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Atorvastatin and Fatigue Problems

Posted , 4 users are following.

mark76132
mark76132

Hi All - I was taking Atorvastatin for fourteen months when I felt a type of cramp below my neck and inbetween my shoulders. No pain, but it shook me up. Only lasted a couple of seconds. A few days after, I got tingling down my arms and in my fingertips and thereafter fatigue, sometimes extreme. Because of the tingling, my doctor arranged an ECG, blood tests and chest X-ray to eliminate possible heart problems. Everything came back clear but, over the four months since the original cramp in my lower neck area, I have been left with just the fatigue problem. I have been off the statins for six weeks.

I am sixty years old and up until this I was quite fit for my age with a background of fell running, cycling and swimming in my younger days. Each day I wake up thinking this will be the day I feel ‘normal’ but each day just carries on with the fatigue. From reading the forum, most people seem to have experienced some form of muscle pain after taking statins. I haven’t had this, just the tingling (now gone thankfully) and tiredness.

I was wondering if anyone else has suffered from mainly fatigue and more importantly, how long did it take to get back to your normal self!

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • wayne1962
    wayne1962 mark76132

    Posted

    Hi Mark - i was on Atorvastatin for 2 years and it created havoc in my life. The fatigue was one thing, but it inflamed the liver and I had all sorts of problems - unable to lie on left side, couldn't raise left arm above shoulder, couldn't think straight and yes, felt fatigued - even fainted twice in the middle of Sydney City. It has taken 3 years to gain some semblance of normality. The journey back was extremely slow, especially for someone who was rarely sick and when i was, bounced back quickly. Statins are poison. Great that you are off them - in time you will get better. the tingling I wouldn't worry about - you have stated it was brief and hasn't recurred. Wouldn't worry about that.

    • mark76132
      mark76132 wayne1962

      Posted

      Thanks Wayne. Good to know that you now appear to be better. Just a matter of time, I guess.
  • ranjitp
    ranjitp mark76132

    Posted

    Hi Mark, I am glad you have made the connection. I had been taking statins for many years and suffered from chronic fatigue, cramps, memory impairment and foggy thinking before I could finally take a call and leave them. All the cardiologists I visited for consultations advised me against giving them up. But I felt that the severity of side effects outweighed even the risk of a heart attack from high cholesterol and it would be better to go sooner than live an impaired life. Now, it takes quite long to limp back to some kind of normalcy and unfortunately some amount of damage is irreversible.So be patient; things will get better.
    • mark76132
      mark76132 ranjitp

      Posted

      Thanks Ranjitp. You’re right about the severity of the side effects outweighing the risk of heart problems. That’s my way of thinking as well. I have read that the UK government targeted the NHS to reduce the number of heart attacks and as such three times the amount of statins were recently prescribed as to those prescribed in other years. Madness! Thanks again for your reply.
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