Statins are a class of drugs used to lower blood cholesterol.
They work in your liver to block a substance needed to make cholesterol.
They may also help your body reabsorb cholesterol that has accumulated in
plaques on your artery walls. This helps prevent further blockage in your
blood vessels. Long-term use of statins may even reduce existing
blockage in narrowed blood vessels.
Statins have many benefits. In some people, they can reduce the
risk of heart attack and stroke. Like all medications, statins have
potential side effects. Although statins are well tolerated by most
people, the most common side effects are:
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Muscle aching
In addition, two potentially serious
statin drug side effects are:
Elevated liver enzymes. Occasionally, statin use causes an increase
in liver enzymes. If the increase is only mild, you can continue to take
the drug. If the increase is severe, you may need to stop taking it, which
usually reverses the problem. Certain other cholesterol-lowering drugs,
such as gemfibrozil (Lopid) and niacin, increase the risk of liver
problems in people who take statins. Because liver problems may develop
without symptoms, people who take statins should have their liver function
tested periodically.
Statin myopathy. Statins may cause
muscle pain and tenderness (statin myopathy). In severe cases, muscle
cells can break down (rhabdomyolysis) and release a protein called
myoglobin into the bloodstream. Myoglobin can impair kidney function and
lead to kidney failure. Certain drugs when taken with statins can increase
the risk of rhabdomyolysis. These include gemfibrozil, erythromycin (Erythrocin),
antifungal medications, nefazodone (Serzone), cyclosporine and niacin. If
you take statins and have new muscle aching or tenderness, consult with
your doctor.
Avoid taking statins with grapefruit juice, which alters your
body's metabolism of these drugs. Also, doctors generally recommend that
people take statins late in the day because the body makes most of its
cholesterol at night.
Statins:
Are There Alternatives? Statins are being made more widely available,
but there are alternatives as Dr. John Moran explains.