A wholesome way of life is the very first line of defense against high cholesterol. Sometimes, however, diet and exercise alone are not sufficient, and a person might have to consider cholesterol medications.
It is advised by doctors that cholesterol-lowering medications should be taken when a person 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.
Different remedies can help to reduce blood cholesterol levels. They may be prescribed individually or in combination with other sorts of medicines. Your health care professional can establish the most effective drug, or combination of drugs, to prescribe.
Fibrates
Gemfibrozil, a fibrate, is frequently the preference for lowering triglycerides and increasing HDLs. Fibrates work best at lowering triglycerides and in some cases increasing high density lipoprotein or “good” cholesterol levels. These prescription drugs, though, are not very effective in lowering low density lipoprotein or “bad” cholesterol. This is why fibrates are generally utilized in people whose triglycerides are high or whose HDL is low. Fibrates are very effective at lowering triglycerides or blood fats. In addition, they act to raise the levels of HDL or good cholesterol. Fibrates might be utilized in mixture therapy with the statins.
Resins
Colestid and Questran are resins that may lower LDLs by as much as 20 percent. But both medicines can cause gastrointestinal side effects, and doctors are aware that continued use may result in bleeding disorders, vision difficulties and, vitamin deficiencies.
Statins
The most powerful class of cholesterol-lowering medicines are the statins – lovastatin, fluvastatin, pravastatin, simvastatin, atorvastatin, and cerivastatin. Statins operate within the liver to prevent the formation of cholesterol. They are most effective at lowering low density lipoproteins or bad cholesterol, but also have moderate outcomes on lowering triglycerides or blood fats and raising high density lipoproteins or good cholesterol.
Most of statins’ side effects are minor and typically go away as the body adjusts. Muscle difficulties and liver irregularities are uncommon, but are possible side effects non-the-less. Your health care professional may order normal liver function tests to keep an eye on your liver. Expectant mothers or people who have active or chronic liver disease are advised not to consider statins.
Mixtures
A number of cholesterol remedies merge a statin and niacin, such as Advicor. No investigative studies have yet shown that getting this mixture of medicines reduces cholesterol any more than getting niacin and a statin separately. Nevertheless, the mixture drug might be more convenient because it does away with the need to take niacin and a statin separately. A consultation with your health care provider needs to be carried out before taking a mixture medicine.
The mixture medicine of simvastatin and ezemtimibe, known collectively as Vytorin, is no more effective than is simvastatin (Zocor) by itself. If you are on this mixture medicine, he or she ought to continue to use it unless the doctor says otherwise.
Most cholesterol drugs are well tolerated, but efficacy differs from individual to individual. If a person decides to consider a cholesterol medicine, the doctor might suggest periodic liver function checks to monitor the medication’s effect on the liver. One must also remember the significance of healthy lifestyle choices. Medicine can assist in controlling your cholesterol, but lifestyle matters, too.
