Zocor and rash on

I am 39 years old. My cholesterol levels have been between 250 and 370 since my mid-twenties. I started on Lipitor and noticed after a few years that my loss of memory, muscle pain, fatigue and difficulty sleeping were just plain annoying. I quit talking in August of 2007. Since then I have changed my diet to a vegan diet where I have zero cholesterol intake. After 9 months my cholesterol levels are still 270. My body produces it anyway. The only time I saw my cholesterol levels drop (on Lipitor) was when I was doing Atkins (high fat, protein) and my levels were in the 170s. I was prescribed Zocor this spring by another doctor, however still found myself unwilling to take it. While only taking a diuretic blood pressure medicine, I began experiencing some chest pain, headaches, shortness of breath, numbness in the face and hands and got scared. I began taking the Zocor on Friday 4/25/08 - I haven't had a good night's sleep since. By Tuesday night I broke out with a rash on my arms and hands (itchy). I thought it was hives. By Friday 5/2/08 my head was in a fog - I couldn't remember what happened on Monday, it feels like it was 6 months ago. I stopped talking last night Fri. 5/2/08 and this morning the rash was gone and I slept fairly well. I believe in choosing the lesser of two evils; however, with the obvious effects of this drug I wonder what it does to the inside of my body where it isn't so obvious. As young as I am, I really worry about the long term effects of this medication, and others like it, that would make heart disease seem like a piece of cake.

I was prescribed Zocor 10mg about 3 mos ago. I started having severe pain in my knee when kneeling down like a hot knife. The skin on the side also became numb. After x-raying the knee they found nothing wrong. Cholesterol went down but they upped me to 20mg and within a few days I developed a rash on my arms, hands and legs - no itching but annoying. Thinking it was a food allergy I didn't worry about it too much. Then I started getting knee pain in my other knee and then in my big toe. I'm 50 years old and feel like I'm 80. Now the palms of my hands are peeling like they've been sunburned. My doctor has told me to stop taking the Zocor but that she has never heard of these side effects.

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.

I am a 40 yr old male. I just started taking zocor a couple of weeks ago and have developed a rash on my arms and legs. The only medication I am taking is zocor and have taken nothing else except Amoxicilin within the last year.