PRAVACHOL Reviews (PRAVASTATIN SODIUM)Average Rating: 2.2 (228 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare PRAVACHOL with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) |
More on PRAVACHOL: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR PRAVACHOL | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 2 | high cholesterol | upper back and neck pain; some feeling of weakness in one leg | After trying both Lipator and Crestor my doctor put me on 20mg of Pravachol. After only a couple of weeks, I felt terrible on Lipator and Crestor with aching muscles and joints. With each of those, the pain was gone within a few days of stopping the drug. I was hopeful about the Pravachol, but after 3 weeks I feel terrible! I have always been active but now don't want to exercise because of the pain in my upper back and neck. I haven't taken it now for 5 days, but the pain is still with me, though not as severe. I'm hoping it will go away as it did with the other drugs, but I'm concerned. | F | 56 | 21 days | 3/13/2007 | 1 | 3 arteries blocked and angioplasty | Bad muscle cramps, body aches, nausea, feel like throwing up, dull annoying headache. No help in lowering LDL from 3.6 to below 2 as doctor requires. With Liptor i had these problems within 2 days whereas with pravachol the side effects came after 3 weeks in slow stages starting with mild pains here and there and leading to severe cramps. Recommend do not use statins suggest use herbal cure and diet control. The heart attack i had seems less painful than the side effects of pravachol. Its not worth it. It better to diet then to die with this medication. It is confirmed that it is pravachol because it happen previously then i stopped the medication for 2 weeks and all symptoms disappeared. Went back on pravachol and now I have the symptoms again but thus time worst then before. I have given up and going for alternative medicine. It may be slow but with diet, exercise, good sleep, rest and meditation i know i can beat this. | Avoid this medication and any other statins. These are time bombs that will kill u slowly and painfully. Its better to die of heart attack than to go thru all this side effects that make you feel like a zombie. | M | 56 | 6 months | 2/26/2007 | 1 | high cholesterol/triglycerides | My toes started to go numb and my legs felt weak. I stopped taking pravachol (20 mg) for a year and felt better except my toes were still numb. After a high reading for total cholesterol ( about 250 ) my Doctor upped the dose from 20 to 40 mg. Within a month both feet were going numb. | My Doctor switched me to 10 mg of Lipitor, but the first couple of days I felt a pulsing vibration in my feet. My Doctor finally did some research and agrees that in a few cases statins can cause neuropathy. He told me to stop the Lipitor for 3 months to see if I improve but I am not optimistic. I have decided that I can not tolerate any statins. | M | 63 | 4 years | 2/7/2007 | 2 | To lower my cholesterol | Very tired, lack of energy, lost of appitite,I get very dizzy and have headaches. I have to take meds for blood pressure. | F | 57 | 2 months | 1/3/2007 | 1 | cholesterol | Severe muscle cramps, muscle break down CPK level 12,000. Muscle atrophy to the point that I can't see my right calf muscle anymore. deltoid muscles almost gone. Basically, most all my major muscle groups are affected. I am now seeing a neurologist and they are not saying good things. | None | M | 55 | 3 years | 12/1/2006 | 2 | high cholesterol | After taking for 3 weeks I developed back pain, muscle twitching, extreme loss of energy, light headedness, tingling in arms and legs and a general feeling of illness. Saw my doctor who got lab work, CT scan and other tests. All negative. I stopped Pravachol on my own. Symptoms subsiding. | F | 49 | 21 days | 10/28/2006 | 1 | cholesterol | The Dr. gave me 40mg. Pravachol & triglide. The combination of the two caused a bad side effect. My muscles hurt all over my body & I feel really bad when I wake up in the morning. My whole body hurts when I wake up. My fingers are really stiff most of the time. | Is this terrible thing going to go away? I will not take statins ever again. This is not worth taking the medicine & would have crippled me if I kept taking it. | F | 50 | 7 months | 10/23/2006 | 4 | Extremely High Cholesterol-403-213 | None | Was on Pravachol 40mg. for 3 mos.....lowered my cholesterol from 403-213....my Dr. wanted me to try a cholesterol diet....if this doesn't work will try a lower dose of cholesterol med. | F | 49 | 127 days | 10/21/2006 | 2 | TIA (small stroke) hi cholesterol | Muscle soreness, arms and legs, wieght gain, fatigue, increased blood pressure, low libido | I'm so glad I read the comments on this site. Once I did, it all fell into place. All these things slowly began to affect me and I just never made the connection to Pravachol. Tonite my arm hurts so badly I can't sleep. I'm going to call my dr. for an appt. and tell him I'd like to try controlling my Cholesterol naturally. Thanks to all who contributed to this overview of this scary drug. | F | 56 | 4 years | 9/25/2006 | 1 | Borderline high cholesterol | I was initially given Lovastatin for borderline high cholesterol (222) after I went through menopause. Within two days I started to fell queasy and very tired. I continued to take it for two months and never felt well. My doctor switched me to Pravachol as an alternative when I complained about side effects. I had only taken this medication three days when I noticed severe head pain on the top of my head (like it was going to explode!) and facial pain. A day later my BP which had always been very good shot up to 182/102, I developed nausea, pain in my left arm and diarrhea. Went to the ER and NO cause for this could be found. I quit taking Pravachol that day and the next day my BP was lower and, on the third day without it, my BP was 114/80. I haven't had a headache since and feel SO MUCH BETTER. I am going to lose 30 lbs., start doing Pilates again and keep taking fish oil, olive oil, and eating avocados which have brought my cholesterol and triglyceride levels down before meno | I believe I had severe side effects from Pravachol very soon after the initiation of taking it - probably more so than the average person, but I would WARN anyone to be very careful about taking this particular medication and start with a very low dosage - I was only given 10mg to start and still had what I believe were severe side effects very soon after starting it. I feel fine now - no more head pain, face pain or diarrhea. Seems pretty conclusive that Pravachol was THE CAUSE! | F | 57 | 3 days | 9/3/2006 | 5 | LDL too high, then had Angioplasty | None with Pravachol, bad calf muscle cramps with Mevacor. | I was on 20mg which brought LDL down from 160s to 130s then had Angioplasty & 8 stents. Dr. doubled my dosage to 40mg and that lowered LDL to 129. Now Dr. wants me to go to 80mg to get LDL down to 70 which is Kaiser's target for Angioplasty patients. Been on 40mg for 70 days. | M | 72 | 70 days | 9/1/2006 | 2 | High cholesterol | Be careful! I've been on many statins for many years. Currently on 40mg of Pravachol. Pravachol's side effects can be subtle. Depression, overall tiredness, low libido, and muscle weakness have all become (a subtle) part of my life. Try stopping the med for at least a month and see if the side effects go away. Nobody really knows the long term damage of statins, and are they really helping to prevent a heart attack? | M | 45 | 3 months | 8/22/2006 | 4 | Hereditary High Cholesterol | None noted | Do to my elevated cholesterol along with a family history of heart attacks (my father had his first heart attack at age 42, mother fatal attack at 63) I sought out a highly regarded doctor. Initially I was put on Mevicor. Mevicor raised my liver enzymes, so insted, I was given 20 mg Pravachol once a day, along with Gemfibrozil (Lopid) 600mg twice a day. This seemed to be a good combination. I have not noticed any side effects in 13 years. Recently because it worked so well for my sister, I tried Lipitor. The liver enzymes bumped up so high that the doctor told me to stop everything for 6 weeks. Now I am taking 40mg of Pravachol a day along with the Gemfibrozil, with improved results over the 20mg Pravochol. I do watch my diet carefully and am fairly active. Keep in mind that drugs affect different persons in vastly different ways. | M | 55 | 16 years | 7/26/2006 | 2 | Choles/Triglycerides | I have a several spinal conditions which I need pain management for, but I have had the most horrendous cramping in the striated muscles of the legs. I looked it up here and found another point of reference that the meds may cause additional pain, perhaps weight gain.. | I have taken myself down to some what of a titration and am focusing on causes and conditions; so far stomach cramping, but easier with fat intake to have bowel movement, normally difficult on high doses of opiates- no leg cramps at all so far, and my mid back didn't hurt as much this morning. Sleeping position somewhat altered. Not enough for significant difference. My weight gain has been astounding