A wholesome way of life is the first line of defense against high cholesterol. Sometimes, diet and exercise alone are not sufficient, and a individual might need to consider cholesterol prescription drugs. It is advised by medical professionals that cholesterollowering medications ought to be taken when a individual smokes, has had a heart attack or coronary artery disease, has LDL levels above 190mg/dL, has HDL levels less than 35mg/dL, has high blood pressure, has a family history of heart disease, and/or has diabetes.
Various medicines can lower blood cholesterol levels. They may well be prescribed on their own or in mixture with other medicines. The health care professional can figure out the optimum drug or mixture medicine to recommend.
Gemfibrozil, a fibrate, is frequently the choice for lowering triglycerides and increasing HDLs. Fibrates perform best at lowering triglycerides and in some cases increasing HDL or great cholesterol levels. These prescription drugs, though, are not very efficient in lowering LDL or “bad” cholesterol. This is why fibrates are generally used in people where triglycerides are high or whose HDL is low. Fibrates are very efficient at lowering triglycerides or blood fats. In addition, they act to raise the levels of HDL or good cholesterol. Fibrates might be used in combination therapy using the statins.
Colestid and Questran are resins that can lower LDLs by as much as 20 percent. But both medicines can cause gastrointestinal side effects, and medical professionals advise that long-term use might bring about bleeding disorders, vision difficulties and vitamin deficiencies.
The most powerful class of cholesterol-lowering medicines are the statins – lovastatin, fluvastatin, pravastatin, simvastatin, atorvastatin, and cerivastatin. Statins function in the liver to help prevent the formation of cholesterol. They’re most efficient at lowering low density lipoproteins or poor cholesterol, but also have moderate outcomes on lowering triglycerides or blood fats and raising high density lipoproteins or great cholesterol.
Most of statins’ side effects are docile and generally go away as the body becomes accustomed to them. Muscle difficulties and liver irregularities are rare, but the health care professional might order regular liver function tests. Pregnant women or people who have active or chronic liver disease are advised not to consider statins.
A number of cholesterol medicines merge a statin and niacin, for example Advicor. No investigation studies have yet shown that getting these combination medicines lowers cholesterol any more than does getting niacin along with a statin separately. Nevertheless, the combination drug might be more convenient simply because it eliminates the necessity to take niacin along with a statin separately. A discussion with the doctor needs to be made first prior to taking a combination medicine.
The combination medicine of simvastatin and ezemtimibe, recognized collectively as Vytorin, is no more efficient than is simvastatin (Zocor) by itself. If a individual is on this combination medicine, he or she should continue to consider it unless the physician tells otherwise.
Most cholesterol medications are well tolerated, but efficacy differs from individual to individual. If a person decides to consider a cholesterol medicine, the physician might recommend periodic liver function checks to monitor the medication’s effect on the liver. One should also keep in mind the significance of healthy lifestyle options. Medication can help control the cholesterol, but lifestyle matters, too.