side effects of lipitor

[Dawn Pistor]

Hi.....how long before you begin to feel any of the side effects of taking lipitor?

[CatMom]

For everyone, it is different. Some can swollow 1 pill and feel it, I had a friend that ended up in ER everytime he took one with heart attack symptoms.

I took them for 6 years and although I didn't realize it, I started having side effects within a month. The side effects for some are so sneaky. Only when I got off of the stuff did I realize how many side effects I had and how much of my life the stuff had stolen. You just sluff things off to getting old, you slept wrong..... You never associate these things with the drugs and neither do the doctors. Only when I started having noticable memory problems, confusion and felt like I was living in a fog did I get alarmed and I lived like that for 9 months before I had a clue that it was statin related. Only 2 days off the statin and the fog in my head started lifting. I am 7 weeks off now and I now know it had stolen all my energy (I did not realize that before) and how many "ailments" I associated with getting old was really statin related. Read all you can here and learn what we have gone through, thanks to this miracle drug. MY miracle happened for me when I got OFF the drug!

I took this stuff for 6 years and was clueless until I had the memory stuff happening. Until then, I thought it was a great drug and I had no side effects.

[bunnylady]

I took Lipitor 20 mg- it took 3 months for symptoms and it began with muscle weakness- the best I can describe it is we are traveling the USA in a motorhome and we parked it in Texas near my daughters house- my husband was working overseas and I was a bit depressed and sat at the computer all day- so I get this sensation in my muscles and I think its from sitting in this motorhome- so I start jumping on a trampoline and riding a bike and I get hurt- falling etc- then blood bruises start on my arms around the wrist and months later up to my elbows- first the left side then the right side- then I get a pedicure and they put the massager on in the chair and it cremated by back muscles- I ended up in ER two days later because there was pains under my breasts and around my back and in my shoulders- the nitroglyercin helped but I did not have a heart attack- I was having terrible GERD (acid reful) and they sent me to a gastro doctor- I didn't go because I had been to one at the same time I was put on Lipitor and everything was a - ok- then came overwhelming fatigue- much like fibromyalgia symtoms- then came days of just eating watching a little t.v. and sleeping- I took myself off of Lipitor, got better only to have my doctor give me Crestor- with THREE Days it all came back on me with a WHOOSH- all the symptoms and all at once this time- its 3 months later and I think may live-

I had an allergic reaction to Symvisc (chicken comb by product used to treat knee pain) I took prednisone for that- but I must be susceptible to nerve and muscle things-


does this sound anything like what you are going thru? timewise?

[bunnylady]

Oh, with all that laying around I put on 36 lbs- I resorted to drinking Medifast drinks- as they have tons of vitamins etc and low cals- but at night when i feel good I eat eat eat- hoping that will normalize as I come back to life

[crandreww]

when they begin statins. I do know that statins block the body's ability to produce an essential nutrient to every cell in the human body...Ubiquinone (aka CoEnzyme Q10).
This is something that our bodys make naturally, but as we age our Synthesis of Ubiquinone diminishes. Which would stand to reason that older people who are on statins begin to feel the effects sooner. I was 29 when I started taking the satan drug, Lipitor. I was fine for approximately 3 and 1/2 years, when I fell ill and subsequently disabled, at 34 years of age. My diagnosis on Muscle Biopsy and seriel serum Lactate levels was MELAS, Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy with Lactic Acidosis and Stroke-Like Episodes.
My brain Biopsy showed the Mitochondria with Thickened DIssarrayed Cristae and inclusions of lysosomal and autophagic vacuoles, yielding the diagnosis nvCJD, new variant Creutzfeld Jakob Disease, aka, Mad Cow Disease. Come to find out, these Vacuoles, were actually dead Neurons, (brain Cells) which can result from starving the Neurons of Ubiquinone.

On another subject:

Dr. Graveline, I received your book yesterday, and I began to read it, and it really pisses me off! To find out what many of the Doctors, we have been trained to trust, really are pawns to the big pharmaceutical companies.
As I began to read your experience with TGA, I had to show my wife, and have her read it as well, it was almost identical to what I had experienced in August and Septemer of 2002, when I had gone to the ER,several times, with confusion, headaches etc. I do not remember those months at all, completely gone from my memory.
As you may or may not recall, I was a Critical Care RN for 13 years when I got sick, and during this period of the onset of my illness, my wife informs me that our 2 year old son, had choked on an object, and that my wife began to call me frantically, and I was not really able to arouse, but when I finally did, I was aloof to the fact that our son was choking, nor did I do anything to remedy the situation. I was completely oblivious to the fact he was choking and how to help him. During these few months in 2002, I continued to work as a workers compensation case manager at my regular job, and my former boss, had multiple conversations with my wife, regarding the decreasing quality in my work product. My wife informs me that on 1 occasion, she woke up in the middle of the night to find me in the kitchen, looking in the Garbage can for a glass of milk which I had a hard time accepting the fact that the milk was not in the garbage. During these months, I continued to suffer from the worst headaches I had ever experienced, hence the ER visits. I now realize the headaches were from my brain cells actually dying, hence the Spongiform appearance on my Brain Biopsy.
My Neurologist still completely discounts the "absurd" notion that Statins may have been the cause of my illness, and my internal Med doctor, denies this possibility as well, and wants me to restart a statin. This is all contrary to the published studies I have sent them regarding MELAS type syndrome and statins, and Neuronal Apotposis and ubiquinone depletion. We really have to stop this crap from being pushed on people.
I really appreciate your enlightening book so far. And I look forward to continue reading it as well.
Keep up the great fight.
Respectfully,

