Cholesterol Lowering Drugs – Part 2

There are some common cholesterol lowering drugs that doctors use first with their patients because the medications have had good results. The first drug of choice for an elevated LDL cholesterol are statin medications like atorvastin (Lipitor), fluvastatin (Lescol), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravastatin (Prevachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor). These are easy to administer and have a high patient compliance – patients will readily take the medications.

Common side-effects of the statin drugs are gastrointestinal, which includes constipation and abdominal pain and cramps. These particular side-effects are generally mild and will go away as therapy continues. Other more serious side effects include muscle disease (statin induced myopathy) and liver problems. These drugs will also decrease your body’s supply of Coenzyme Q10.

Another class of cholesterol lowering drugs for lowering your LDL are bile acid sequestrants (resins) such as colesevelam (Welchol), cholestyramine (Questran) and colestipol (Cholestid). One side effect of this class of medication is that it can increase the triglyceride levels so patients who have levels above 250 may chose another class of drug. This class of drug binds bile acids in the intestines and causes more bile to be excreted in the stool.

This reduces the amount of bile acids that are reabsorbed back into the liver. The liver doesn’t have the bile acids available and so it produces more bile by converting cholesterol into bile acid. Because these drugs aren’t available inside the body they have low side-effect profile. Most commonly they cause bloating, cramping and diarrhea.

Other drugs available such as gemfibrozil (Lopid), probucol and clofibrate (Atromid) will decrease LDL slightly but are used more frequently for lowering triglycerides.

Resources:

MayoClinic: High Cholesterol

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/statins/CL00010

MayoClinic: Cholesterol Medications Consider the Options

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cholesterol-medications/HB00042

American Heart Association: Drug therapy for Cholesterol

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Cholesterol/PreventionTreatmentofHighCholesterol/Drug-Therapy-for-Cholesterol_UCM_305632_Article.jsp

RxList: Statins

http://www.rxlist.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=92461

Mercola: Do You Take Any of these 11 Dangerous Statins or Cholesterol Drugs

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/07/20/the-truth-about-statin-drugs-revealed.aspx

Family Doctor: High Cholesterol