the last few months, I have no desire to be active, yet 2 months in physical therapy got me moving a few times a week. Time in the pool is bliss. There is no pain in the water, EXCEPT for leg cramping. Working on movement stretching and hopefully more cardio strenghtening is taking place(or healthy stimulation.) Took 2 EDTA yesterday only 20 mg pravachol. The day before None. | F | 41 | 3 months | 7/26/2006 | 2 | chol/tri | as an addendum to what I wrote a few minutes ago; I took the 40 mg before bed. No other medication has put my lights out so quickly as pravachol. It goes beyond ambien and other sedatives I have also taken. I used to take 30 mg at night of remeron, which at that dose will make you eat yourself out of house and home, which is how I gained this volluptous body anyhow which caused me to HAVE to take the medicine. I have now gone down to 15 mg of remeron ih hopes to ingest less foot. So far...it waxes and wanes... (not to mention 5 mg diazapam, and other meds during the day, including Kadian, Vicodin, a trial on baclofen) | I really think the bottom line is diet and exercise. I have been physically limited for a 2 1/2 years, and food is a comfort, yet I am more painfully aware of the additional wear and tear of the body with extra weight, especially if the body is compromized, but if your are open to getting the best out of life, I think there are less harmful ways than pharmacha-illogically. I am still curious about the theory that is takes the extra fat and stores it in the abdomen. Plausible? We shall see ;) As a poster child for many meds, I believe less is best, and putting good things into your body and treating it well will win out over the drug companies. Make sure you are in no immediate crisis and stay in touch with your body. Listen to what it is really telling you. | F | 41 | 3 months | 7/26/2006 | 1 | Slightly high total cholesterol | Severe nausea, constant diarrhea, bloating, gas, fuzzy thinking | My symptoms began within 2 weeks of starting the drug, and lasted 5 days. They ceased within 12 hours of stopping it. | F | 57 | 21 days | 7/23/2006 | 4 | high cholesterol | is it possible??? Very unusual, offensive body odor..only when sweating, heavily or working out... {we live in Florida}. My wife notices it daily...could it be the drug? The only thing diffferent since I have been taking the medication...also some body aches..but I am very active. | ...has lowered my cholesterol without altering my life style. | M | 61 | 3 days | 7/11/2006 | 1 | high cholesterol | muscle crams and spasms; muscle twitching; dizziness; heavy arms and legs; terrible pain in right shoulder, between shoulder blade and spine; pain in lower right rib, thought I broke it; dizziness; facial pain and intermittent facial sensitivity disturbances in different areas: above lips, gums,below left eye; pain, numbness and tingling in feet and hands with recent development of raynauds syndrome; memory problems and periods of mental confusion; left eye droops with vision problems, double vision looking to left;shortness of breath; pain in feet; periods of extreme fatigue; shortness of breath | These symptoms got worse when dose was raised to 40 mg, after which I stopped taking pravachol. Rib and shoulder pain gradually went away, but other symptoms still remain after 15 months of stopping it. After being sent to neurologist, opthamologist, neuro-opthamologist, rheumatologist, painful EMG tests for myasthenia gravis, and numerous blood tests for lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, nothing conclusive shows up. Neurologist suggests I might have early stages of MS. I have complained to each doctor that I thought these symptoms began with pravachol, no one has listened. I felt like a hypochondriac and beginning to believe it until today, when I read above and more on zocor site. After nagging of my physician, I tried zocor but after 1 week, shoulder and rib pain returned. I am not taking any more statins. This is disgraceful that so many others have been suffering and no one listens. I just signed up to receive study info taking place in San Diego, info posted on zocor askapatient. Do a | F | 56 | 1 years | 6/24/2006 | 5 | High Cholesterol | Exhaustion first few weeks | After I got past feeling so tired, I didn't experience anything different except my cholesterol is back to where it should be. | F | 45 | 4 months | 6/1/2006 | 2 | High Cholesteral | Shoulder pain - could not lift arms above head. Pain would shock me awake at night. Stopped at Dr's direction - pain left in 2 days. | M | 61 | 2 years | 6/1/2006 |