Husband suffering from Vytorin side efects

[Linda W]

Izzy,

It is encouraging that you found an enlightened Dr. Maybe in another 5 years there will be more who have taken the time to learn the side effects. Maybe he took the stuff himself and learned the hard way. I have to think that this will become more common some day soon.

My mother is 79, smokes a pack a day, drinks an unreasonable amount of vodka and is in great health with her mental game sharp (before coctail hour) She doesn't take any prescription meds at all. We get her to take vitamins now and again because her diet is dreadful too. She gets almost no exercise either. We drag her to the doctor about once every 5 years and all express shock at no Rx meds. In this world it is hard to imagine living to near 80 without popping pill after pill. Both her non smoking, non drinking sisters have had breast cancer so genetics are not all good. I used to think Mom was nuts but now I see the wisdom of her ways. A pack of smokes and a pint of vodka a day are much easier on the body than the stuff the drug companies push.

Linda

[izzy007]

Linda, you are probably right! My husband likes her style. How is your husband doing? Making any progress? I hope he's seen some improvement.

Our doctor also mentioned that the ringing in the ears may be permanent damage from the statins. I have read in other posts that some of you here are experiencing the same problem. I am wondering if anyone ever got improvement. It's driving him crazy. Otherwise, he's improving everyday.

So, stay positive....you'll get there!

Izzy

[Linda W]

Hi Izzy,

We just returned from a weekend at the beach. The alcohol effect seems to be much better. It would be hard to get through a weekend at the beach without a beer or Margarita. His alcohol tolerance seems back to normal. He has been showing fewer signs of depression and irritability too, but it could be just the effect of a relaxing weekend. He never had the ringing in his ears much so that is a good thing. He still complains about sore muscles. He seems more alert too without some of the little mental lapses I noticed before. During the summer he seemed to lose his sense of direction while we were driving on vacation. I have never had any sense of direction and get lost all the time (the GPS is my friend) but he always seemed to know how to get where we were going until a few months ago. He doesn't seem as confused or have trouble following conversations. I still need to come up with a complete list of suppliments for him to take. Thanks for the encouragement. Hope the tinitus goes away for your husband!

Linda

[bucho]

When I quit zocor I had chronic (24-7) tinnitus after being on the statin for 3.5 years. Now off for 18 months, the tinnitus will go away for a few days, then return. Overall its sound level has decreased as well. Sometimes when I think it's gone it's just present at a very low level. At other times it's entirely gone. For the past two days it's been a constant companion. It seems to be triggered by stress. At the current rate of decline, I don't expect I'll ever be free of tinnitus, but it will probably continue to improve and then level out at a low level over the next 3 years or so. That's my guess.

[izzy007]

Things are rapidly improving now. The mood swings are non existent and he is back to his old self. The tinnitus is still a problem.

The muscle aches are gone and his workouts are much more intense, which he's thrilled about. Time to rebuild some of the lost muscle mass!

It's a ton of pills to take everyday, but it's well worth the effort.

Linda- how is your progress?

[Linda W]

Izzy,

Glad to hear things are better for you husband and you. Very encouraging!

We are much better and the mood problems are all but gone. Just a few momentary boo hoo poor me's here and there but nothing like the Hell of 2 or 3 months ago. Much more stable behavior! The aches and pains contnue but do not stop his workouts. We are just getting going on some additional suppliments so maybe another month and the pains will decrease too.

Linda

[izzy007]

Update-

My husband is "back to normal" as far as the mood swings, erratic behavior, memory problems and fatigue. The tinnitus is still a problem but he has gotten some relief in one ear thru reflexology therapy. The transformation has been remarkable. He's returned to being a stable, healthy, happy man. I am relieved beyond words.

I urge anyone reading the posts for the first time on this forum to re-evaluate your medical need for Vytorin....and I believe that if you are here that you already have reason to be concerned... so listen to what others have said and please heed their warnings and wise words! These statins are dangerous in so many ways. Everyone here has a story to tell- some turn out well, while many others are still suffering the debilitating effects of these drugs. Share your story- you will help someone!

I will be forever grateful to all of you who helped me with your stories, struggles and victories. You supplied me with useful information and invaluable support. Thank you!!!

Linda, what has happened with your husband? I hope you will share and let me know how he is progressing. I hope he is doing well!

[Linda W]

Hi Izzy,

Glad to hear all is so much better. My husband is much better emotionally and physically. I have noticed he looks like he is building muscle again though he isn't aware of it. After his 40 lb weight loss he seemed to me to have lost a lot of muscle as well as fat and I was concerned. He complained about how sore he was from working out all the time. He doesn't seem to notice that so much any more and I think the suppliments helped the sore muscle problem. Once in a while he has a bad spell but it isn't like a couple months ago when he was bouncing around like a manic depressive (mostly depressive) wanting to die soon because he didn't enjoy living. The progress is now slow but steady. His overall brain function is getting better too I think. He doesn't seem to have as much trouble following what is going on or tell me I'm not making any sense. The alcohol tolerance is normal now. His annual physical is coming up soon and I will be interested in seeing the results of his blood work. His blood pressure is now just fine without meds.

