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. Rarely, they may cause liver damage.
“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.”
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. To understand more about your heart health, take a health risk assessment at Baptist Health.
As with all drugs, statins may have adverse effects; these include musculoskeletal symptoms, increased risk of diabetes, and higher rates of hemorrhagic stroke.
A doctor can test the creatine kinase (CK) levels in their blood. The body releases CK when the muscles are damaged or inflamed. If a person has a high CK level, a doctor may advise stopping statin treatment.
You usually have to continue taking statins for life because if you stop taking them, your cholesterol will return to a high level. If you forget to take your dose, do not take an extra one to make up for it. Just take your next dose as usual the following day.
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.
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.
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.
We have data now from over 20 statin trials of over 135,000 patients that show statins compared with placebo or no medication result in a 23 percent reduction in heart attacks, 17 percent reduction in fatal or non-fatal stroke and 19 percent reduction in death from cardiovascular causes. So, they definitely work.
Statins may be beneficial in preventing hypertension and may contribute to better blood pressure control in hypertensive patients.
You may feel a constant soreness or weakness in your shoulders, thighs, hips, or calves. If you're like most people, it'll affect both sides of your body equally. Your symptoms can be mild or serious enough to interfere with your day-to-day life.
If you miss a dose of this medicine, take it as soon as possible. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. Do not double doses.
Ezetimibe is a tablet that lowers cholesterol. It may be prescribed if statins cannot be taken, or alongside a statin for extra cholesterol-lowering. It's a 'cholesterol absorption inhibitor' that limits the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine.
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.
A low-dose statin like atorvastatin (Lipitor®) is safe for most patients, including those with mild liver enzyme abnormalities.
The use of statins may be connected to weight gain, but there's no clinical evidence as to why this weight gain occurs.
Statins don't just lower cholesterol levels but also reduce the risk of fatty plaques breaking off from walls of your arteries, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Researchers have found that statins, a class of drugs widely used for lowering cholesterol, may also slow down the process of human ageing, according to a study published online in The FASEB Journal.
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.
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.
Because many factors are involved, your cholesterol numbers may be considered normal and yet you may still be found to be at an elevated risk for heart problems. As a result, statin medications are now used to lower the risk of heart disease and heart events in most anyone found to be at high risk.