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Suggest Treatment For Leg Pain And Weakness

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Posted on Mon, 10 Feb 2014
Question: I was on Lipitor once before and had a lot of leg pains and weakness, went to Crestor and I was ok, now another doctor has put me on atorvastatin and I am starting to get pains again, I had a stroke and I think the warning signs were masked by being told I was allergic to metformin, my legs would collapse and get dizzy with feeling of being hot after taken that drug, hope and change is not working for me, I am on Enbrel also and don't know if it is a mild drug interaction, any ideas?
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Answered by Dr. Chobufo Ditah (3 hours later)
Brief Answer: PLease, switch back to crestor(rosuvastatin) Detailed Answer: Hi and thank you so much for this query. I am so sorry to hear about these side effects that you have suffered taking these lipid lowering drugs. Lipid lowering drugs are known to be able to cause these annoying muscle pain and weakness. The degree to which this affects individuals varies widely from person to person and from one medication to the other. Lipitor contains the active ingredient atorvastatin while crestor contains rosuvastatin. It is therefore not surprising why Lipitor and atorvastatin which are essentially the same drug would cause these problems. It simply means that your system can better tolerate rosuvastatin that atorvastatin. Beside, they do exactly the same job and there would be no reason to root for one over the other except for side effects. In this light, I will strongly recommend that you stop the atorvastatin and go back to rosuvastatin(crestor) to control these disturbing side effects. I don't understand why this decision was made but would like to see it reconsidered along the lines and reasoning outlined above. Please, talk to your doctor and get these measures instituted. I hope this addresses your query fully. Thank you so much for using our services and please feel free to ask for clarifications if need be. I wish you the best of health. Dr. Ditah, MD.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Dr. Chobufo Ditah

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2009

Answered : 6323 Questions

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Suggest Treatment For Leg Pain And Weakness

Brief Answer: PLease, switch back to crestor(rosuvastatin) Detailed Answer: Hi and thank you so much for this query. I am so sorry to hear about these side effects that you have suffered taking these lipid lowering drugs. Lipid lowering drugs are known to be able to cause these annoying muscle pain and weakness. The degree to which this affects individuals varies widely from person to person and from one medication to the other. Lipitor contains the active ingredient atorvastatin while crestor contains rosuvastatin. It is therefore not surprising why Lipitor and atorvastatin which are essentially the same drug would cause these problems. It simply means that your system can better tolerate rosuvastatin that atorvastatin. Beside, they do exactly the same job and there would be no reason to root for one over the other except for side effects. In this light, I will strongly recommend that you stop the atorvastatin and go back to rosuvastatin(crestor) to control these disturbing side effects. I don't understand why this decision was made but would like to see it reconsidered along the lines and reasoning outlined above. Please, talk to your doctor and get these measures instituted. I hope this addresses your query fully. Thank you so much for using our services and please feel free to ask for clarifications if need be. I wish you the best of health. Dr. Ditah, MD.