Christopher Wunsch

[Biologist]

crandreww,

Unless I'm mistaken, conventional wisdom has it that Lipitor (as a non-lipophilic statin) does not cross the Blood Brain Barrier. More and more, I just don't believe that could be correct. I think it is probably a myth.

There are several threads where the following URL would be "tangentially pertinent," but no thread I see is a real good fit for it.* I am not inclined to start a new thread with it, so I will put it here as I have a hunch you might like to read it. I am glad I did last night. It addresses several issues, including statins, while the main thrust regards aspartame and the FDA. I believe everyone -- but particularly people on, or recovering from statins -- should stay away from anything having this (and other similar) sweeteners as an ingredient.

[http://www.wnho.net/senator_durbin_letter.htm]

Biologist

_________

* I considered putting this URL under Brook's recent thread about CoQ10 in the main forum as the both discuss excitotoxins. Here's his URL: (click the appropriate hyperlink located to the left on that page):

[http://www.coenzymeq10supplement.com/heart-disease-references.htm]

[cjbrooksjc]

Biologist: Interesting article. Seems we have many fronts to protect. Just dodging all the bullets looks like a lifetime enterprise. It's truly discouraging, but at least now it's all happening in the light of day thanks to the internet. Makes one wonder how integrated all these chemical reactions may be. I used Equal as a dietary sugar replacement for years; did that abet my Statin reaction? Who knows! Anyway, thanks for the heads-up.

Brooks

[eml256]

Lipitor is a lipophilic statin--pravachol is the water soluble one. zocor, lescol, lipitor--all are lipid soluble and cross the blood brain barrier, as well as the membranes of all cells

[Biologist]

"Lipitor is a lipophilic statin--pravachol is the water
soluble one. zocor, lescol, lipitor--all are lipid soluble
and cross the blood brain barrier, as well as the
membranes of all cells"
--eml256

eml256,

Thank you a lot for fixing a BIG FLAW in my knowledge on statins. You are exactly right about Lipitor being lipophilic. That has caused me problems for months. I do not know where exactly I became misinformed on this matter, but now stuff is making a lot more sense. It is possible that I got it confused with Crestor early on in my reading on statins starting several months ago.

Per Dr. Graveline on Crestor:

"Because Crestor was deemed more hydrophilic (water loving)
rather than the lipophilic (fat loving) character of its statin
competitors, I expected Crestor’s use to be much less frequently
associated with cognitive dysfunction but, like its sister
hydrophilic drug, Pravachol, any benefit from hydrophilicity is
incomplete and therefore unreliable and precious little gain from
Crestor is easily offset by its greater tendency for severe side
effects of a non-cognitive nature due to its very strength."
--Dr. Graveline

Now, to get everything a little more straight, it appears that Lescol (i.e., Fluvastatin) -- like Crestor and Pravachol -- is classified as hydrophilic statin.

Except for the evil Crestor, I wish I had spent my statin years on one of the more hydrophilic versions, rather than Zocor. Of course, better yet, I wish none of us had ever heard the word "statin" in the first place!

Thanks again for getting me straight on Lipitor. That is going to be helpful to me. When I get a chance, I will be going back to find all instances in my posts on this forum where I have wrongly stated the facts on Lipitor and make a correcting new post in the threads.

Biologist

[eml256]

It is difficult to keep all this info straight....Just a couple of yrs ago there was a lot of debate about the ability of the different statins to cross the blood brain barrier. It is just in the recent past that studies have shown all the lipophilic ones do--some more than otheres, but all do cross the barrier. pravavchol was the only one not detected in the cerebral spinal fluid. and I too wish we had never heard of statins. the unbridled greed of the pharmaceutical industry is unbelievable.

[crandreww]

What happens to Neurons deprived of ubiquinone....you will find many articles pointing out that Neoronal Apoptosis may result.

[crandreww]

I received a phone call from Dr. Beatrice Golomb last evening, who called to discuss with me that she presented my case to a Mitochondrial Specialist at UofC Irvine, who after reviewing my medical records and all of the information confirmed to her that I do/did have a MELAS syndrome, which he thought was statin provoked.
I like his thinking, if it looks like a duck and wuacks like a duck....
I am so thankful just to have a definitive answer to the nearly 5 year old question, " Was it Lipitor that disabled me at 34 years of age?" YES Indeed it was!
Hope everyone is well here!
Be Blessed!
Chris