User Reviews for Lipitor

For High Cholesterol, Familial Heterozygous: “I have hereditary high cholesterol and have taken statins on and off since I was 15 years old. My overall cholesterol at age 15 was 370. It has ran as high as 460 when I wasn't taking a statin (usually Lipitor). Problem is my bowels stay messed up. I stay constipated all the time and I suffer from anal leakage which is highly embarrassing and I feel like I'm constantly thinking I may smell bad. I keep baby wipes to try to keep myself clean without talking 3 showers a day. Do all statins cause this? I'm finding it harder and harder to accept and feel like just quitting statins all together. I know that sounds foolish but so does anal leakage.”

For High Cholesterol: “Horrible ,I never experienced such cramping and pain. it was a nightmare.”

For Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: “71 years. Heart attack with 5 stents. Automatically prescribed this as part of the "cardiac cocktail" as they call it. Had numbers on the getting slightly high for both cholesterol and BP before HA. Within 3 months this drug injured my liver and my GP stopped it. Continue to be tested to see if liver will recover. Numbers are down so I have my fingers crossed. I have been unable to use the gym due muscle pain which is now subsiding and hopefully I will be able to utilize gym again . My mood was adversely affect with me becoming easily irritated and angry inappropriately. The pain over my shoulders and between my ribs was so painful and exhausting. And then it started to affect my memory which became so disconcerting. The daily dose was 80 and if the liver heals we will look at the minimum dose of a statin and see how that works”

For High Cholesterol: “I haven't been on this medication very long but so far, the only adverse side effects I have had are insomnia, occasionally racing heart, and nightmares. Yes you heard right, I dunno why but this med gives me higher than usual nightmares. I also take lisinopril for high blood pressure, though so maybe it's the combination I dunno but yeah. Nightmares over all it has not been too bad but I'm on a really low dose of 10mg of Lipitor so maybe that's why I haven't had any major side effects”

For High Cholesterol: “Severe leg cramps, joint pain, dizziness, my cholesterol is never been over 200, have always walked, biked, eating right. This med has really messed my body up!!!”

For Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: “My cholesterol has always been in the normal range, about 145, although my LDL/HDL ratio, 90/55, is not optimal. I eat healthy, 10% body fat, work out over 300 days a year. But a heart scan at 60 gave me a shock, showed a lot plaque in my LAD, not good. Started Lipitor 10mg daily, cholesterol dropped into the 90s, with LDL of 50. Went to 10mg/5mg alternating days, last lipid panel showed cholesterol at 114, LDL 72. I have never had any negative side effects. Two very athletic friends with high cholesterol used statins but quit because of muscle pain I third athletic friend, with cholesterol of 300, uses a statin, cholesterol into normal range with no side effects. So if you have high cholesterol, don't be afraid to give a statin a try, start low and titrate up, if the side effects are too bad, quit, but you may be one of the lucky ones like me and my third friend, for whom a statin is very effective and does not have side effects.”

For High Cholesterol: “So I went to the doctor for peripheral neuropathy and back spasms. She does my bloodwork and my cholesterol is extremely high. She puts me on generic Lipitor and it made my back spasms even worse. Now my upper back has a tremor that still hasn't gone away even after quitting the drug 2 months ago. I have loss strength in my legs and I have terrible short term memory. It would give me dizzy spells and I just felt sick all the time. I'm still recovering from it and I told my doctor I quit taking it because it was making me shake. Now she wants me to start taking it again, but I'm not going to,”

For High Cholesterol: “After taking Lipitor for a few weeks I developed pain in both my legs ,arms and shoulders . After three months all my muscles were heavy and under powered I could hardly exercise . I stopped taking Lipitor and some three months later I am nearly back to normal! Don’t take these drugs because it defeats the object . You need to exercise to reduce cholesterol however these drugs prevent you from doing so!!!!”

For High Cholesterol: “Horrible drug! Was taking 40mg once a day. Side effects were just terrible. Headaches, nauseous, dizzy, spacey, and just felt terrible overall. After a few months I decided to cut my dose in half. The next morning still has some side effects but not near as bad as the prescribed dose I was on.”

For High Cholesterol: “Our mom took Lipitor and had a lot of swelling around her eyes, pale, weak, and her skin was peeling on her face.”

For High Cholesterol: “After first week 80mg Lipitor a day extreme arm pain from armpit to elbow. Tendon pain in top of hand burning sensation of skin on arm shoulder blade pain. 2 doctors refuse to consider its the drug but I never had a problem before. They are saying it is a deteriorated spine. ”

For High Cholesterol: “Terrible! After a few days on this drug, I started having moments of "spacing out" - it was like my brain would go offline for a minute or two and suddenly reboot. Horrible feeling! Also: it is important to note that this drug is known to worsen symptoms of GERD (which I have). Lipitor made my GERD so bad that I was vomiting for hours after eating or drinking anything. I have tried it twice and had the same reaction both times. No thanks!”

For High Cholesterol: “I took Lipitor for three weeks. Three days into the treatment I had left knee and hip pain. I continued to take for another 2 and a half weeks in hopes the issues would resolve. My cholesterol was normal on a retest. However the extreme pain in my hip, groin and knee caused a severe limp. I stopped taking the drug and it took me 3 months and daily CoQ10 supplements to return my leg to normal. Since then I have gone on a diet, lost 10 pounds, eliminated white sugar and red meat from my diet. Hope that's enough. I would not recommend statins for anyone!”

