High Cholesterol Support Group

Lipitor affected my liver unfornatly. And I tried niacin and had reaction to that.

Oh boy yes. I have been on Lipitor for 5 years, my cholesterol levels etc have been very good. BUT for 4 years now I have been experiencing progressive pain in hands and some in knee to hip area. Spent those 4 years trying to find reasons. I was mis-diagnosed with everything. I have endured cortisone injections, eat pain killers and ibuprofen like mad. I finally went to a rhuemetologist who right off the bat said I did NOT have arthritis but he believed I had a high CK level due to the Lipitor (statin). So I went off lipitor for 1 month...my CK level went from 235 to 116...in a month!!!! But the damage to my muscle is there and never will be better. My dr wants me on Zetia but the ins needs prior approval...so now instead of good chol levels they are terrible...went up to 265 from 160 in that same month. I eat the oatmeal, any cereal with high insoluable fiber %'s, I take omega3(flax seed oil) 3 times a day and Co Q10 3 times a day. But did not do a damn thing for cholesterol. So I am playing the waiting and see if I get the new med or do I have to have a heart attack first. So, please please if you are on any statin drug pay close attention to joint or muscle pain that seems to appear from nowhere and get thine self to someone who knows the score on this sad little story. I am glad I know the true reason but anfry the drs were lazy and did not connect the dots, I wish I had paid more attention...but they said arthritis and at my age it would be a reasonable theory.

I was on Lipitor for 7 yrs. Had to increase dosage to make effective and results were erratic at best. Next to last test showed dramatic increase even tho I took prescribed dosage daily.

I continually complained about increasing fatigue to my dr. and was told it was my fibro &/or my thyroid. Thyroid meds increase didn't help. Now, I'm wondering if I really need that additional dosage.

Then dr blamed my bp meds which I've been taking for 20 yrs. and not had that affect. Long story short, got off Lipitor and w/in a week, I was no longer sleeping in until after noon every day!
Instead woke up between 7 & 9 am (no alarm).

Stayed off for 3 mo. Dr urged me to resume. W/in a week I was back to sleeping past noon. My memory has also been affected & my fibro has seriously worsened. The fatigue is so bad that I don't even want to THINK about doing things, let alone do them.

Plus I now have a serious vitamin d deficiency. Since lipitor blocks absorption of cholesterol related stuff, who's to say it doesn't block absorption of other things. In my opinion it hasn't been on the market long enough to know.

W/in six months of getting off Lipitor, my cholesterol has rebounded to even higher levels.

This drug has ruined the quality of my life. I was managing fine w/my other health issues including fibro before starting Lipitor. I used to exercise 5 x wk. After lipitor, I've come close to nodding off while on the treadmill and that level of fatigue is still with me. I barely have enough energy to do stretches, let alone walk for 5 min.

Dr now wants to give drug to improve my energy. I am very leery about taking any more meds.

I don't have much hope of ever recovering from the damage Lipitor caused. I am taking 100 mg coq10 3xday in the hopes of repairing some of the damage. But so far I've seen no improvement.

If you are interested, The Univ of CA, San Diego is doing a major study on the effects of statins. http://medicine.ucsd.edu/ses/
I'm to the point of thinking: what's the point of taking lipitor to POSSIBLY extend my life if all I do is sleep?

I just read some Postings on Lipitor , i was on it , and what a ride it was , as my muscle 's starting to disinagate against me , but it took along time for my 80mg of Lipi to work, then they added Niaspan and Niaspan doesnt cause Less flushing ( been there done that) you cant post something like that BECAUSE EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT AND REACTS DIFFERENT TO EACH AND EVERY MEDICATION OUT THERE ( AS I AM STILL LEARNING ) Docs will try to push a drug on you to see what works and doesnt for example for my Anxiety my Dr Pushed Effexor on me she told me and swore has less side effects ect: ok i tried it 3 Weks Later i had breathing issues , heart Palpitions and felt like i was dieing , then i stopped taking it and Going cold turkey was another issues i had to deal with, and the Doc assured me it was ok to stop taking it ..well That Dr i No Longer see !! i went to another one i explain to Him about this Dr and wanted to know if she was just fresh out of medical school that herself needed alot more to learn and tippy toe around her Patients medication needs , But Like i told Him she was Prescription Happy !! So if you experiance adnormal or new Issues and thinking its your medications ? and you feel secure enough and Love your Dr?.. Make a call to he or she or even to your local Pharmacey because they can tell you more then what a Dr can ABout the drug or drugs your takin

My year on Lipitor went like this: Fell asleep so early at night (7 or 8) even sometimes in the middle of a sentence; Tendonitis EVERYwhere... my wrist, my thumb, my elbow, my ankle; constant and recurrent sinus infections; ear infections; deafness; intense leg pain; major fog and forgetfulness... ZERO short term memory (my family calls it Dory the Fish Syndrome); hell on earth.

My year off of lipitor. Still deaf in one ear, but speech discrim improving from 0 to 64%; that pain in my legs is gone and although I have other pains fro other things, THAT one has gone.. It took about 2 months, but is gone; memory returning to closer to normal; sleep patterns returning to normal; sinus improving; overall life improving.

Lipitor, nearly killed me so did Loveastain... I can't take any of them this made it impossible to walk, chew my food, slowed my heart down,fatigue,migrains,loss of appitite,serve constipatition,could not think well, could not taste food..
Statins are good medicine for lower cholestral if it don't half kill you first.
My bro in law is a doctor he took this and for two years he has now not been able to smell lost his sense of smell.
So anyone trying for the first time be careful with this kind of medication. I can see it going off market one of these days to dangerous.

I take ZETIA now and i went from 265 to 218 in three months time. Ihave not had any side affects to this medication at all.
I took TRICOR too that gave me really bad stomach pain to the point i could not hardly go any place without doubling over.
So just on ZETIA now and get a ck the end of this month to see how its doing.
Excerise walking is great for cholestrol if you can do this with a medication like i take above it helps sooooo much for sure.
I stay away from all STATINS now took me nearly six months before i felt like doing anything after the things the lipitor did to me.

Lipitor works for some. Others it will kill them. It about killed me.

Yes, I had nightmares.

Dont come off it without doctors advice - my brother came off it because someone told him about pains (and he had leg pain)...A few months later he had a heart attack - Luckily he recovered but he might not have done.