Hi,
I'm new here and I'm looking for answers about my dad's sudden development of muscle weakness. He's been on Lipitor for years. He claims he has no pain, but can no longer walk up and down steps and falls frequently while walking. He also shakes quite badly.
Neuro exams have ruled out the usual suspects (Parkinson's, MS) and the MD's have not mentioned that Lipitor could be a problem.
My question is did any one on this board experience muscle weakness WITHOUT muscle pain?
He takes nothing for hypertension. His blood pressure is 13x/70 most of the time. Lipitor, and now an anti-depressent and an occassional sleeping pill are all the prescribed medications he takes.
I was on Lipitor for about 2 years (and other statins for about 7 years before that) and did experience muscle weakness a month or so before the muscle pain set in. I was on no other meds at the time. Doing better now since I have pretty much stopped the statins. My back coninues to bother me-and it has been nearly one year since I stopped....however, my legs are doing great, almost 95% better. Good luck to your Dad.
He has the same problems my mother had on first Zocor, then Lipitor and then combo of zetia and welchol. She has been to numerous neurologists at both Washington University in St. Louis and at Mayo in MN. She has cerebellar damage from the cholesterol lowering medications. You father has proximal muscle weakness (not being able to go up and down the steps), I bet also he has trouble getting up out of a chair, and has trouble raising his arms over his head. These are exactly what my mother had. The doctors say that she has cerebellar ataxia. They will NOT say it was caused by the cholesterol medication, because they said it would not cause her original problems.. However, a specialist that I contacted they is familiar with cholesterol medications and a specialist of the cerebellum, said they cerebellum is extremely sensitive to medications. It is also very dependent on CoQ10. The cerebellum is very sensitive to Coq10 depletion because of the low amount of CoQ10 contained there. You father needs to stop the Lipitor immediately. He should also be put on CoQ10...600 mg per day. Also consider giving him alpha lipoic acid, and acetyl-L-carnitine. These are to help with the mitochondrial damage that he has suffered from the Lipitor. If he is able to recover from his current problem, he will only be able to recover 80% of his before Lipitor (or cholesterol lowering medication) capibilities. For many people he will appear to be back 100%. This is because the brain has reseerves for problems that occur. However, if he is put on another cholesterol lowering medication, or restarted on Lipitor, his chances of having the same problems are 90%. If he does have the problems again, the best he can hope to recover is 80% of the 80%. At some point the brain is not able to compensate. That is when the damage becomes obvious, and is permanant. By the way, the cerebellum affects balance and movement, and if damaged enough will affect speech (slurring)....If the doctors have found nothing...I would be willing to bet he has cerebellar ataxia of an unknown cause.....that is what the doctors will say... Some of us know better...the cause is cholesterol lowering medications. You might also check his intracellular magnesium level...not his serum magnesium level...it must be intracellular.
A major problem with antidepressants is the possibility of tardive dyskinesia, a palsy-like coondition. Look up the symptoms and see if they fit your father.
Hi,
I'm new here and I'm looking for answers about my dad's sudden development of muscle weakness. He's been on Lipitor for years. He claims he has no pain, but can no longer walk up and down steps and falls frequently while walking. He also shakes quite badly.
Neuro exams have ruled out the usual suspects (Parkinson's, MS) and the MD's have not mentioned that Lipitor could be a problem.
My question is did any one on this board experience muscle weakness WITHOUT muscle pain?
Many Thanks!
-Starbyte
Yes. I didn't have any side effects at all until after being on it 2 years. To give you some perspective on how much muscle weakness I experienced. I used to be a competitive bodybuilder, in fact I was 3rd in the Mr. USA in the mid 90's. OBviously I was quite strong from all the weight training. I would say my strength dropped by 50% or more. For example, before I started experiencing side effects, I would workout with 200+ lbs on the bench press. Towards the end, I could barely do 100lbs for 10 repititions. It was after about 3 months of muscle weakness that I started to experience muscle PAIN. Along with a laundry list of other issues.
A major problem with antidepressants is the possibility of tardive dyskinesia, a palsy-like coondition. Look up the symptoms and see if they fit your father.
I don't think it's tardive dyskinesia because he was put on the anti-depressants AFTER the muscle weakness started. He was understandably depressed about his lack of mobility and the isolation it caused (particularly since he was still grieving the death of my mom).
I've gotten him to stop taking the Lipitor and now he is complaining that his right arm is very sore.
He does have trouble getting out of chairs - I haven't asked him to lift his arms up over his head, though. I will when I bring him the Co-Q10
Hi,
I'm new here and I'm looking for answers about my dad's sudden development of muscle weakness. He's been on Lipitor for years. He claims he has no pain, but can no longer walk up and down steps and falls frequently while walking. He also shakes quite badly.
Neuro exams have ruled out the usual suspects (Parkinson's, MS) and the MD's have not mentioned that Lipitor could be a problem.
My question is did any one on this board experience muscle weakness WITHOUT muscle pain?
Many Thanks!
-Starbyte
I agree with HHone. I believe it is the Statins as I had the leg muscle problems your dad has. I would strongly suggest that he stop taking the statins and start taking COQ10 and he will get better in the long run.
Question about Muscle Weakness 
