It's been awhile since i have posted here.
I was on Lipitor 80 mg a day for just a couple of months about two years ago. I started feeling very weak in my legs, had severe cramping, and the tingling in my feet and hands. I told my cardiolgist and he blamed my diabetes.
I then switched jobs which meant I lost my medical insurance for three months. In that three month period, I got worse and could not climb steps and had to start using a walker at my new job to keep from falling. My new insurance kicked in and I went to see a neurologist, had a nerve biopsy and nerve conductivity tests and was diagnosed with CIDP, a rare condition my sister has had for 6years now.
I was diagnosed late, and started a regimen of twice-a-month infusions of immunoglobulins called IV Ig infusions. I take 80 grams of Gammunex every two weeks now and have been for over a year. The disease is considered the chronic form of Guillen-Barre syndrome and the infusions seem to have arrested the progression of the disease.
CIDP is an autoimmune disease like MS. The immune system attacks the sheath that surrounds the nerve axion and distrupts the message from the spinal cord to the muscles, which in turn leads to quick muscle loss.
I feel that taking the Lipitor soomehow triggered my immune system into attacking the nerve sheaths, but can't find any research about this. My neurologist took me off of Liptor and has said for me to not take any statins anymore. My new cardiologist is understandig of this but will say nothing more.
I wanted to write all of this both as an update on my condition and to see if anyone else here has been diagnosed with the same or similar neuropathy.
Best regards,
TXBill