How long you’ll take medication for high cholesterol depends on several factors, including the specific condition you’re taking Lipitor to treat. Certain substances found in grapefruit can slow down the activity of an enzyme in your body called CYP3A4. CYP3A4 helps your body break down drugs, including Lipitor. So blocking CYP3A4 from working may increase levels of Lipitor in your body.
- The use of Lipitor and Crestor in treating high cholesterol in adults has been directly compared in a clinical study.
- Talk with a trusted health professional about your concerns or visit this website to find treatment options and resources near you.
- Light to moderate alcohol intake is unlikely to harm cholesterol levels, but heavy drinking can.
- Alcohol intake may also affect cholesterol levels, both positively and negatively (1, 2).
- Here we look at how Lipitor and Zocor are alike and different.
If you have any liver problems, tell your doctor before taking Lipitor. And if you already have a liver condition, taking Lipitor may make it worse. Due to this risk, if you have liver problems, your doctor will likely recommend that you take a different medication for your cholesterol. Taking Lipitor with certain antifungal medications may raise your risk of side effects from Lipitor.
A fresh look at risks for developing young-onset dementia
Giving it up has many health benefits, but it is not a panacea. It should be seen as part of a healthy lifestyle, including a balanced diet and regular physical exercise. Giving up drinking also has positive effects on sleep, brain function and blood pressure. Stopping alcohol use for several months lets the liver heal and return to normal. You should also schedule recurring blood tests around the three-month mark to check the health of your liver.
You can ask your doctor if one of these drugs may be right for you. Beta-blockers help manage high blood pressure, and blood thinners help prevent blood clots. Some people taking Lipitor may also need to take beta-blockers or blood thinners, depending on their other health conditions. If you have extreme or unexplained muscle pain while taking Lipitor, call your doctor right away. They may have you stop taking the drug while they check for signs of more severe muscle damage. In most cases, muscle and joint pain will go away once you stop taking Lipitor.
The half-life of a drug is the average amount of time that it takes for the body to eliminate half of the initial dose from the system. It takes about five half-lives for a drug to leave your body completely. If you have questions about whether Lipitor is safe for you to take, talk with your doctor or pharmacist. If you have concerns about experiencing any of these side effects during your Lipitor treatment, talk with your doctor or pharmacist.
Your doctor may decide to prescribe a lower dosage of Lipitor or your other medication. Or they may prescribe you a different medication rather than Lipitor or the drugs listed above. Lipitor is approved for treating high cholesterol in children ages 10 to 17 years who have a condition known as heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (see above).
Side effects and risks
Or they may decide to replace one drug or the other with a different medication. Gemfibrozil is a fibrate, a type of drug that helps lower levels of triglycerides (a type of fat found in your blood). Before you start taking Lipitor, be sure to tell your doctor if you drink alcohol, especially in large amounts. And be sure to ask your doctor if you have any other questions about using alcohol while taking Lipitor. Clinical studies have shown that Lipitor is helpful in treating high cholesterol.
Lipitor for preventing cardiovascular disease
However, most of the time these elevations are only temporary and not usually dangerous. That said, having the occasional drink while on Lipitor should not cause harm in people who do not have liver problems and are generally healthy. In people with fatty liver, after only two to three weeks of giving up alcohol, the liver can heal and looks and functions as good as new.
Are there other interactions with Lipitor?
Juxtapid (lomitapide) is a medication used in patients with an inherited (genetic) type of high cholesterol known as homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. When people do experience side effects from taking statins, they are typically minor and resolve once a person stops taking the statins or changes their dosage. Statins work by reducing how much cholesterol the liver produces and increasing its clearance from the blood. To see a side-by-side comparison of these medications, check out this article.
It’s especially important to talk with your doctor if you’re having other symptoms with muscle pain. For example, you should tell your doctor right away if you have a lack of energy or general feeling of unease intermittent explosive disorder symptoms and causes (malaise) with muscle pain. These could be signs of a severe and possibly life threatening muscle condition known as rhabdomyolysis. It’s considered to be as safe and effective as the original drug.
Lipitor is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs to treat high cholesterol. Alcohol is sold at virtually every restaurant and bar in the U.S. If you’re taking Lipitor, it can be easy to find yourself in a situation in which you might be offered a drink. Drugs.com patients of sober living centers are often last to know about closures provides accurate and independent information on more than 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines and natural products. This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Call your doctor right away if you have unexplained muscle pain, tenderness, or weakness, especially if you also have unusual tiredness or a fever. These may be symptoms of serious muscle problems, such as myopathy or immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (IMNM). It is very important that your doctor check your progress at regular visits.
Lipitor and foods
Lipitor (atorvastatin) is a prescription drug that’s used to treat high cholesterol in adults and some children. In addition, Lipitor can be used to reduce other heart-related risks in adults with high cholesterol. Statins are being evaluated for their ability to reduce the worsening of liver disease in people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Clinically apparent liver injury—injury enough to cause symptoms rather than simply abnormal liver function tests alone—is very uncommon with statins.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves prescription drugs such as Lipitor to treat certain conditions. For this use, the recommended dosage is 10 mg to 80 mg once daily. However, Lipitor belongs to a class is alcohol a stimulant or depressant of medications known as statins, which have been linked to weight gain. If you develop joint pain while taking Lipitor, talk with your doctor. They may suggest treatments for the pain or lower your dose of Lipitor.
