Lawsuits filed over Lipitor side effects

[mike]

you must visit this site: www.adverse-drug-reaction.net

[phil gibbs]

As a long-time runner I have just begun taking Lipitor (10mg/day). I am running about 25 miles/week, used to run 60 or 70, but those days and the marathons are in my past. Now I am experiencing extreme fatigue in both legs which I have never had before. Could this be due to the Lipitor?

[Caroline]

I started taking Lipitor in August 2007 - basically because my LDL cholesterol was pretty high and I have a family history of heart disease. I, myself was ideal weight and ran,and cycled daily. I now have severe patellar tendinitis that has gradually gotten worse so that I can no longer really walk further than a hundred yards without extreme pain - I have seen 7 doctors (sports med, orthopedic surgeons, physiatrists, and physical therapists), I've also tried alternative therapies - acupuncture, cranio sacral, energy work, massage with no let up in the pain. And nobody having any reason as to why I am having tendon problems. I am now incapacitated - I have stopped taking Lipitor but today saw an article published from a study titled 'Tendon problems a possible adverse effect of statin therapy'I found this on Medscape - the journal name is 'Arthristis & Rheumatism: Arthritis Care & Research. I just wondered if there was any other people who were suffering from this problem? And if so how long did it take you to get over it after stopping taking Lipitor?

[TinainPittsburgh]

Phil, Lipitor could be the reason for the leg fatigue. I was also on 10 mg Lipitor and am now suffering from nerve damage in my legs. There are also reports of muscle/tendon/joint damage from this drug. Of course, there could be other reasons too (especially if you are/were a runner) so you should definitely call your doctor right away. However, make sure your doctor does carefully consider Lipitor as a possibility. Some doctors are not educated enough about its side effects and simply brush off patients concerns over Lipitor. Print out some of the messages on this board that refer to leg pain from Lipitor and show them to your doctor. When I started physical therapy for my nerve damage, the first question my therapist had was, "Do you take Lipitor?" So, some medical professionals are aware of the potential dangerous side effects and others still need to be educated. But the most important thing is to see your doctor right away, follow your instincts and keep pushing until you find the right answer.

[TinainPittsburgh]

Caroline, I don't know much about your specific side effects, tendonitis, but I do know there are many dangerous side effects that have been reported from Lipitor, including tendon problems. I have read many posts (on message boards like this) from people who took Lipitor. Many people took it without any side effects at all. Of those who did have adverse reactions, the amount of damage and recovery time varies. For some people, it is a matter of days (after stopping Lipitor) but I think for most people it is months. I know that when it comes to muscle and nerve damage, there are many vitamin supplements that can help but I don't know about tendonitis. Perhaps you could research vitamin supplements (either by doing an online search for "supplements" and "tendon" or by just reading the supplement bottles at your local drug store.) However, please check with your doctor before you start any supplement regimin. Have any of your doctors considered the possible role of Lipitor in your problems?

[Caroline]

Tinain,
I saw another doctor this morning, and brought the article published yesterday for him to look at - he had not heard about the possible tendon problmes - I've now stopped the lipitor - so will see what happens - I had a lidocain shot this morning with some mild relief (but it's only temporary).

[jerl4591]

Lulubelle wrote:

http://www.newstarget.com/0200 30.html
Read this and understand this is not the only drug this is happening with. They do not care about us, all they care about is $$$$$....

I read your comments to Connie I was not as educated as I should be. I thoyght you were looking inside my body and telling me exactly what my problems are. All these things are what's wrong with me too. The swelling, the mind tricks of the mind (forgetfulness), the tiredness, the aching muscles, no energy over and over I saw myself. I always had a nagging thought that medicine could be the real culprit behind my troble plagued body. Yhank you so much I am going to my doctor again in April, he might as well clear his schedule while we wade through all 8 of my prescriptions. It was nine for about three months when warfrin sent me to the hospital in Oct. You have opened my eyes, GOD bless you my dear.

