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Eliquis OR cholesterol med causing muscle weakness, and legs..

Posted by ruth36 @ruth36, Jun 20 9:59am

I’m on both Eliquis and a cholesterol med and I have been getting muscle weakness, especially in my legs. I’ve noticed a list of side effects for both meds for muscle weakness. How can we determine which med it is? What have other people with the same problem done if Dr. still doesn’t believe these meds cause side effects.

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Mentor
Janell, Volunteer Mentor | @jlharsh | Jul 11 3:33pm
In reply to @mhlavacek "@ruth36 Hi. I have just started the long process of trying to figure out what is..." + (show)
Profile picture for mhlavacek @mhlavacek

@ruth36 Hi. I have just started the long process of trying to figure out what is “wrong” with me and why all of a sudden at the age of 60 I have become so sick. I have a rash begin in January, and it eventually took over my legs, back, torso, and back my neck. I did have biopsies on the rash a few weeks back. They have determined that the rash is related to “a drug“ long story short, I have been very sick for the last three months, but at the beginning of June, I was put on statin. And over the past six weeks I have experienced weakness in my legs and extreme weakness in my arms, and shortness of breath. I ended up in the emergency room two weeks ago. The emergency room doctor diagnosed me with lupus. ( which should have never happened) Since then I have been diagnosed, and undiagnosed so many times I cannot keep up. It is looking like an auto immune problem. But this statin has really messed with my system. I’m the one who started researching all of the medications I’m on. After the biopsies came back and indicated that it was likely from one of my drugs I wanted to know more about my meds. The rash could not be from the statin because it began in January and I was not on the statin then. But the weakness, the fatigue, the shortness of breath, definitely is from the statin. I did not have any of those symptoms until I started taking it. I have been off the statin for three nights. I have had less episodes, as I call them. But I’m still not feeling well. At any given time I can lose the ability to continue with a task I am doing. ( folding laundry) and I have to rest. This is so frustrating and difficult for me to understand. 8 weeks ago I was teaching part time and providing respite care for children with autism. Now I need someone with me. I need to be driven places. They have run 3 courses of steroids through me , and now I’m off of those too. So, I am in pain and miserable.
With no answers. I have a neurology referral in from my doctor. I keep telling her it feels like it is my heart. My blood pressure has been extremely low. Averaging 90/58 . They tell me to drink more fluids !
UGGGGGGHHHH! I’m not dehydrated!
This is why I came
In this site .

Jump to this post

@mhlavacek Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, although I’m sorry for what has brought you here. Reading your post, I can hear how much your world has changed in just a few months. Going from teaching and caring for children to needing someone to drive you places is a huge adjustment. I am glad you are here!!!

I can also relate to the frustration of hearing different possibilities from different providers while still not having a clear answer. During my own health journey, I found it helped when one provider stepped into the role of “quarterback”—someone who could look at all of the pieces together instead of each specialist focusing on only one part. That made a big difference for me.

It sounds like you’re already doing a good job noticing patterns, like when your symptoms began in relation to the statin. I had concerns about side effects from one medication, and my doctor had me draw a simple stick figure, mark where I was having symptoms, date it, and then repeat it about a month after stopping the medication. Comparing the two gave us something objective to discuss instead of relying on memory.

As you wait for neurology, who is helping coordinate everything? Is your primary care clinician acting as that quarterback, or is there another provider pulling all of these pieces together? And of everything you’ve described, what is worrying you the most right now—the weakness, the low blood pressure, the shortness of breath, or still not having an answer?

I think you’ll find members here who have walked similar roads with medication side effects, autoimmune conditions, and the long process of reaching a diagnosis.

REPLY
Profile picture for ruth36
ruth36 | @ruth36 | Jul 13 11:59am
In reply to @mhlavacek "@ruth36 Hi. I have just started the long process of trying to figure out what is..." + (show)
Profile picture for mhlavacek @mhlavacek

@ruth36 Hi. I have just started the long process of trying to figure out what is “wrong” with me and why all of a sudden at the age of 60 I have become so sick. I have a rash begin in January, and it eventually took over my legs, back, torso, and back my neck. I did have biopsies on the rash a few weeks back. They have determined that the rash is related to “a drug“ long story short, I have been very sick for the last three months, but at the beginning of June, I was put on statin. And over the past six weeks I have experienced weakness in my legs and extreme weakness in my arms, and shortness of breath. I ended up in the emergency room two weeks ago. The emergency room doctor diagnosed me with lupus. ( which should have never happened) Since then I have been diagnosed, and undiagnosed so many times I cannot keep up. It is looking like an auto immune problem. But this statin has really messed with my system. I’m the one who started researching all of the medications I’m on. After the biopsies came back and indicated that it was likely from one of my drugs I wanted to know more about my meds. The rash could not be from the statin because it began in January and I was not on the statin then. But the weakness, the fatigue, the shortness of breath, definitely is from the statin. I did not have any of those symptoms until I started taking it. I have been off the statin for three nights. I have had less episodes, as I call them. But I’m still not feeling well. At any given time I can lose the ability to continue with a task I am doing. ( folding laundry) and I have to rest. This is so frustrating and difficult for me to understand. 8 weeks ago I was teaching part time and providing respite care for children with autism. Now I need someone with me. I need to be driven places. They have run 3 courses of steroids through me , and now I’m off of those too. So, I am in pain and miserable.
With no answers. I have a neurology referral in from my doctor. I keep telling her it feels like it is my heart. My blood pressure has been extremely low. Averaging 90/58 . They tell me to drink more fluids !
UGGGGGGHHHH! I’m not dehydrated!
This is why I came
In this site .

