Is my BP too low, or is it the lipitor?

[Deanne]

I think I might be losing muscle mass, not that I had any muscle to begin with! I'm a distance walker and it's getting harder and harder to go the distance, and any walking on hills or climbing a flight of stairs hurts as if I'm trying to lift weights.

I've dropped almost 10 pounds. At first, I thought -- yeah! I've walked off the pounds!!!!! But now I'm starting to wonder if the weight loss is a loss of muscle and that's why it's so much harder.

My neph increased my dose of lipitor and added Norvasc about 3 months ago. I know lipitor can cause muscle problems. Can a blood pressure of 95 / 65 cause muscle-related symptoms, too? I skipped my dose of Norvasc last night to see if that helps, but I'm too impatient to wait and see. I'll call my neph, but sometimes (most of the time) I learn more from your experiences.

[jbeany]

I think 95/65 is too low - not terribly, but at that level, I'm usually too wobbly and dizzy to accomplish much of anything.  I'd say you need to cut back on the meds a bit.

Check your hemoglobin and ferritin levels as well.  Anemia will cause some of those same symptoms.  When my hemoglobin was lowest, it could take me half an hour to get up a flight of stairs.

[Deanne]

I talked to my Dr. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I started having problems before she added Norvasc to the mix, when my BP was too high, so my neph is blaming the lipitor and pulled me off it. I should know in a couple of weeks if it was the culprit. The more I looked around on the web, the more I think I've been experiencing side effects from it for years, but didn't recognize them as side effects.

[Rerun]

Lipitor is for high cholesterol.  Why would that make you lose muscle mass.  I would say dialysis is what plays havoc on muscle mass.  It beats up your red blood cells and that is why we are on a "high" protine diet. 

If my BP is low I don't take my medicine.  I'm not recommending that, but it just makes sense to me.

[Deanne]

I'm not on dialysis yet. One of the known side effects of lipitor is muscle problems. I didn't want to jump to blaming the medication right away because I've been on it for 10 years with no muscle problems and I only recently started taking Norvasc, so of course I jumped to blaming a low BP right away. I found out many people have also reported forgetfulness, living in a fog, and lack of energy as side effects of lipitor. I've always blamed all of these things on kidney disease, but maybe some of it was from lipitor.

[susie q]

I'm on Lipitor also... recently I have noticed my legs have gotten skinny.. and I feel like my knees are going to give out on me when I walk... never associated it with the Lipitor... could be.. 

[stauffenberg]

The whole class of drugs known as the statins, of which Lipitor is one, are known for causing muscle weakness as a side-effect, but not muscle mass loss.  The loss of muscle mass for someone with declining renal functioni is an expected effect of the loss of protein in the urine.

[boxman55]

it hurts for me to walk but I base it on water retention in my lower legs. I also take generic lipitor and never have had problems with it I've been taking it a couple years before dialysis and still am. Boxman55

[luckaholic]

95/65 tells me you need your BP meds reveiwed. I am not on any BP meds anymore but if your BP is low then as Rerun said it is wise not to take them that day. But definitely see your doctor asap. If you have a fistula low BP can cause it to clot off.