When to take statins?

If you have been diagnosed with high cholesterol or heart disease, your doctor may recommend taking statins to lower your cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke. But when is the right time to take them? Let’s find out some answers.

What are statins and how do they work?

Statins are medications that lower cholesterol levels by blocking an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase, which helps make cholesterol in the body. They also help remove excess LDL (bad) cholesterol from the bloodstream for good.

Statins can come in different brands including atorvastatin (Lipitor), rosuvastatin (Crestor), and simvastatin (Zocor). They are available in several doses based on individual needs.

Some common side effects of statin use include muscle aches, stomach pain, constipation or diarrhea among others.

Who should consider taking statins

Though it may depend on your overall health condition; guidelines suggest prescribing their use as follows:

Primary prevention

Doctors will often recommend primary prevention for people who haven’t had a heart attack but may be at risk due to factors like age (>50 years old); smoking history; high blood pressure/cholesterol/glucose levels; obesity (body mass index >30 kg/m2); family history/genetic predisposition among other things. Several studies have conclusively found primary prevention using these drugs reduces subsequent cardiovascular events.

It’s not uncommon if patients on this category go through what my med student colleagues know as “pill burden,” those individuals with comorbidity usually end up reeling under so many prescriptions yet cannot say no outrightly because their GP did not bring it up despite being responsible for overall treatment planning.. Comorbidity here ironically can become a medical liability since research indicates that multiple drug administration can compromise adherence rates.

Secondary prevention

This is when you’ve had a heart attack, stroke or have already been diagnosed with coronary heart disease. You’d typically receive a prescription for statins and this would be part of your rehabilitative management plan.

Alongside the provision of these drugs, individuals at risk should receive multicomponent interventions that include dietary modification/supplementation (author to insert another page link periodically), physical activity prescriptions where feasible as well management plans addressing other key components affecting disease progression in addition education on long term goals.

When might cholesterol lowering medication not be recommended?

It’s worth noting that not everyone will benefit from taking statins. They may interact harmfully with certain medications, such as antibiotics erythromycin and clarithromycin-like certain prescription antifungals amongst others..

Statins can also cause side effects like muscle damage or liver problems but overall are largely safe when taken under GP supervision though they must report any symptoms promptly because sometimes long-term use can alter general metabolic profile too.

Talk to your doctor if any concerns arise about interactions and/or side effects after starting on lipid-lowering agents then review matter critically together working towards fluid resolution through shared decision making

Conclusion

There are no hard-and-fast rules for determining who should take statins but definitive evidence overwhelmingly support its effectiveness over placebo especially in primary prevention.. Still, it’s important to weigh the risks versus benefits before deciding whether or not adding them into one’s daily life is worth it based upon individual circumstances.

Random Posts