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.
Discussion. Our analysis of current evidence suggests that intermittent statin administration is effective in lowering LDL levels in patients with dyslipidemia. All dosing regimens, including alternate days, 3 to 5 times a week, 2 to 3 times a week, and once a week, were shown to be effective.
Intermittent statin dosing is associated with a reduction in LDL-C by 20-40%. Statins with longer half-lives can be initially dosed once weekly, and up-titrated to as frequently as every other day dosing.
If you forget to take your dose, take it as soon as you remember. If you do not remember until the next day, skip the missed dose and take the next one at the usual time. If you often forget doses, it may help to set an alarm to remind you.
The decrease in triglyceride levels was more significant than daily doses. Hence alternate day dosing of rosuvastatin may be an alternate regime and cost effective without a major decrease in therapeutic benefits and also decrease in adverse events in patients with hyperlipidemia.
If you're taking a statin medication to lower your cholesterol, you will need to keep taking your prescription, or your cholesterol will likely go back up. Stopping your statin can put you at risk of having heart disease and other preventable health problems like stroke and heart attack from high cholesterol.
If you forget to take a dose of rosuvastatin, take it as soon as you remember. If you do not remember until the next day, skip the missed dose and take your next dose at the usual time. Never take 2 doses at the same time. Never take an extra dose to make up for the forgotten one.
Patients tolerating the once-a-week regimen experienced a 17% reduction in total cholesterol, 23% reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, 12% reduction in triglycerides, and a 5% increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (all p <0.001), during a mean follow-up of 4 months +/- 2.
Best practices for taking statins
No matter which statin you take, be sure to take the drug each day as it is prescribed. Statins have several important drug interactions that could increase side effect risk.
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.
Conclusions: In hypercholesterolemia patients, atorvastatin 10 mg every other day is safe and effective in lowering TC, TG, with LDL-c and a slight increase in HDL-c.
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors such as atorvastatin and rosuvastatin are more potent than older statins. They have half-lives of at least 14 hours. Extended-release fluvastatin, or Lescol XL, can be taken at any time of day.
Similarly, another study demonstrated that in individuals experiencing previous statin adverse effects, a once per week dosage of rosuvastatin was tolerated by 74% of the 50 participants.
Published data have demonstrated that instead of administering rosuvastatin on a daily basis, alternative dosing schedules (every other day, three times a week, and twice a week) for patients with previous adverse events, presumably secondary to statin therapy, have improved patient tolerability and at the same time ...
Conclusion: Once-weekly low-dose rosuvastatin is an effective and well-tolerated lipid-lowering therapy option for patients not at LDL goal and previously unable to tolerate statins because of a history of myalgias.
Yes. Many medications, such as cholesterol medications and medications prescribed for depression, can be cut in half. As a general rule, if the tablet has a score mark or groove down the middle, it can be split in half. Be sure to talk to your pharmacist before breaking your pills in half.
Our study reported that both 5 mg and 10 mg rosuvastatin significantly decreases blood cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL levels.
Adults age 75 and older may not need statins.
Many older adults have high cholesterol. Their doctors usually prescribe statins to prevent heart disease. But for older people, there is no clear evidence that high cholesterol leads to heart disease or death.
If you quit cold turkey, your body can go into shock. It is not recommended that you stop statins suddenly if you have a history of heart attack or stroke, as it can put you at a higher risk of recurrent heart attack. You should speak with your doctor before stopping the medicine under any circumstance.
Conclusions Although a large proportion of statin users discontinue, many of them restart. For many patient groups previously considered as “stoppers,” the problem of statin treatment “stopping” could be part of the wider issue of poor adherence.
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
The most important thing your doctor will keep in mind when thinking about statin treatment is your long-term risk of a heart attack or stroke. If your risk is very low, you probably won't need a statin, unless your LDL is above 190 mg/dL (4.92 mmol/L).
Severe muscle problems warning: This medication can cause severe muscle problems. These include myopathy, with symptoms such as muscle pain, tenderness, or weakness. Myopathy can lead to rhabdomyolysis. With this condition, muscle breaks down and can cause kidney damage and even death.
It takes about 77 hours (3 days) for atorvastatin to be out of your system. The elimination half life of atorvastatin is approximately 14 hours. This is the time it takes for your body to reduce plasma drug levels by half. It takes approximately 5.5 x elimination half lives for a medicine to be out of ones system.