Doctors need to be more cautious with patients who lose weight. Many medications will be overdoses when someone loses 20% of their body weight. Conditions that are weight and diet related much more so. Medication can be poison for some! Why are doctors so happy to write a prescription or 10 but afraid to counsel a patient on the benefits of exercise, diet and weight loss. More than one of my own doctors has cautioned me against running as it is alleged to be bad for my joints. I ran 8 miles today and walked 2 and my joints are just fine. My joints hurt more sitting at this darn computer than up and running! Time to get off my soap box now.

Thanks for your concern Izzy. I am so grateful you found this site and shared your story because it has been such a great help to me and others I'm sure.

Linda

[Linda W]

So after living through this Vytorin nightmare we see in the news that Vytorin lowers cholestrol but has no impact on reducing the risk of heart desease. So something is missing in the High Cholesterol = Heart Deaese equation if artificially Low Cholesterol = Heart Deaese too. Back to the drawing board.

I was re-reading my posts and I am glad I chronicled my husband's journey through Vytorin Hell. I only remembered the worst symptoms not the more subtle things like the confusion on what a Sports Utility Vehicle was. (I had to explain that it was a Jeep like his friend drives and he replied Oh like an SUV?) And by the way he has 2 Suburbans and a Jeep Wrangler.

After being off meds his cholestrol was 230 so he let the doc try just Zetia. After a couple months his total is 226, HDL 62, LDL 148. VLDL 16, Trygliceride 79. His Chol/HDL ratio is 3.6.

The Zetia had no noticable impact behavior wise. Now a different doctor wanted to put him on Vytorin so I called her office to let her know of his problems with it. Now they want to try Crestor.

Since being off all that crap he looks and feels better. He has built muscle and no longer complains daily of how sore he is after each workout. He still has problems with his hands tingling and falling asleep which I didn't really put together with the statin use until recently. The other problems were so severe that it wasn't on my rader. My hands fall asleep at night too sometimes but his cause him much more discomfort.

This doctor was more responsive to my concerns. I think I will see if we can try supplements and diet for a while to improve things before drugs are considered.

[bucho]

Fingers going numb while I'm asleep (and waking me up) is one of the few residual problems that I have retained since I was on Zocor. Another is tinnitus. Both of these problems developed after being on Zocor for about 3 years. I'm now "clean" for 2 years and these two problems are ver-r-r-r-ry slowly diminishing, so slow that I now doubt they will ever end. Actually, some nights now I don't get the numb fingers at all, but if I'm ever too active (or god forbid, do a construction project involving a lot of sawing, hammering, twisting, etc.) I wake up at night feeling like my fingers have been amputated -- just no feeling at all there.

Another problem that took a long time to resolve is fatigue. It took nearly two years but now, at long last, I can put in an active day and not feel ready for the morgue the next day. However, I'm still more tired after an active day than I recall in my life before statins. But what felt like a hopeless problem at my one-year anniversary, is nearly gone now at two years.

[Tia]

Hello,
I have not been on this site for a while. This site was a god send for me.
I was on Vytorin for a year and a half, I had just gone through two cancers for my thyroid and during that time the Dr. had put me on Vytorin, when I complained about the pain, he thought it was to do with my losing my thyroid and told me to stick with it. Before all this happened, I was a healthly 44 year old (body building and ate a very clean diet for years) ....the cancer was easy compared to the horrible side effects from Vytorin. My arms went first, then the pain in the legs to the point I could not stand more then 45 minutes at a time. My eyesite went from perfect, now two years later, I am wearing 3.50 reading glasses. The last time I went to a Neorolagist (spelling ? work with me here said my legs were the strength of an 85 year old. I was selling my company and moving back to Canada, since my health insurance went over $2800 a month. BUT just before I finalized everything, a girlfriend told me about liver cleansings......I blew it off at first, but my husband said "why not".......it was like night and day. First let me back track a bit. I started on 2000 mg of co emzine Q10 and the same with L-Carnitine.......pain started to go down a large amount, I started to split the doses during the day, then finally just took it every morning. That got me to a pain free day, but I still had to take them everyday, because as soon as I forget to take them, the pain was back.....so I was not sure I was healing. Then I tried the liver cleansing. I was warned that the pain would return during the 4-5 days I would do this cleansing, and it did, but I stuck with it. My husband noticed on the 5 day some changes in my behavior and how I was not as tenitive when I walked etc. 6 months later, I am off the vitamins all together. I just walked my silly head off in Paris the last two weeks. I had done maybe 5 cleansing since that date. I also lost on the average of 5-10 pounds each cleansing (plus this lowered my cholestrial), not to be graphic, but we are all friends here......there is a lot of stuff stuck in our bodies that need to get out. So I lost all the extra wieght that I gained by not working the last year and half and I am back working out and nearly to my old body and strenght. I was told that the chances of recovering this was doughtful considering the time I was kept on the drug.....don't give up, don't let these medical companies not only take our money, but our lives! Good luck to you and your husband.