Jump to this post

@mhlavacek
I’m so sorry…my heart goes out to you. It’s very discouraging when we have health issues and try to let our doctors know but they are not educated enough (I guess) to understand and believe the meds are causing side effects.
I started with the leg weakness one month after I was put on Eliquis and Rosuvastatin (20 mg)but at the time I didn’t associate it to the meds. As the weeks and months went by I tried to tell my cardiologist that I felt more energy when I first came home from the hospital (after heart attack) but she couldn’t understand any meds I was taking would cause side effects. Now it’s over a year later and I’m weaker than last year. I do things but like you I can only do so much and then have to take a break…
I stopped taking the statin for 2 weeks but didn’t notice any change. I was nervous about staying off it any longer thinking I could cause more issues with a high cholesterol so I started taking them every other night. I’m going to wait about a week or so then ask my doctor for blood test to check my cholesterol. It seems the only time I get blood work is when “I ask”… ridiculous
Some of meds could cause issues with the liver and kidneys
Sometimes it seems like WE have to doctor ourselves. I saw her in March and they gave me appointment in 8 months!
I’m thinking it could more likely be the Eliquis but I already tried a different blood thinner that had bad side effects so I went back on Eliquis…..
Puzzling on what to do myself…
Prayers 🙏🏻 to you and everyone else who are suffering from side effects

REPLY
1 reply
Profile picture for sheriff50
sheriff50 | @sheriff50 | Jul 14 8:38am
In reply to @ruth36 "@mhlavacek I’m so sorry…my heart goes out to you. It’s very discouraging when we have health..." + (show)
Profile picture for ruth36 @ruth36

@mhlavacek
I’m so sorry…my heart goes out to you. It’s very discouraging when we have health issues and try to let our doctors know but they are not educated enough (I guess) to understand and believe the meds are causing side effects.
I started with the leg weakness one month after I was put on Eliquis and Rosuvastatin (20 mg)but at the time I didn’t associate it to the meds. As the weeks and months went by I tried to tell my cardiologist that I felt more energy when I first came home from the hospital (after heart attack) but she couldn’t understand any meds I was taking would cause side effects. Now it’s over a year later and I’m weaker than last year. I do things but like you I can only do so much and then have to take a break…
I stopped taking the statin for 2 weeks but didn’t notice any change. I was nervous about staying off it any longer thinking I could cause more issues with a high cholesterol so I started taking them every other night. I’m going to wait about a week or so then ask my doctor for blood test to check my cholesterol. It seems the only time I get blood work is when “I ask”… ridiculous
Some of meds could cause issues with the liver and kidneys
Sometimes it seems like WE have to doctor ourselves. I saw her in March and they gave me appointment in 8 months!
I’m thinking it could more likely be the Eliquis but I already tried a different blood thinner that had bad side effects so I went back on Eliquis…..
Puzzling on what to do myself…
Prayers 🙏🏻 to you and everyone else who are suffering from side effects

Jump to this post

@ruth36
Have you tried taking CoQ-10 daily for your muscle pains. It surely worked for me.

REPLY
Profile picture for cad43
cad43 | @cad43 | Jul 14 11:07am

Years ago, I was put on a statin. I used to walk a lot, but after the statin, I was actually dragged one of my legs. I went off of it, and returned to normal walking. I think statins are really bad for most people.

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Profile picture for ruth36
ruth36 | @ruth36 | Jul 15 6:52pm

I finally heard from my cardiologist today, she said since it didn’t look like I have afib I can stop the Eliquis, but she also mentioned once I stop it is a higher chance I could get blood clots or have a stroke… So now that worries me, my heart attack was a year and a half ago and I had two stents put in and I’m wondering if there’s anybody out there could give me their Thoughts or maybe let me know if they were on Eliquis and they were able to stop it if they had any effects afterwards, please..

REPLY
Profile picture for ruth36
ruth36 | @ruth36 | Jul 24 10:10am

I haven’t had any comments on my question so I’ll ask it one more time. Is there anybody out there that has stopped Eliquis after approval from doctor and had any after effects? Also, if while taking Eliquis, do you have the muscle weakness, specially in your legs after stopping Eliquis did you feel any improvement?

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