Anyone who wants to stop taking a statin should talk to a doctor. In some cases, coming off these drugs can be dangerous. The doctor may suggest reducing the dosage, combining the statin with another cholesterol lowering drug, or switching to another drug entirely.
If you're taking a statin medication to lower your cholesterol, you will need to keep taking your prescription, or your cholesterol will likely go back up. Stopping your statin can put you at risk of having heart disease and other preventable health problems like stroke and heart attack from high cholesterol.
It takes about 77 hours (3 days) for atorvastatin to be out of your system. The elimination half life of atorvastatin is approximately 14 hours. This is the time it takes for your body to reduce plasma drug levels by half.
Bempedoic acid (Nexletol), a cholesterol-lowering drug intended for people who can't or won't take statins, was shown to reduce the risk of heart attack by 23 percent, according to a late-breaking clinical trial recently presented at the American College of Cardiology Conference and published online March 4 in the New ...
Most people can lower high cholesterol with lifestyle changes, like prioritizing heart-healthy foods, quitting tobacco products, exercising regularly, and sleeping enough. Making changes to lower your cholesterol might mean you don't need to take cholesterol medication anymore (or deal with the side effects).
The cholesterol-lowering action of alternate-day statins is as effective as daily dosing in many individuals. Alternate-day statin administration seems to decrease the incidence of its adverse effects, particularly myopathy.
How long does it take for statins to get out of your system? It can take a few months for your cholesterol levels to return to what they were prior to the medication. Side effects will generally disappear a few weeks after your last dose.
Our analysis of current evidence suggests that intermittent statin administration is effective in lowering LDL levels in patients with dyslipidemia. All dosing regimens, including alternate days, 3 to 5 times a week, 2 to 3 times a week, and once a week, were shown to be effective.
Some people do not tolerate statins or may want to try natural remedies to treat their high cholesterol. Statin alternatives include some prescription medications like ezetimibe and fibric acids. Natural remedies that some people use to help treat high cholesterol include omega-3 fatty acids and red yeast rice extract.
While statins are highly effective and safe for most people, they have been linked to muscle pain, digestive problems and mental fuzziness in some people who take them and may rarely cause liver damage.
It's important to know that stopping statins cold turkey, or even gradually, can cause serious health problems and you should talk to your doctor before doing so.
Fear of side effects and perceived side effects are the most common reasons for declining or discontinuing statin therapy. Willingness to take a statin is high, among both patients who have declined statin therapy and those who have never been offered one.
People who did take statins consumed more calories and fat over time, and gained more weight. The study also showed that statin users had a faster increase in body mass index (BMI) than those who didn't use statins.
Joseph A. Hill, M.D., Ph. D. The controversy in the United Kingdom started in 2013 when the British Medical Journal (BMJ) claimed statins were being overprescribed to people with low risk of heart disease, and that the drugs' side effects were worse than previously thought.
Statin use is associated with increased calorie intake and consequent weight gain. It is speculated that statin‐dependent improvements in lipid profile may undermine the perceived need to follow lipid‐lowering and other dietary recommendations leading consequently to increased calorie intake.
Tablet splitting, in which a higher-dose tablet is split to get two doses, reduces patients' drug costs. Statins can be split safely. General practitioners (GPs) may not direct their patients to split statins because of safety concerns or unawareness of costs.
Short-term statin exposure (< 2 years) was not associated with new onset type 2 diabetes in all statin subtypes, whereas long-term exposure (≥ 5 years) to statins was associated with a statistically significant increase in the risk of new onset type 2 diabetes in all statin subtypes.
“Statins have a solid track record. In monitoring people taking statins for decades, we've found that they're safe and most people tolerate them well without any problems. But still, these misconceptions persist.”
High cholesterol levels are considered: too high: between 5 and 6.4mmol/l. very high: between 6.5 and 7.8mmol/l. extremely high: above 7.8mmol/l.