[cjbrooksjc]

Can you be more specific as to what the liver cleanse was: Brand, where purchased, etc.?

[Tia]

Hello,
I did not include the web address as I did not want to seem like I was promoting a product. This is the one my friend recommended, she researches everything. What she liked was the Dr. was a medical Dr. first who herself could not get rid of an illness she had and she went to natural products. What I also liked, was when I wrote her about my problem (I wanted to make sure I was getting the right stuff) she not only did not try to upsale me on products, but wrote me a very long letter and told me that she is seeing a lot more statin users having problems. And to also warn me, since the toxins would slowly be elimated from my body, some of the pain will come back during that time.
*http://www.drfostersessentials.com/store/liver_pg.php
I was a little nervous to try this....I love food, but I still ate some meat and had a glass of wine every once in a while. I suggest you start on a friday night and that way you have the weekend to see how your body reacts. Once I got into the third day, it did not effect my work week at all. You just start having reqular movements after each meal 3 times a day. Good luck. Also the price was good, a lot less then what I was paying for the q-10 and L-Carn. And as mentioned my numbers went down too.

[cjbrooksjc]

Thanks. I understand your reluctance. We are all suspicious here of wonderful success stories provided with initial threads. I took a look at the site. There are three products - Liver 1, Liver 2, and Liver 3; for those of us who are interested in following up (and I would advise caution) - which one were you referring to in your note?

Thanks,

Brooks

[izzy007]

Hi everyone...

I haven't checked the website in awhile and was interested to see Linda and Bucho talking about the issue with hand numbness.
My husband complains of this constantly. I am looking into taking him for carpal tunnel testing. Very interesting that you two are complaining of similar issues. Giving me something else to ponder now.....hmmm.

The tinnitus is still a huge issue. No answers there from our doctors. No improvement that has lasted more than a few days. Bite guards, reflexology, and massage have maybe helped a little, but the problem is still quite an issue for him.

His cholesterol levels did rise after getting off the meds. His doc then wanted him to take Zetia. He tried and quit almost immediately when similar symptoms returned.

He is feeling so well. He treadmills everyday, up to 4 miles, and does his weight lifting. It is amazing how much muscle has returned. He is energetic and focused and feeling great. Really, his only complaint these days is the hand issue and the ringing in his ears.

The behavioral problems are long gone and he has been his old self for months. We are eating responsibly and he is pretty diligent with his supplements. It is hard to believe how different things were a year ago.

We also have done the liver cleanse thing. Can't comment on what good it did/didn't do. I figured that it certainly couldn't hurt.

Hope you all continue to post your issues and results here.

Take care and if you are just finding this forum...keep positive and believe that there IS hope for recovery after statin use. Life can be good again.

[catspajamas]

The tinnitis could be a whole different thing...I have it, but the ear doctor said the nerves in my ears are dying(have had ear problems since a kid and 2 ear drum lances back then)....I have accepted the ringing ...only bothers me when it gets really loud....Is your husband losing hearing?...He should be tested by a ear doctor...not one of those people selling hearing aids...I know where he is coming from with the noise in his ears.....By the way I noticed no difference in my "ringing" when or after I was oon statins.....

[izzy007]

No, his test showed him to have excellent hearing. Went to a specialist. We were afraid something like your problem was happening, but not the case.

I tease him that there is no excuse for his "not hearing me" anymore.

All we have learned is that there are too many causes to know "why".

It does seem to increase dramatically when he becomes stressed and clenches his jaw...he's wears a nite guard to sleep in because he clenches so bad.

[telxpert]

I KNOW ALL OF YOU ARE SINCERE WITH YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH VYTORIN THE QUISTION IS YOUR DOCTORS ARE? My name is Joe Baro and I have a very bad experience with VYTORIN 10/20 THAT INJUERD me FOR LIFE. What I hate about my doctor did not stop this evil meds when complaining of side effects. Have to go with another doctor to get a test that my CPK is 210 and hematoma on both of my legs. This poison drug settled with blood on both of my legs that have severe effects this happened in late of 2006. To this date where the hematoma settled is giving severe pain that anyone can imagine. Have been discriminated when I try to get help or test. How did I know that this is happening, DO this have two identical request for a test, one saying that vytorin is the reason and the other just have a test explaining you have pain in that area. That is how I found out that they would lie to your face and charge you for the bill. I have more problems with vytorin but am not going to bore you with the details, just to warn you what is out there that I experience. With these words am not saying that this is rampant but saying that this is my ugly experience. God Bless.

My real name
Joe Baro
My real phone #
702-897-5797 Mad