Atenolol side effects? my legs lost all strength and fell. Happening more frequently.

[leocleo]

Hi.

I've been taking Lisinopril 20mg, and this didn't do very good job of controlling my blood pressure (it fluctuated highly ranged from 80-50 to 165-110).  Then, the doctor added Atenolol 25mg in addition to Lisinopril 20mg.

So I take both Lisinopril 20mg in the morning and 25mg Atenolol daily.  But suddenly I started experiencing falling due to legs losing all their strength and I just fall and have to crawl for help.  Legs do not hurt or anything, they just lose strength.  So with arms.  I can't even hold a drug bottle because my arms don't have any power.  With Lisinopril only, I never experienced this ever before.  My blood pressure (with Lisinopril/aTenolol) stays around 100-60 and once every week or so, it still goes upto around 165-120 and with Xanax, it will go down.

I stopped Atenolol from two days ago, and only take Lisinopril now. I talked with doctor, and he told me that the legs shouldn't be a problem, he thinks it's just a muscle problem due to lack of exercise, but I do exercise every day...

I am planning to find another doctor, but in the meantime, I would like to stay only on lisinopril for a while...

Is the legs losing strength and falling a side effect of Atenolol?  

[Alison L, RPh]

The earlier mentioned side effect caused by the group of medications known as the statins, which Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin) is a member of, is called rhabdomyolysis. This condition is breakdown of the muscle and has been associated with the statins as a class as a rare but serious side effect. Rhabdomyolysis caused by statins is reversible once the medication has been discontinued. The muscle weakness you were experiencing definitely seems like it was caused by the Vytorin due to the weakness/fatigue resolving after stopping the Vytorin. ALS and Rhabdomyolysis are two completely different disease states but can be mistaken for one another due to the similar presentation of symptoms of muscle fatigue and weakness. At this time there is no good evidence that links the use of statins with developing ALS and because you had muscle weakness while on a statin does not necessarily predispose you to developing ALS in the future. I would advise you to continue monitoring your symptoms and should they return discuss it with your doctor.

[leocleo]

Hello. Thanks so much for your answer.

I did talk to doctor last week and he told me to stop Vytorin right away and changed my cholesterol medicine to something else.  

What you suggest is quite scary as I had a friend who passed away due to Lou Gerig's disesase few years ago.  Could taking Vytorin alone cause me to actually develop the disease or just to show the symptoms?  

Since I stopped the medication, I have not yet experienced any falling/muscle weakness in my legs, and I am hoping that it will be this way since I stopped Vytorin...  

Thanks so much.

[Alison L, RPh]

Fatigue and lethargy are side effects of atenolol, however, I do not see any information suggesting that muscle weakness is a side effect of atenolol. I see that you also take Vytorin. It appears that symptoms of ALS,( Lou Gehrig's Disease) have been reported to the FDA in a higher than expected number of patients taking statins. ALS is a progressive motor neuron disorder with symptoms such as difficulty walking or standing, difficulty with fine motor skills and muscle paralysis. The FDA is examining the feasibility of performing additional epidemiologic studies to further examine the incidence and clinical course of ALS in patients taking statins.This is something you may wish to discuss with your doctor also.