[jerl4591]

DNAhombre wrote:

<quoted text>
I take Statins(Crestor) and I am a Pfizer stockholder. Statins are lifesavers. A small percentage of patients suffer adverse reactions, devastating to them, but; acceptable to the FDA. This is true for many drugs. There would be no progress, if the industry scrapped every therapeutic that hurt a few patients.... Hombre

If you have stock in the company and you take Lipitor, you are helping yourself to enough money so you don't care. How long have you been taking it? I have been taking Lipitor, and watching my body deteriate for somewhere around 17 years. It works slow so after a while you start to think it is age that has changed your body. Then, you start hearing the horror stories and you realize hey that is what I'm taking and how I'm feeling too. Keep reading there are more than a few on here and let us remember there are still people that don't even have computers yet and those that only use them to play games because their medicines have stopped them from bowling, etc. Until you have walked in my shoes, please don't tell me how insignifigent my pain is. Do yourself a favor, donate some of that money you get from the backs of others and start a fund for the ones that can't buy medicines that really do work well.

[jerl4591]

TWG wrote:

Why is it that we have to blame others for ours wrongdoing?. Everyone knows that all synthetic medicines are bad to our body. All medicines, sooner or later causes our body to react in another way, altering our cells. There are diseases we can prevent and perhaps never be diagnosed with, but when we are young with don't think in any of them until you have been diagnosed, and even then we don't comply or follow our professional's recommendations. Most illnesses the majority of us have now a days can be prevented with just regular exercise, proper diet or just simple recommendations, but how many of us do it. As a health practitioner always think of pills as the last resource, not only because our books teach us that but because we know that pills alters our body and always recommed nonpharmacological therapies first. Unfortunately, for most patients it is easier to swallow a pill than changing their eating habit and to exercise. We all due respect, If You Are Healthier Enough To Follow Nonpharmacological Therapies, You Should Not Blame Others For What You Should Have Done Before Taking Years Of Lipitor. Doctors and Pharmaceutical companies are not God, we as human have to take responsibilities of our actions.

I can tell by your letter, you are a very young person. I have in my lifetime seen people that ate right, exercised and took no medicines and they are now dead. Some died from a heart attack brought on by all that exercise, some shoveling snow and some from the excitement of sex with no warning. Some died from being born in the wrong family, it's called family history. Do not point you condescending finger at me because my doctor believed the drug company and had faith in modern medicine and not enough time in a lab somewhere to see if there were any bad things connected with it. People like you will let them feed us dog food then tell us it looks good enough to eat and it's our fault for being hungry.

[jerl4591]

stlcop wrote:

How many of the people here who have experienced unfortunate side effects spoke with the pharmacist about what side effects they should watch out for?

Hey stupo, do you think the drug company is telling everything. If they did they would not sell one pill. So you think they will tell the pharmacist either? They only tell you so much and hide the rest. How many of ex-smokers do you think would have smoked if they knew the truth that was hidden from the public for all those years while the fat cats got richer. Come on, be for real.

[jerl4591]

boo wrote:

IF YOU LARD ASSES PUSHED YOURSELVES AWAY FROM THE TABLE AND WORKED OUT HALF OF YOU PROBALLY WOULD NOT NEED THE DRUG

You are a meat head (dead from the neck up). I am 5 61/2" and I weighed 110# or less all of my life until I had a heart attack at 38 years old. My family history is what the doctors said. I am now 62 years old so I have been through the gambit. If you can not add anything intelligent to this site, keep your opinion, yes, keep it.

[HumanSpirit]

Not only is there muscle deterioration but memory loss is significant to file additional lawsuits.

[Doc]

My friend Julie was prescribed Lipitor for high cholesterol. She began suffering serious side-effects such as muscle pain and weakness, memory loss, daily fatigue, general malaise, and flu-like symptoms. These symptoms appeared after only taking this medication after 1 month. She stopped taking it and these symptoms resolved completely. She now takes herbal treatments prescribed from a pharmacist who is also a dietician. Her cholesterol (LDL) is now lower! Some of my patients have been prescribed Lipitor and have also reported similar side effects including dizziness and being off balance and memory loss. I think the statins should be taken off the market.

