Lipitor & muscle pain

[K T]

Hi all

I have a new client this afternoon that has been referred by his doctor for widespread muscle pain/spasm that is supposedly a symptom of the Lipitor cholestrol lowering medication he has been prescribed.

Don't know the full story yet, but has anyone had a client with this side effect from Lipitor?
I know the more common side effects are stomach pain, constipation, gas, bloating etc & muscle pain is more rare & serious.

Sure hope the pros of the medication outweighs the cons.

Any thoughts?

Cheers
Oz

 

[trooper92]

It's actually more common that the makers of Lipitor want people to know. My doctor told me it's really hard on the liver too.

 

[Midnight Q]

Yes, I have seen clients with unexplained muscle pain... once they went off Lipetor it went away.

 

[JamessFrenzy]

ditto with clients and my husband and father both experienced muscle pain with Lipitor....I have numerous clients with a myriad of medication issues that are a real challenge for them to manage.

wellnessgarden

 

[HavinFun]

fatherinlaw has all the side effects of lipitor but won't quit taking it, he's only taking 10mg, and he's 85, he thinks the side efffects are just cause he's old and diabetic. :roll:

 

[pasanun s]

Agreed, most all of my clients on lipitor have the muscle pain. Meds are complicated - and they complicate life!

 

[Mister Kai]

Agreed!

I also had a client on Lipitor. Seemed like he was always sore! And his tissues were T-I-I-I-G-H-T! Seemed to never get much better, even with a 90-min massage every 2 weeks.

Y'all are right; medications do complicate life. It's because they are TOXIC. Everything must be processed through the liver, and it's the liver's job to carry out complex chemical reactions that basically convert toxins into substances that are not toxic. Our livers are under an incredible amount of stress every day from practically everything, and this is doubly unfortunate, because they are also SO crucial for so many vital functions! I'd be willing to bet that practically every health issue we have originates in the liver, the nervous system, or the colon. Kidneys, too, but they're usually secondary to one of the big three.

Have y'all noticed that if a client is on medication they're usually on like 4-5 different prescriptions? In my experience, these clients usually don't hang around for regular massage, either, they usually get a massage once a year without making it part of a regular preventive HEALTHcare regime. That's my experience anyway...hopefully yours is different!

Personally, I just say no to drugs...of ALL kinds (Well, except organic dark chocolate LOL)

Hugs,
~Jyoti

PS: It was an MD who taught us about the toxicity of medications! He sees the light

 

[Sarah N]

I have quite a few bi-weekly clients on 20 or more meds. It seems the doctors around here love drugs for older folks. It kills me to look up meds, read the side effects, see the next med aimed at dealing with the side effect and having a few more of its own to be dealt with.....using more meds. I do believe that *on occasion* a med is crucial. I just think they are WAY overprescribed, and informed consent is a myth.

 

[Michael J]

The pharma cartel rakes in mega billions. They make the oil companies look like beginners.

 

[Phi Mu SiS]

Hehe agreed, with both of you!

FunFact: I heard, at a Fibromyalgia seminar a few months ago, that the Top 10 largest companies of the Fortune500 list are all pharmaceutical in nature, and that the revenues of those 10 combined equal MORE than the TOTAL revenues of the **490** other Fortune500 companies!! (That's pretty goll-dang huge, especially when you figure who all is a Fortune500 company, and how mammoth some of them are; think Coke, McDonald's, hell--Gulf Western, who owns a TON of companies like Proctor & Gamble, etc etc etc...omg!)

It's time people learned the truth, and I love helping to inform them!
We should all put out client newsletters with informative articles that tell the actual truth, and then let them make their own decisions. I bet we can change some lives, just arming the ppl with some awareness

Hugs,
~Jyoti

 

[Tim J]

My mom just went off her Cholesterol drug. She had been on it for 18 months. She is now in so much pain she can not get down on the floor to play with my 3 year old. It makes me SICK!!! I got her into a great massage therapist (she lives out of state), and that helped a TON. Unfortunately her MD did not feel she was making progress quick enough, she did not contradict him, and put her on Prednazone (sp?) for two months!!! ARGH!!! One drug jacks her up, give her another!!

I am just using it as a role model for what not to do. It just is sad that it is a family member.

 

[Chilanga]

My brother-in-law and Father-in-law were both on Liptor and had severe muscle pain. Both stopped taking it or replaced it with a new med :? It took SIX MONTHS for my BIL's muscles to stop hurting!
My husband's cholesterol was high 2 years ago, but he didn't want to take prescrips. Our good doctor agreed to let him try a few things first. He stopped "running for the border" at lunch, ate oatmeal, cut out most his usual cheese intake (hey, it was significant- we're in Wisconsin), got more exercise and took red yeast rice supplement ( a natural statin). He lowered his cholesterol 70 points!
Truth be told- we haven't had him rechecked...and his diet has slipped a little, but we know that lifestyle modifications work for him. I realize that it's not the case for everyone... It seems that these miracle pills make us believe that we can poorly care of ourselves and suffer no ill effect. Now allow me to descend my soapbox....

 

[Pompal 09.]

I have a client on Lipitor who gets severe night cramps in her calves. Not RLS, but just intense cramps. She says the deep massage I do on her calves seems to relieve it quite a bit.

 

[j_ody]

I can't believe I can actually contribute with the professionals! LOL!! I am still a student and I just started clinicals.

I have an elderly client who has had an arthritis-like pain in both shoulders for many months. She tried physical therapy to no avail.

She went off of lipitor with her doctors blessing and it only took a few days for the muscle pain to subside.

 

[Los Rojiblancos]

is it out of line for a massage therapist to suggest that their clients muscle pain may be due to LIpitor?

 

[canizzy_123]

is it out of line for a massage therapist to suggest that their clients muscle pain may be due to LIpitor?

This can be a very sticky situation. You have to do it in a round a'bout way and it has to be worded in such as way that the therapist is not giving "medical" advice.

For instance.....when talking to a client about muscle pain, you could mention an article that you had read connecting some muscular pain to cholesterol meds and then leave it to the client to draw their own connections.

Angie

 

[Dan P]

I ask every client who is on meds and is experiencing difficulties that are not resolving with the usual treatment to ask their doctor for a med review.

It's a good idea for anyone who is taking more than one medication at a time, to have their physician take a look at all meds/dosages on the same page. It's much easier to catch potential problems and drug interactions. With the availability of drug fact sheets on the internet, potential side effects are easy to discover.

 

[Butterfly2Kiss]

I just like to remind clients of the listed side effects of Meds and that they should discuss it with the md.