For High Cholesterol: “Taken before two other different times for high cholesterol, I quit because of stomach pains and bloating. This time I took 40 mg I took for a week it didn't seem to bother my stomach, I did notice gas, so I decided to quit again , just not worth the dangerous side effects. I'm not overweight I don't eat greasy foods , I do eat and drink sugar everyday. My cholesterol is very high , I'll ask my Dr. if there is another medicine to try, does anyone have a suggestion? Thanks”

For High Cholesterol: “Been on this horrible tablet two weeks and never felt as ill in my life. I am constantly feeling sick and dizzy and can’t lift my arms up. I stop taking them for one day and the next day I feel on top of the world, then take them again and one the day after back to normal feeling sick, dizzy, sinus problems will never take them again. I will get my cholesterol down myself”

For High Cholesterol: “Delayed side effects. Took years to realize statins give MEMORY LOSS BIG TIME and muscle pain and mood issues. And now discovering risk from high LDL is massively exaggerated. Having sufficient HDL is what matters. IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE LOSING MEMORY ASK THEM TO THINK BACK IF IT STARTED GETTING WORSE WITHIN A YEAR OF STARTING STATINS. Someone once did that for me. ”

For High Cholesterol: “I took lipitor for three months, then went thru a unbelievably hard time for 3 years due to side effects. I had myopathy ,neuropathy, rashes, upset stomach, extreme muscle pain, E D ,. Pyronnies, constipation, arthritis, short term memory loss, could not lift my arms above my head and horrible fatigue.”

For Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: “I was put on Lipitor after a mild heart-attack and stent placement. A short time after starting the script, my hands started hurting daily. They woke me up at night. Then the pain spread through out my body . It got so bad I could not push up off a chair or bed. Nothing helped. It was nerve and muscle pain. Took it for a year before the doctor finally heard me and took me off Lipitor to see if that was the cause. Within days the pain started letting up . Now 4 months later I’m back to normal. The pain was so bad I thought I was terminal and felt that way to the point of writing out a will . Not everyone has this reaction . But pay attention if you start taking it and then have body pain. It can be dangerous. I don’t know what long term effect may show up later from it. Now my hands still hurt daily from it . But less than when I was on the pill.”

For Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: “Worst side effects I could imagine. The pelvic and leg pain was so bad I couldn't sleep for six days until my Dr told me to stop!! The pain was worse than anything I have experienced. Including child birth!!! Drs should not be so quick to jump to this drug!!!!! It also messed with my kidneys have been on antibiotics for 2 weeks trying to get them back to a normal level. My opinion BAD DRUG!!!!!!”

For High Cholesterol: “The Lipitor worked for years then suddenly I had upper arm pains and couldn't move my arms without crying. I couldn't get up from the toilet or bathtub etc. I was a cripple. My cardiologist took me off the drug immediately and said not to every go back to it. After months the pain subsided a little but never came back to my original health. Can't walk much and have to stop every minute or so to rest my aching legs etc. Can't take care of my apartment anymore.”

For High Cholesterol: “How is this stuff legal? 5 urgent care and 2 ER trips, and no one related the Lipitor to my pains. I had severe muscle cramps everywhere. Deep excruciating pain in glute muscles that had me in physical therapy. Itching and tingling on face and extremities. Sharp pain in various muscles that concludes with lasting aches and difficulty with motion. Fatigue too. Been on for over a year then looked up side effects and called my doctor. Took statin specific blood test and have to have test to see if my muscle fibers have broken down. I'm a walking side effect commercial...and it's not fun.”

For High Cholesterol: “I’ve been on Pravastatins 20 mg. For 5 yrs. Cholesterol was 225. It never went down. I do enjoy my cocktails, wine in the evening..nothing changed. My liver enzymes for 18 years always stayed at 20-21 ( range is 4-43) in August 2018, went in for my quarterly bloodwork..no change. Doctor put me on Lipitor 20 mg with next bloodwork to be done in January. Well, I also started the Keto diet in January..high fat, protein diet..low carbs, sugar. Surprise!! My cholesterol went from 226 to 165! Glucose was down and very good! However..it compromised my liver.. my enzymes skyrocketed to 99 and 110 (again range 4-43) he immediately took me off Lipitor...now, he doesn’t want me to drink any alcohol for 2 months..test will be in March..so, what’s the culprit?? Diet or Lipitor? He said to continue with diet, just cut the fat down..”

For High Cholesterol: “Severe muscle pain, and skin pain couldn’t stand my bra touching my skin, my Dr. took me off of it, she said I should have let her know sooner she would have changed it.”

For High Cholesterol: “I am an otherwise healthy 23 year old female. My new doctor ran a battery of blood tests and discovered my total cholesterol was 272! Started me on 20mg lipitor which brought it down to 202 after 2 months. Dosage was increased to 80mg since I have experienced no side effects. It is now at 142 after 4 months in total. Doctor is considering adding something else to get it down a bit more in 2 more months.”

For High Cholesterol: “I'm 81 years old and have been on 40mg to 80 mg of lipitor for at least 10 years. It works wonders. No side effects.”