[jerl4591]

Harry wrote:

<quoted text>
Yeah, I know what you mean Kassie. Those dumb ass Doctors who spend 21-28 years out of their lives educating themselves, losing sleep, not being with their families for birthdays, holidays, etc, working 18-21 hour days taking care of whiny assed people who don't work, suck up welfare and never pay their bills. Why any doctor doesn't just get down and kiss your feet, I'll never know.

I wonder who held a gun on them while they were going to school and missing all that family time. I wonder why they are suprised when their children turn out to be cold blooded monsters, after all they learned from their absent dad that acted like the only thing important is the almighty dollar. Besides that, I sure don't want any doctor to prescribe meds or operate on me that is flying on 4 hours of sleep. That is like taking off on a plane with only one engine working and that one is coughing. You go!

[dbr]

Hello Everyone. Let me introduce myself as D-R. I am one of the developers of www.adverse-drug-reaction.net . Many of you have recently visited our site and some contacted us for help.
We are really grateful for being able to provide useful information and will continue to update our site as much as we can. We are however a small organization, so updates might be slow. There are some recurring issues and questions that we would like to share with this forum. We are not affiliated with the FDA or any other organization/company. Our interest in adverse reactions stems from our extensive experience with the regulatory approval process and with some personal experience with adverse drug reactions .For whatever it’s worth, we do not think that all drugs are bad. In fact, many drugs do save lives. We do not think that the FDA is ‘the bad guy’. In fact, our experience with the FDA is that they do their best to rid us from bad drugs, but in many cases their hands are tied because of laws and regulations. The problem of allowing some bad drugs slip through the cracks is however real and is a result of several factors. One of the key elements of this problem is the approval process. To get approval, all that a drug company needs to do is to run a few clinical trials, which may include two double blind, placebo controlled trials. The entire clinical development program may include a couple of thousands of patients. The criteria for approval is that the drug must have an ‘acceptable’ risk/benefit ratio. The problem lies with the fact that there isn’t enough information about the risks. The number of patients in the clinical trials doesn’t allow the detection of adverse events that can only be seen in 10,000 patients or more. Even more problematic is the fact that drugs are approved without much of chronic use. So there is little data on adverse events after weeks or months of use of the drug. Thus the FDA is faced with the decision to approve drugs based on relatively short trials, with not enough patients to detect the true risks. MEDWATCH is an important tool when used properly. Despite the fact that the information comes from uncontrolled trials, the cumulative evidence can lead to important discoveries about drug safety. To make a compelling case against a drug, one must look at several factors which must include among others: the frequency of certain events in comparison to other drugs, proximity to initiation of a drug, other drugs taken concurrently, dose and frequency, patient demographics, etc. Most or all information can be found in our database. To make a case against a drug, you may want to review the case study of the fluroquinolones by publiccitizen.org (on our site or theirs) used to file a petition to the FDA and then a lawsuit to add black box warning for tendon rupture. Please feel free to contact us at [e-mail] t. We will do our utmost to help but cannot guarantee it. Also remember that for any medical advice, you should contact your healthcare professional. Good luck to all of you!

[MrTim]

Hi, Do YOU BELIEVE IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE TO TELL ME,,, "WHAT PAPER YOU GAVE TO THE DR ABOUT LIPITOR?" I SURE WOULD LOVE TO READ IT, ANY INFO. THAT YOU CAN TELL ME PLEASE? THANKS MRTIM

Caroline wrote:

Tinain,
I saw another doctor this morning, and brought the article published yesterday for him to look at - he had not heard about the possible tendon problmes - I've now stopped the lipitor - so will see what happens - I had a lidocain shot this morning with some mild relief (but it's only temporary).

