lipitor 20mg cause muscle disconfort and gain weight. in one month

[lawlean]

I switch my statin to lipitor 20mg about a month ago and I have noticed that my upper arms muscles gave me a very unusual pain especially when I stretch them even a little. Since than I have gain almost 2kg. What should I do. My next medical appointment is in July. To go to the emergency or to seek for another doctor?

[ed34]

With regards to CoQ10 I spoke with a top cardiologist at a London heart hospital about this last year. I read a lot of interesting and positive things on the medication and believed it to be one of those overrated things. However, to my surprise he said "Oh we have seen amazing things with CoQ10 supplements". I believe there are different types and one absorbs much better than the other. CoQ10 is very important in heart muscle, and it makes sense it has a positive effect when on statins because they lower this. It's just a shame that CoQ10 hasn't been studied much more because this means it isn't available free for heart patients in the UK.

[erijon]

Flycaster is right, talk to your doctor about changing your meds to something that work better. Lipitor is a very powerful statin and you can probably get by with something like Simvastatin. The difference is dramatic, Lipitor has a half life of 14 hours compared to just 5 for Simvastatin meaning you can build up larger serum loads of Lipitor.

As far as CoQ10 goes, it's a supplement so it has not undergone the kind of studies that medications go through. I falls under the "hey, it won't hurt you" category for me as there may be issues in which the body can absorb it. Many people take it because of the advertising, it may well work, I'm not sold but that's just me and I could be way wrong.

[Flycaster305]

It seems the logical choice is to go back to the original statin you were taking, and stop taking Lipitor.  The CoQ10 supplement certainly won't hurt you, there is in fact a lot of evidence that it is very difficult to be absorbed by the body.  

[lawlean]

Have anyone tried q10 suppliment to relieve muscle pain. Statin and q10 may have contradicting function but it seems that to maintain q10 level in our body may prevent muscle pain. Than again how to balance the statin/q10 dosage to benefit from both. We need to replanish the q10 level and at the same time lower the cholestrol level. Also it seems that with q10 defficiency could age the heart much faster.

[Occupant]

You know, the way you describe it, it brought back memories. I had exactly the same problems and I was on Statins at the time. It got so bad that one time as I was trying to pay the clerk in a store, I stuck my hand in my back pocket to remove my wallet, I had to leave it there due to the intense pain I was experiencing - he had to come out from behind the counter and pull my hand and the wallet out off the pocket himself. I blamed the whole thing on my spinal neck problems and the pain went away after a while And now that you are mentioning it, I changed my mind. I think it was the Statins. I could go on and on, there was a host of other problems until I quit the Statins altogether.

[lawlean]

My doctor has stop my lipitol 20mg since 2.5 weeks ago ans he suggested to reduce to 10mg after another 2 weeks. Although now I can lift my arm to retrieve the parking ticket from shopping complexes' parking lots, but I still have problem tacking my shirt into my pants or retrieving coins from my jean's pocket. Even removing my backpack from my shoulder was excruciating. .

[Occupant]

Based on my own esperience with various Statin drugs, I don't think your problem has anything to do with Lipitor. You have been on it for only a month and at a very low dosage at that. E.g. I developed Rhabdomyolysis after five months on Crestor and even tore a ligament in my back without any exertion, but prior to that I had already been on Statins for ten years.

[Flycaster305]

I'd suggest you work through the pain, lift some weights,  it could be simply a buildup of lactic acids from inactivity based on fear from taking the statin.  If, after exercising, pain isn't muscular, you should contact your doctor, but it certainly doesn't sound like a matter to go to the emergency room.
I'm betting 75% of all people at an age where they are taking statins have muscle pains.  

[Red_Star]

Up to 75% of statin users experience pain. The finding comes from a study published in the January 2013 Journal of American College of Cardiology by researchers at the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen. Very rarely, statins can cause life threatening muscle damage called rhabdomyolysis.

The FDA requires warnings that statins may increase the risk of liver damage, memory loss and confusion, elevated blood sugar, type 2 diabetes, muscle weakness (for certain statins).  Increasing blood sugar levels can lead to weight gain.

[achillea]

Since I have familial high blood fats, my doctor has tried me on several different types and doses of statins, and I always get fairly severe muscle pain in the shoulders and arms.  This is a symptom that may occur in approximately 30% of patients on statins.

Apparently, though, there may not be any  REAL damage to the muscles in most cases, in spite of the intensity of the pain.  There are blood tests to determine if actual muscle damage is occurring.   Here is an article about that:

http://blogs.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/2008/02/statins-and-muscle-pain.html

In any case, this is probably not a medical emergency that requires going the ER.

I don't know what your health care system is like, but this is something you should discuss with the doctor who prescribed the medication for you, rather than going to another doctor who does not know your medical history.

You could phone your doctor's office, tell them about your problems, and ask to see the doctor again before July.