Loss of Libido and Erectile Dysfunction After 1 Lipitor 40mg

[WifeWithConcerns]

I am quite concerned and don't know where to turn so here I am!

My husband (57 yrs old) was put on Lipitor 40mg and took his first pill last nightl! In the 32 years we've been married, my husband has had a very high libido and is very sexually oriented day, and night and in between. This morning, much to my alarm.......he had no desire whatsoever to have sexual relations and he also did not have his normal morning erection! Is this normal for this happen this quickly? I don't understand why the doctor started him out on such a high dosage to begin with. Is that normal procedure? I notice most people who post here are on 10mg to 20mg dosages.

The day the doctor put my husband on Lipitor, I asked if it was going to cause impotence and the response from the doctor was, "Well, if it does, not to worry......there's always Viagra!" That's not the point! Why should my husband have to take Viagra to replace his natural urge because it's been taken away from him (US) due to Lipitor?

After reading your forum, I informed my husband of all of the side effects of Lipitor (including loss of libido and impotence), TGA (my husband is an accountant and he relies on his memory for his job), etc. I know the fact that my husband had erectile dysfunction this morning bothered him as much as it bothered me, but he tried to brush it off by saying, "Well, we can't blame it on the medicine....I'm just not in the mood this morning!" He knows as well as I do that wasn't the case.

What can I do? My husband's doctor doesn't even know what his cholesterol levels are....tests were just done yesterday morning and the drug was prescribed the day before! My husband was told by another cardiologist that he has high BP so was put on Norvasc 5mg for that, and has now been put on Lipitor 40mg for cholesterol. He was also told that during a stress test, it indicated that his heart does not appear to fill with blood like it should during exercise and there may be some blockage. (New cardiologist diagnosed him with Atheroscleroris and prescribed the Lipitor at 40mg to start).

I am worried sick for my husband's wellbeing and don't know which way to turn. I tried talking to him tonight about the nasty side effects of Lipitor and he became quite upset (which is [b]VERY[/b] unusual for him because he's a very happy-go-lucky, mild mannered man) and asked me, "Well, what do you want me to do? You don't like any medication the doctor put me on!" This was VERY unusual behavior for him. The doctor never gave us any of the side effects before prescribing this medication so I've taken it upon myself to do research online and I DON'T like what I've found!

Do you have any ideas on what we should do spacedoc?? I'd like to make my husband quit Lipitor out of fear of irreversible impotence and various other complications Lipitor may cause. In doing so though, would it cause him to have a heart attack? Any suggestions?

I'm just worried sick....my husband is a very active man, always has been, and the thought of the side effects of this drug affecting him is killing me!

[JIMNSC]

Sorry no one has replied to you yet but I have never heard of a doctor placing anyone on cholesterol medicines prior to knowing what his bloodwork says. My cardiologist admitted to me that you realize 90% of cholesterol improvement in the first 10mg of Lipitor. I was on 40mg of Lipitor and 10mg of Zetia when I stopped them on my own due to muscular/energy side effects. I now have mine under control with proper diet, exercise and supplements.

I wouldn't bet the farm on Lipitor having caused his problem after one pill. Most doctors will allow you to try to lower it on your own prior to prescribing medicines if you convince them you're serious about doing whatever it takes. I offer no advice but I did tell you what I did.

Good luck - Jim

[WifeWithConcerns]

I've never heard of a cardiologist automatically putting a patient on a cholesterol lowering drug without first having the readings either, especially since he didn't even recommend trying to lower it first by diet and exercise. Even the American Heart Association says that is the first step a physician should take and, if that fails to lower it, THEN they should consider starting the patient on a medical regime. This cardiologist told my husband not to change his diet.....just take Lipitor at 40 mg a day, and exercise daily.

My husband has been on the Atkins Diet for the past 2 years (which he did tell the cardiologist), but he forgot to tell him that during that 2 year period of time, each and every day he was eating 3 eggs for lunch. According to the American Heart Association web site, the allowed limit of cholesterol intake per day is 300mg. My husband (because we weren't paying attention to anything other then what the Atkins diet said) was actually taking in 639mg just with his lunch (eggs have 213mg of cholesterol x 3 = 639) per day. When you figure he was eating these eggs every day for a week....that means he was taking in 4,473mg of cholesterol per week, for a total of 232,596mg of cholesterol per year, and that's only counting the eggs and disregarding all of the other things the diet allowed that were full of fats and cholesterol!!

As it turns out I, apparently, jumped the gun (thank God) in assuming after one Lipitor my husband was impotent....he performed quite well last night so it appears he was telling me the truth when he said the problem the other day was simply because his mind wasn't on it (he was thinking about the tax returns he was going to prepare that day).

After reading through this forum though, and seeing what so many of you have experienced while taking Lipitor (and the other statin drugs).....I'm scared to death to have my husband take it. I want him to go off of it but, so far, he hasn't. After I've read to him some of the things I've found here, he is now concerned about the fact that the doctor put him on it (the first cardiologist he went to put him on Vytorin 40mg), but it appears he's afraid to quit taking it for fear the doctor will be mad at him.

Since all of this started, we have gone off of the Atkins diet and are now trying to watch our intake of fats and cholesterol, and have once again started walking on the treadmill, but I'm afraid if his cholesterol levels come down the doctor will say it was because of the Lipitor and will make him continue taking it. There's actually a question as to whether or not his cholesterol levels were even bad.....do you know anything about what's good and what's bad? The first cardiologist, after looking at the lab reports said, "Hmmmm, this is weird.....according to these tests, your bad cholesterol is GOOD, and your good cholesterol is questionable. The figures he gave us were: HDL = 140, and LDL = 80. He never gave us the triglycerides figure.

Can anybody help????????????