According to a research review people who take simvastatin (Zocor) or pravastatin (Pravachol) may experience fewer side effects.
In the analysis of 135 previous studies, which included nearly 250,000 people combined, researchers found that the drugs simvastatin (Zocor) and pravastatin (Pravachol) had the fewest side effects in this class of medications.
A low-dose statin like atorvastatin (Lipitor®) is safe for most patients, including those with mild liver enzyme abnormalities.
However, in patients who do not achieve their LDL goals, atorvastatin and simvastatin may be the best choices for initial therapy. Statins also have antiproliferative effects on smooth muscle cells and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, all of which may help to reduce coronary events.
Statins are not associated with cancer risk but do result in a higher odds of diabetes mellitus. Among individual statins, simvastatin and pravastatin seem safer and more tolerable than other statins.
Is muscle pain a side effect of all statins? Even though all statins are similar chemically, they have some minor differences that could impact how likely they are to cause muscle pain. Simvastatin is the most likely to cause muscle pain, and fluvastatin is the least likely.
In studies, Nexletol also appears to reduce the risk of muscle pain, a common complaint of people on statins. Nexletol (bempedoic acid) is a new cholesterol-lowering drug.
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.
Despite this, there was no significant difference between the two drugs in how well they decreased the volume of atherosclerotic buildup in the arteries. Both Crestor and Lipitor are generally well tolerated with a similar rate of side effects.
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
The most important thing your doctor will keep in mind when thinking about statin treatment is your long-term risk of a heart attack or stroke. If your risk is very low, you probably won't need a statin, unless your LDL is above 190 mg/dL (4.92 mmol/L).
Adverse Effects and Hepatotoxicity
Simvastatin, lovastatin, fluvastatin, and atorvastatin are metabolized by cytochrome P-450, while pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and pitavastatin remain almost unaffected by any hepatic metabolic processes.
Another newer option is actually a statin. It's called pitavastatin, or Livalo. It has the same LDL- and total cholesterol-lowering property as all the other statins, but somehow doesn't give the muscle aches. A lot of people have had a lot of success taking this over any of the other statins out there.
Statins are the most common medicine for high cholesterol. They reduce the amount of cholesterol your body makes. You take a tablet once a day. You usually need to take them for life.
Atorvastatin is the most common cause of clinically significant liver injury among statins with a reported incidence of 1/17 000 users.
If you have high cholesterol and are at high risk for cardiovascular disease, you should consider statins. That's because the benefits of statins greatly outweigh the risks. Statins reduce the risk of serious cardiovascular events like heart attack or stroke by up to 25%, and death by 10%.
Federal regulators have approved the new drug Leqvio to be used to help lower cholesterol levels in some people. The medication is designed to be taken along with statins and a balanced diet. Leqvio is designed to be taken twice a year, which experts say should help people adhere to a medication schedule.
After having their cholesterol tested, seniors should be given a number between 190 and 260. Healthy seniors should keep their total cholesterol below 200 and their LDL cholesterol around 100. If your elderly loved one's LDL cholesterol level is above 160, he or she must start making sweeping lifestyle changes.
The cholesterol-lowering action of alternate-day statins is as effective as daily dosing in many individuals. 6.
Fifty patients met study criteria, and overall most (37/50; 74%) tolerated the once-a-week regimen (Table 1). Among those who experienced myalgias from previous statins, 71% (25/35) tolerated once-a-week rosuvastatin.
Fibrates. Doctors often prescribe a fibrate for patients who can't take a statin. Like the statins, fibrates reduce the body's cholesterol production, but they are less effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels.
Statins — Statins are one of the best-studied classes of medications and the most commonly used drugs for lowering LDL cholesterol. They are the most effective drugs for prevention of coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and death.
Some symptoms may go away as you continue to take the medication. If you're taking the statin preventively, your doctor may try to determine if your muscle pain symptoms are actually due to the statin by suggesting a brief holiday from the drug to see if they disappear when you're not taking it.