Does grapefruit affect cholesterol medication?
Statins are medicines that lower your cholesterol. Grapefruit or grapefruit juice affects some statins. Do not drink grapefruit juice if you’re taking simvastatin. Grapefruit juice increases the level of simvastatin in your blood and makes side effects more likely.
Why can’t you eat grapefruit while taking atorvastatin?
Grapefruit contains a chemical that can interfere with your body’s ability to break down or metabolize certain statin medications. When statin takers eat large amounts of grapefruit, the level of statins in their blood can increase, raising the possibility of side effects.
Does rosuvastatin interact with grapefruit?
Some statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs): lovastatin (Mevacor), atorvastatin (Lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor). (Other statins such as fluvastatin (Lescol), pravastatin (Pravachol), and rosuvastatin (Crestor) have little or no interaction with grapefruit juice.)
Is it OK to stop taking statins for a week?
Check with your doctor whether there’s a particular time of day you should take your statin. You usually have to continue taking statins for life because if you stop taking them, your cholesterol will return to a high level within a few weeks. If you forget to take your dose, do not take an extra one to make up for it.
What happens if you stop taking cholesterol medication?
Stopping your statin has been linked to increased risk for cardiovascular events (like heart attack) and death in patients with coronary artery disease. In a recent 8-year study, more than half of patients stopped their statin believing they were experiencing a side effect.
Can I take my statin every other day?
As evident from periodic liver enzyme estimations, we can say that alternate-day statin therapy is at least as safe as daily treatment regime. While there was one instance of myalgia, on daily atorvastatin treatment, alternate-day dosage of the same was well tolerated.
What is the safest statin to take for high cholesterol?
They are substantially better at boosting HDL levels, and only two statins, atorvastatin (Lipitor) and rosuvastatin (Crestor), can match their ability to reduce triglyceride levels. Gemfibrozil (Lopid) and fenofibrate (TriCor) appear equally safe and effective.