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night_shade
Veteran
Reged: 08/26/03
Posts: 696
Loc: The State of Hockey
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I recently (2 weeks ago) began actually taking the Lipitor I have been prescribed (Rx's started many years ago, but I never wanted to take it until now.) I have extremely high LDL cholesterol and low HDL with near off-the-charts triglycerides. This is in conjunction with hypertension. My dad died at 48 from a heart attack induced by advanced atherosclerosis. Anyway, after a recent work-up, and strong warnings from my doctor, I decided I didn't want to die and have begun taking Lipitor.
Rather than describing the side effects I am experiencing (and I already know about the liver stuff, so the warnings would be a moot point here) I thought to see if anyone else is having trouble with Lipitor. Also, if you don't use Lipitor for these problems, then what do you use?
I do smoke cigarettes, but am not overweight. Nor do I have a bad diet. My cholesterol was only lessened marginally with diet, but not enough. Suggestions???
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"To expostulate why day is day, night is night and time is time, were nothing but to waste night, day, and time..." HAMLET, Shakespeare
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GAPeach
Newbie
Reged: 03/25/02
Posts: 29
Loc: USA - Georgia
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Night Shade - I was just like you - didn't want to take the medicine but when I went through a stress test and told the cardiologist my family's medical history he strongly advised I take the Lipitor. He said no amount of dieting was going to get rid of the problem - even if I went on a total vegetarian diet. I've been on it for about a year now and have suffered no side effects whatsoever. HOWEVER - the pharmacist told me in order for Lipitor to work effectively in reducing your cholesterol level it MUST be taken at night right before you go to bed. He said there have been studies that show it works better while you are sleeping. I had never heard it before - but took his advice. The next time I had cholesterol checked it had dropped by more than 65 points. So, if you aren't having any side effects I'd say stick with it and see how much your level drops the next time you have it checked before changing meds. Take Care...Scarlett
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valle
Stranger
Reged: 10/20/03
Posts: 24
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Hello Night Shade & Peach,
Night Shade, lipitor is a great new antilipemics, better known as a cholesterol lowering medication. I have yet to see many people have very many side effects with it. Any time you begin a new medication that is foriegn to your body you will ultimately experience some types of adverse reactions which typically are eliminated within a week or two of starting the med. I would continue to take the lipitor because it does work!! How long have you been taking it now?? And what dosage are you taking. Typically they start at 10mg dose, and often stay on a dose of 20mg, yet can take as much as 80mg per day. Give it a chance to work. Along with diet(low fat, low sodium, low cholesterol), regular exercise........and of course STOP SMOKING!! I dont need to preach on that one, cause I know you have already recieved all the warning from your doctor about how bad smoking is on your heart and causing thickening of the arteries, causing increased chance of a heart attack. Family genetics play a strong role in heart disease and with your father dying so young this is not something to be taken lightly. In addition i wanted to add that lipitor does not need to be taken at bedtime. In fact one of the side effects of this med can be insomnia. Old school docs will say that because most of the older cholesterol lowering meds used to always have to be taken at nighttime to be effective. But infact lipitor is not one of those. It can be taken any time of the day with or without food.
I would continue to periodically have a liver function test when you go in to have your serum lipid levels drawn.
I hope this input helps you out a little, and hang in there and take this seriously. I work in a CCU (Cardiac Care Unit) and deal with this every day. So many times I hear "if i only would have does this, or taken this". Thank goodness for modern medicine, there are some great drugs out there that can save our lives combined with a healthy lifestyle.
Good luck to you and happy holidays!!
Nic
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BlackCat
Board Addict
Reged: 09/22/03
Posts: 340
Loc: Bed
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Night Shade,
Look into TRICOR for your "off the chart" triglycerides. It requires a doctor's script and is designed to lower tryglycerides (rather than Lipitor and other statins that are designed primarily to lower cholesterol). Tricor is especially useful if you are truely off the charts in the 300-700 range where Lipitor alone won't cut it. I take both TRICOR and LIPITOR and the addition of Tricor after being on Lipitor for a while dramatically helped me. Doctors usually don't like to put you on both meds unless you don't respond well-enough to Lipitor alone.
Regardless of whether you are on Lipitor or both Lipitor and Tricor, you have to make sure to get the LFT (liver functioning test) panel (AST & ALT) done with your Lipid panel on blood tests every 3 months or so. I also found it helpful to get the results mailed to me by the doc each blood test so I can track each figure over time in a spreadsheet and see the correlations between different prescribed and natural meds I add or delete and exercise, diet, weight gain/loss, etc. to see what is working for me.
Also look into natural suplements that can act as good as (or better than) Lipitor, such as PANTETHINE(A B5 derivative and Coenzyme A precursor) which greatly helps the body metabolize lipids if taken in the right dose. If you want a terrific natural mix that includes Pantethine and many other natural supplements, I highly recommend CHOLESTAME (by Jarrow), which is designed to lower cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and raise HDL. Both Pantethine and Cholestame can be bought online at many supplement stores. If you are interested after researching supplements and want to buy some online, PM me with the best price you can find and I'll let you know what my favorite site charges. I doubt you will be able to beat their prices.
Night Shade, also please PM me if you have questions on Lipitor side effects, etc.
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night_shade
Veteran
Reged: 08/26/03
Posts: 696
Loc: The State of Hockey
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Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the advice/med-alogues!
I do take the Lipitor at night, but only because this is when I take most of my meds. I've not had insomnia specifically related to Lipitor.
My tri's are well over 1000 (yes, over one thousand) and have been since the mid-90's. The cholesterol total figure is over 300, but I don't know the LDL/HDL levels off the top of my head.
I have often wondered if my cholesterol issues weren't a methadone-specific side effect as I had terrific numbers 2 years prior to starting it. No evidence to support this. It would be very interesting to see bloodwork graph charts either from methadone maintained pain patients or from methadone programs where high doses are typically used.
I've had muscle tremors and quite bad pain in the mid-back (no injury to account for this new issue) and another, really gross effect I don't think I want to discuss on the boards.
I'll keep taking the Lipitor for now, but will speak to the doc about it at my next appointment. Once again, I appreciate the help.
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"To expostulate why day is day, night is night and time is time, were nothing but to waste night, day, and time..." HAMLET, Shakespeare
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BlackCat
Board Addict
Reged: 09/22/03
Posts: 340
Loc: Bed
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They can't calculate LDL if your Tri's are that high according to my blood reports.
1,000 Tri puts you are pretty high risk of heart attack. Mine was around 700-800 when I got help and it dropped to around 150 after I dramatically changed my diet, started getting physical activity and lost 40 pounds.
The Lipitor/Tricor combo only dropped it to 400 prior to these "life changes".
Anyway, I suggest keeping a longitudinal log of what you are doing / taking and the changes in your lipid panel to see what works best for you. Also changing any of these 4 things in your control can have a huge impact on Tri (& other lipid) levels without any meds (prescribed or natural):
- weight loss
- physical activity (it's very tough when your in chronic pain)
- improved diet
- stopping all alcohol consumption
Good luck - feel free to PM me down the road after you get your next blood test done if you have any questions Misty.
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