[MrTim]

HI CAROLINE,

COULD YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT ARTICLE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT? I WOULD LOVE TO READ IT. I LOST MY LEGS AND A FEW OTHER THINGS FROM MY DR. GIVING ME LIPITOR. I WENT FOR A YEAR WITH COMPLAINTS TO HIM AND NOT ONE TIME,, AGAIN,, NOT ONE TIME HE SAID "LETS BACK OFF LIPITOR AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS" OR "NOT ONE TIME IN A YEAR HE EVEN LOOKED AT MY MEDICINE CHART TO SEE WHAT I WAS ON" AFTER I LOST BOTH KIDNEYS AND LEGS HE CRIED AND SAID HOW SORRY HE WAS THAT IT HAPPENED AND IT WAS ALL HIS FAULT. THE NEXT QUESTION AFTER THE TEARS WAS,, "ARE YOU GOING TO FILE A CLAIM AGAINST ME TIM?" SO I WOULD LIKE TO READ ANY INFO. YOU WOULD HAVE ON IT PLEASE? THANKS MRTIM

[TinainPittsburgh]

Caroline wrote:

Tinain,
I saw another doctor this morning, and brought the article published yesterday for him to look at - he had not heard about the possible tendon problmes - I've now stopped the lipitor - so will see what happens - I had a lidocain shot this morning with some mild relief (but it's only temporary).

Good luck to you Caroline. If your pain does not subside, insist that your doctor perform more diagnostic tests to determine the extent of the damage. It has taken me two months to get to that point with my doctors and that only delayed the treatment I needed and caused my condition to worsen. If there is one thing I have learned in this process it is how to take charge of my own healthcare. I wish you luck in doing the same.

[TinainPittsburgh]

jerl4591 wrote:

<quoted text> Hey stupo, do you think the drug company is telling everything. If they did they would not sell one pill. So you think they will tell the pharmacist either? They only tell you so much and hide the rest. How many of ex-smokers do you think would have smoked if they knew the truth that was hidden from the public for all those years while the fat cats got richer. Come on, be for real.

You are so right jerl. Most pharmacists will just say "if you have any of these side effects, talk to your doctor." They are not doctors themselves. Unfortunately, when you talk to your doctor, all too often they only consider the medication as the culprit as a last resort -- after you have already spent months or years deteriorating. If it weren't for forums such as this one, they doctors would have us all blindly following their advice, to the detriment of our own health. Unfortunately, it has become our responsibility to educate the doctors as to these medications when it should be the other way around.

[TinainPittsburgh]

MrTim wrote:

HI CAROLINE,
COULD YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT ARTICLE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT? I WOULD LOVE TO READ IT. I LOST MY LEGS AND A FEW OTHER THINGS FROM MY DR. GIVING ME LIPITOR. I WENT FOR A YEAR WITH COMPLAINTS TO HIM AND NOT ONE TIME,, AGAIN,, NOT ONE TIME HE SAID "LETS BACK OFF LIPITOR AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS" OR "NOT ONE TIME IN A YEAR HE EVEN LOOKED AT MY MEDICINE CHART TO SEE WHAT I WAS ON" AFTER I LOST BOTH KIDNEYS AND LEGS HE CRIED AND SAID HOW SORRY HE WAS THAT IT HAPPENED AND IT WAS ALL HIS FAULT. THE NEXT QUESTION AFTER THE TEARS WAS,, "ARE YOU GOING TO FILE A CLAIM AGAINST ME TIM?" SO I WOULD LIKE TO READ ANY INFO. YOU WOULD HAVE ON IT PLEASE? THANKS MRTIM

Mrtim,

I am so sorry to read of the hell you have gone through because of this drug. May I ask what specific condition caused the loss of your legs and legs? I would like to forward to you any articles I find that relate to your condition to assist you in your quest. In the meantime, I recommend that you do a google search for "Lipitor" and include your specific condition. For example, I found lots of information when I googled "Lipitor, nerve damage." Good luck!