Hello. I was taking Lipitor (atorvastatin) for 3 months before I started to get SEVERE muscle pain in my right arm to the point where suddenly, I could not left my arm or hold a cup without having severe pain. I stopped taking the statin. I've been off it now for 8 days. The severe pain seems to come and go (the pain itself has never really disappeared, it just seems to start off small in one area, mostly my shoulders, then get worse before it calms down again....only to reappear in the other arm!) I've read that COg10 helps, so I have just started taking 400mg over the last three days. I thought I turned the corner yesterday, only to wake up in the middle of the night with the severe shoulder/arm pain again. Any thoughts from othere who experienced this, and how long it took for you to recover after stopping the statin? I am 60 and was very active before this taking this -- now, i can't even pick up a golf club without pain. I am trying to stay positive with hopes that eventually, the pain will go away and my muscles will start to repair themselves -- but, I'm a little scared after reading some things on the internet, of course.
Hi Mark,
I was on 20mg of atorvastatin for approximately 5 months and had similar problems and then some. Frequent headaches, confusion, memory loss and lots of neck and shoulder pains. I was dropping things all the time and didn't know what was causing all the problems because the Dr's kept saying it can't be the statin. So I quit taking them on my own and things got better but it took about 6 months. I'm now 9 months off and still have neck issues but head problems are much better. Give it time and you should see improvement. The Dr's wanted to start me on another statin but I just can't take the chance of those symptoms coming back again.
Scott
Can i ask what your lipitor dose was?
Hi Lee, it was a very low dose -- only 10mg
Thanks for replying, Scott. The Dr. already offered me another statin, and I flat out told him NO MORE STATINS! I would go near the stuff for all the money on earth after what I'm experiencing. After ding some reading, I put myself on a daily dose of 500mg of COQ10, 500mg of magnesium, 1000 IU of Vit E, and 2 grams of carnitine per day...in addition to a vit B complex as well. I never took so many vitamins in my life...but research indicates that this vitamin cocktail helps repair the muscle damage. We'll see... Each night I go to bed and pray that tomorrow I'll wake up normal again. 8-(
Hello, I was taking it for many years and then got a bunch of bad reactions including the muscle pain and weakness just like you.
It took approx 6 months to get all my strenght back.
I also had night sweats, leg cramps, which I still get once in awhile, and it's been 2 years without statins. I also became pre-diabetic from them.
Bad stuff, never again. I fired my cardiologist and didn't get a new one either.
I hear you, Bill. It's poison to some of us. Not being able to swing a golf club kills me! 8-) I'm hoping to recover enough to at least cast a fishing rod in June.
I was on 10 mg of simvistatin, my symptoms took a year to start then muscle weakness,stiffness,nueropathy etc.. i quit took me about 2 years to feel almost myself,now i have no symptoms that i know of. You were on it a short amount of time,i bet within 6 months at most you will feel much better. Xx
I bet you will be fine by then.
Thanks for the positive thoughts, Lee!
A few years ago I was prescribed Atorvastatin which resulted in pain in my legs and shoulders. I stopped taking it and it took almost 2 years for the symptoms to fully clear but you should see a big improvement long before 2 years. I was prescribed other Statins which also had side effects so now I simply refuse to take any Statin. I prefer to control my diet.
I too experienced this sort of pain whilst on statins,it got so bad at one point that I couldnt move or even get out of bed. I ended up in the ER at the hospital I was so scared. The registrar there asked me if I was on statins, when I said yes, he told me it was probably the statins causing my probs. I flushed them down the toilet the minute I got home. The muscle pain and weakness took a long while to ease off So I kept asking my doctor to get more investigation done. I had an ultrasound and it showed up that I had a full thickness tear in my right bicep tendon (rotator cuff injury) and severe inflammation in the left. I asked the ultrasound technician and my doctor what could have caused this as I hadn’t done any extreme exercise or other injury. Big shrug of the shoulders and the usual waffle about it being ‘age related – wear and tear, etc’. I’m now convinced that the statins weakened my muscles to such an extent that it left them weak and prone to this sort of injury. You may wish to ask your doctor to refer you for an ultrasound, which will show up not just tears but inflammation also.
I also got a rotary cuff tear,i guess its quite common to develop shoulder issues etc. I honestly felt so wierd while on simvistatin i thought i was dieing.
Hi Mark - sorry to read of your situation, and I can totally relate: 80mg Lipitor for two torturous years, a quack denying multiple snowballing probs I never had in the previous 50 years were my fault and nothing to do with the statins, probs with left arm - unable to lift above shoulder height, aching constantly - and a plethora of other horrors too numerous to list. Two years ago i threw the meds away, fired the quack, and am only just getting back to my old self again.
Mark, please don't despair. Time will heal it, though i must admit it is a very slow process which indicates the deep level these drugs damage the user. Your golf will climb back up to the pro level you are accustomed to - and good on you for researching the effects of the insidious and most globally prescribed poison called statins. Fore!
Doctors make me so mad,so many remain,clueless,in denial or paid off by drug companies!
I forgot to say that as well as pains in my legs and shoulders, I tore my achiles tendon - this was one of the symptoms mentioned in the leaflet I got with Atorvastatin. After I told the Dr that I had stopped Atvorstatin I was prescribed Pravastatin which I didn't take so the Dr said if I prescrible Simvastatin will you try it - I tried it for 2 weeks and began to feel horrible so stopped taking it.
I cannot get my doctor or the consultant ortho surgeon to accept that statins may have caused the weaknesses that resulted in my ruptured and inflamed tendons. However, there is no other earthly reason these should have occurred. Until I took statins I was very active with no injury issues and very good general health. Since taking them, my health has degenerated considerably and in addition to muscle/mobility problems, I had impaired cognitive function, memory loss, fatigue etc. I was very foolish to accept the doctor’s scare tactics into taking them to start with.
We have to remember that doctors have a customer forever if they prescribe a medicine that requires continual refills. Refills are a cash cow and they milk it as much as they can. Also don't forget that they all don't graduate at the top of their class! And some medical schools are just not very good to begin with. Some are just real dumb asses. They may not even be paying attention to you, they may be bored, and they may not necessarily even care. Furthermore they don't necessarily read the "side effects" listed with the medications that they prescribe.
THE ODDS ARE AGAINST US plain and simple and the numbers of deaths caused every year by doctors in the USA prove it.
I fully understand where you are coming from - some doctors deny that there's a problem with Statins. The Consultant at my local hospital lost his cool when I told him I'd stopped taking Atvorstatin and discharged me. He said my GP and I need to work it out. Some patients are not willing to tell the doctor that they have stopped medication; instead they get the medication from the pharmacy and store it at home. This has two negative effects, firstly it's a waste of NHS money and secondly it distorts the statistics about the ill effects that Statin has on patients.
Thats what i took,took it a year, at first nothing. I later listed 15 symptoms and handed them to my doctor,he looked at me like i was a little nuts but no longer pushes the med on me.