have been sent to other specialists from gastric, arthritis, neurologist, and now I am seeing an orthopaedic Dr. I have had physical therapy to try to get my muscles working correctly, but no Dr. will even give the slightest acknowledgement it just might be statin drug side effects. The arthritis Dr. said I did not have any form of arthritis and did not fit the profile of any patient he'd ever had and sent me to the neurologist. My muscles respond to electric shock and are coming back according to the neurologist and as a bit of advice he said that even Dr.'s have had problems like mine and have had no problems until one morning the wake up weak, unable to exercise, and general muscle weakness. There is no way to prove our problems are because of the statins. My last blood work now show I may have liver problems and kidney problems. This slow death is not over for me, even though I am off the statin drugs. My last drug was red yeast rice used under Dr.'s care and it too is a statin. They all caused problems. I have tried them all. My advice is to listen to your body and your gut feelings about these products. I have had 3 heart attacks even on the statin drugs so they did not prevent future problems for me. I now have nine stents and am thankful to be alive, but my quality of life is deteriorating. I teach school and continue to do so, but I am having difficulties with extreme fatigue. I am looking at early retirement from something I have always enjoyed doing.

I started to have balance-problems, problems with depth perception, falling, walking with a cane, experiencing muscle weakness, pain and spasms, walking with a walker. Finally had to stop working because I could not get around by myself. I'm a 61 year old female on Zocor for three years. I'm seeing my third (via referral chain) neurologist. No-one has ever made an association with my progressive debilitation and Zocor.
I am going to STOP taking Zocor. I feel deeply that it is the cause of my neurological problems. Very limited discussions on neurological side effects.

I'm a 28yo male. my over all cholesterol was elevated at 248. I am a very healthy person otherwise, and active. My HDL chol is very good. My Dr. had me try to lower my chol by diet and excersise at first for a little over a year, but didn't work. About two months ago he decided to put me on Zocor 10mg. The day i started taking it I felt very tired, weak, very dazed. I told my Dr. and he said it was a likely side effect and to keep taking it. After a week I was still feeling bad to the point where I had to call in sick to work. My Dr. finally told me to stop taking the Zocor and come in to the lab to get my blood drawn. A few days later my results showed that my liver and muscle enzymes were way elevated. My Dr. called me and said to drink copious amounts of water to flush out my system. After about a week of still feeling terrible my liver and muscle enzymes were back down to normal range. That was almost two months ago and still feel terrible. I've been very fatigued,muscle weakness,muscle spasms all over my body,dizziness,very sharp headches, stiff neck,but mostly pressure in my head and in my ears which cause them to pop and ring. My back even got really stiff and sore for a couple of weeks. I've been in such a daze. After 8 hours of sleep when I wake up in the morning, I feel like I've only had about two hours. I've been back and forth to my Dr. many times over the past couple months, and he's started telling me that because of taking a low dose of Zocor for only a week, he doesn't think it was the statin that is making me feel like this and said it could be a virus, and has been drawing blood for lyme disease and mono etc., which have all came back normal. I believe this is ALL from the Zocor!! I think I have drug induced myositis. I am scheduled next week to see a Neurologist. Hopefully he can give me some answers. I hope my experiences can help one of you out there. Alot of Dr.'s out there aren't aware of how dangerous these statins really are!.

My mother was prescribed zocor a month ago and 2 weeks ago she started having terrible abdominal cramps and muscle weakness. I had to take to ER and doctors could not find anything wrong bec all tests came back OK. A week later she went back to the ER because the muscle pain was so bad she could hardly walk. She took herself off the medication. Now she's getting blisters and nodules on her legs and torso. Is this going to get better?

I have been taking Zocor for several years. I now have a chronic rash on my legs and also on other parts of my body at times. My back aches terribly and the muscles are very weak. I have read that the back ache and muscle weakness could be a sympton opf a serious problem.

What serious probelm is this and could it be worse that this terrible skin rash and back muscle weakness.

I stpped taking it and my rash is much improved, but not my back yet.

Pleas let me know if you havew experienced the same and if after quittin the drug did it clear up.

took 10mg of zocor for 1 whole month and so far I've experienced muscle weakness, fatigue a piercing pain in my right heel and muscle spasms. When lying down my body easily losses sensation specially when I sleep on my side the blood flow to my exremities easily cuts off so when I wake up my fingers feel numb.

My cardiologist advised me to take CQ10 with each dose of Zocor....I ran out of CQ10 and did not take it for 2 weeks. I then developed pain in my arms and legs with severe muscle weakness. I had trouble walking and keeping my balance. I stopped the Zocor and my muscles have improved after 2 weeks. This has been a frightening experience for me .

Am 61 and was taking Zocor for 2 1/2 months when I noticed that I could not tolerate normal exercise, had muscle weakness and and extreme fatigue. I later developed anxiety and finally depression and sought therapy. My psychiatrist and threapist told me that they have had a number of patients that also came in with depression who were taking Zocor. They said that they think that Zocor may be lowering certain brain chemicals that affect mood, thus causing depression. I decided to stop the Zocor and within two days the muscle symptoms and fatigue disappeared. I was also prescribed Lexapro to help with the depression. I am afraid to take Zocor ever again for fear that the whole syndrome I experienced will come back.

I have been taking 10mg Zocor for about 13 years. Have had some tingling in my toes, muscle weakness and joint soreness. It could be attributed to age rather than Zocor, but I don't really know. I just read about Coenzyme Q-10 and Zocor. It is commonly called CQ10 and is important to the process that produces 95% of the energy at the cellular level. Zocor and other statins depletes half of the CoQ10 that your body manufactures and can lead to muscle weakness and heart failure among other things. I just started taking CQ10 and have not had enough time to evaluate it on myself yet. It is sold off the shelf in any drug store. Look it up on the web for details and recommended dosages. I hope it works for me as well as you.

I am a 68 year old male in fairly good health, who had never heard anything bad about Zocor. After my last physical, my doctor prescribed Zocor. I read the cautions which came with the pills, and noted that the doctor should be called in case of muscle weakness or joint pain. A few days after taking the first pill, I noticed a slight pain in my left knee joint. Each day afterward, the pain was worse. Since I had not fallen or slipped, I began to wonder if it had anything to do with the Zocor. After 2 weeks, the pain was so bad that I called the doctor's office and told them I was stopping the Zocor until I heard from the doctor. She left me a message (without seeing me) that the pain was "probably not due to the Zocor", and to put Aspercream on the joint until the pain left, and then to continue the Zocor. That evening, the knee collapsed, and I ended up in the Emergency Room. After getting home in a full leg brace I went to GOOGLE and entered "Zocor + joint" and found this website full of horror stories similar to mine. No more Zocor for me.

I am a 62 year old male I have been in excelent health all my life. Ive been on zocor for 3yrs and complaining to to my cardioligist for two years about leg pain and cramps.Ive been off zorcor for 6wks with little or no improvement, I have severe leg pain and spazims my arms are numb my face is twiching my chest is giving me similar symtoms which scares the hell out of me. Ive had to take zanax anti depressant meds. How long will it take to go away? After reading about all the other people with the same symtoms, it's deplorable that the doctors are still handing this stuff out to paitienst. HELP! HOW LONG TO GET RID OF THE PAIN. LETS GET TOGETHER AND SUE. JERRY