If you are suddenly finding yourself experiencing insomnia or other problems following the start of a course of the drug Lipitor prescribed to help with the reduction of your cholesterol levels, you are not alone. The reports of adverse side effects from these drugs are on the increase as the numbers of patients on Lipitor rapidly rises. Experts have heard more complaints about side effects from Lipitor than all of the other drugs in its class combined. If you are on Lipitor or are planning to start taking Lipitor, consider the possible side effects you may be facing and discuss the possibility of switching to something else.
Atorvastatin (the generic name for Lipitor) is a cholesterol-lowering medication that blocks the production of cholesterol (a type of fat) in the body, reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) "bad" cholesterol and total cholesterol in the blood. Experts believe that lowering your cholesterol can help prevent heart disease and hardening of the arteries, conditions which lead to heart attack, stroke, and other vascular disease in people with coronary heart disease or type 2 diabetes.
It has been reported that in rare cases, atorvastatin can cause a condition that results in the breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue. This condition can lead to kidney failure. In addition to melting cholesterol, the statins also have been reported to dissolve healthy muscle tissue, causing muscle cells to clog up the kidneys and kill people. Call your doctor immediately if you have unexplained muscle pain or tenderness, muscle weakness, fever or flu symptoms, and dark colored urine. Before taking Lipitor, tell your doctor if you have diabetes, an underactive thyroid, kidney disease, a muscle disorder, require major surgery, or have a blood disorder. These conditions may preclude you from taking Lipitor to begin with.
Originally, the reported side effects were primarily “a few aches and pains and the occasional liver intolerance”, which is arguably an acceptable price for our society to pay for such a beneficial class of drugs. No longer do these reports even come close to the true depths of the problems. The concern today is the escalating number of adverse drug reports associated with the use of Lipitor and the other stronger statin drugs, reflecting the malfunction of many different body systems.
One of the biggest side effects reported is the appearance of Alzheimer’s-like symptoms in people who are otherwise healthy and who are on Lipitor. One of the most frightening effects reported has been short –term memory impairment in people as young as 56.
Other serious symptoms include muscle soreness, weakness, and joint pain, decreased libido, exhaustion, heart arrhythmia, and insomnia. Most of those reporting symptomology stated that they felt an improvement in their overall health after discontinuing Lipitor. Others reported that while there was improvement upon stopping the drug, but that the immediate benefits were not as dramatic.
One respondent reported that she had experienced a lot of muscle pain, inflammation, and symptoms similar to those encountered in muscular dystrophy -- difficulty in walking, rising from a seated position, poor coordination, a droopy eyelid on one eye, a tremor in her right hand, difficulty initiating walking, and very dry eyes, among others. She called her primary physician immediately after suspecting that Lipitor might be behind her deteriorating health, and they scheduled her for a CPK (creatine phosphokinase) test. It was her first time being tested, and her reading was 174 (only "slightly elevated and of no major concern" according to her primary care physician), on a scale from 30 to 135. So, they told her to stop taking Lipitor, and she should be fine in 2 weeks.
Almost immediately, the patient reported that the tremor in her right hand was greatly reduced, and was almost gone entirely. She still must depend on her family for assistance to dress, undress, toileting, showering and more. Being afraid that she'll fall, she reports that she's lost all her confidence to be independent. Despite the fact she has not had a stroke, she felt so debilitated being on the drug, that she had erroneously concluded at first she must have had one, prior to researching the side effects of Lipitor.
From the clinical trial test results among the groups who were taking Lipitor prior to its market debut, the following side effects of the nervous system were reported in the drug literature: Insomnia, dizziness, paresthesia (a sensation of tingling, pricking or numbness of a person’s skin with no apparent long-term physical effect), somnolence (drowsiness), amnesia, abnormal dreams, a decrease in libido, emotional insatiability, incoordination, peripheral neuropathy, torticollis (a neurological movement disorder which causes the neck to involuntarily turn to the left, right, upwards, and/or downwards. The condition is also referred to as "cervical dystoni), facial paralysis, hyperkinesia, depression, hypesthesia, hypertonia. In the area of the musculoskeletal system was listed arthritis, leg cramps, bursitis, tenosynovitis (inflammation of the fluid-filled sac surrounding a tendon, like in the knee), myasthenia, tendinous contracture (contraction of the semimembraneous muscle around a tendon, again like in the knee), and myositis (inflammation of the muscles due to autoimmune issues).
Uncomplicated myalgia has been reported in atorvastatin-treated patients. Myopathy, which is defined as muscle aches or muscle weakness in conjunction with increases in creatine phosphokinase (CPK) values, should be evaluated and examined by the doctor in the case of any patient with diffuse myalgias, muscle tenderness or weakness, and/or the marked elevation of CPK. Experts agree that patients who are going to take Lipitor should be counseled to immediately report any unexplained muscle pain, tenderness or weakness, particularly if accompanied by malaise or a fever. Lipitor therapy should be discontinued if markedly elevated CPK levels occur or myopathy is diagnosed or suspected.
It was also suggested that the risk to a patient of developing myopathy during treatment with statin drugs increased with the concurrent administration of cyclosporine, fibric acid derivatives, erythromycin, niacin, or azole antifungals. Experts recommended that physicians considering pursuing this combined type of therapy with atorvastatin and fibric acid derivatives, erythromycin, immunosuppressive drugs, azole antifungals, or lipid-lowering doses of niacin should carefully weigh the potential benefits and risks to their patients and should carefully monitor them for any occurrences or symptoms of muscle pain, tenderness, or weakness, especially during the initial months of therapy and during any periods of increasing the dosage of either drug. Periodic creatine phosphokinase (CPK) determinations may be considered in such situations, but there is no guarantee that such testing will prevent the occurrence of severe myopathy in some patients.
Before you start therapy with the drug atorvastatin (Lipitor), you should attempt to control your high cholesterol with an appropriate diet, exercise, and weight reduction, and to treat other underlying medical problems first. With these things in mind, it my be possible to avoid insomnia and the other side effects caused by this drug. Also, these steps might prove useful in your being able to discontinue the use of Lipitor or other such statin drugs altogether.
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