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.
If you miss a dose of this medicine, take it as soon as possible. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. Do not double doses. Do not take 2 doses of this medicine if it has been more than 12 hours since you missed your last dose.
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.
Statins work to lower cholesterol levels and can reduce the risk of heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and even cardiovascular disease deaths by 25% or more. It's important to note that if you stop taking them, these improved effects on your cholesterol will taper off after several months.
Alternate-day treatment with atorvastatin is comparable in efficacy and safety to the established daily treatment regimen, thus being a cost effective alternative.
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.
Dosing a statin (rosuvastatin) every other day (EOD) may provide significant lipoprotein changes while avoiding common adverse effects in this statin-intolerant population.
You usually have to continue taking statins for life because if you stop taking them, your cholesterol will return to a high level. If you forget to take your dose, do not take an extra one to make up for it. Just take your next dose as usual the following day.
If you stop taking atorvastatin without starting a different treatment, your cholesterol level may rise again. This increases your risk of heart attacks and strokes.
The typical dosage range of Lipitor is 10 mg to 80 mg taken once per day. The normal starting dosage is 10 mg to 20 mg taken once per day. But if you have very high cholesterol, your doctor may have you start with a dosage of 40 mg taken once per day.
Do not suddenly stop taking your prescribed medication without talking with your doctor first. If you have side effects from the medication, your doctor might adjust your dosage or recommend a different statin or other combination of medications.
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.
Many statins work more effectively when they are taken at night. This is because the enzyme which makes the cholesterol is more active at night. Also, the half-life, or the amount of time it takes for half the dose to leave your body, of some statins is short.
Avoid eating foods high in fat or cholesterol, or atorvastatin will not be as effective. Avoid drinking alcohol. It can raise triglyceride levels and may increase your risk of liver damage. Grapefruit may interact with atorvastatin and lead to unwanted side effects.
No, weight gain and hair loss are not side effects of Lipitor. But there may be a link between taking statin medications such as Lipitor and an increase in appetite. An older study showed that people taking statins consumed more calories and fat than people not taking such drugs.
Muscle pain and damage
One of the most common complaints of people taking statins is muscle pain. You may feel this pain as a soreness, tiredness or weakness in your muscles. The pain can be a mild discomfort, or it can be severe enough to make your daily activities difficult.
It is important to be consistent with the timing of doses, so if a person prefers to take statins in the morning, they should take them in the morning every day. Long-acting statins include: atorvastatin (Lipitor) fluvastatin (the extended-release tablet)
The current evidence, from well-run research trials of more than 100,000 patients, is that statins do not cause insomnia or any other sleep disturbance, compared with a dummy pill (placebo).
Background: Adenosine receptor activation is essential for mediating the IS-limiting effects of statins. Caffeine is a nonspecific adenosine receptor blocker, and thus drinking CC may block the myocardial protective effects of statins.
Anyone who wants to stop taking a statin should talk to a doctor. In some cases, coming off these drugs can be dangerous. The doctor may suggest reducing the dosage, combining the statin with another cholesterol lowering drug, or switching to another drug entirely.
Some statin drugs like simvastatin (Zocor) and (atorvastatin) Lipitor have been reported to cause hair loss.
Conversely, pathological studies have documented statin-induced changes in plaque composition as early as 3 months after therapy initiation.
Missing your cholesterol medications may not be the right thing to do according to Dr Shah. Missing one or two doses won t be a problem. But anything more than that would be wrong, says Dr Shah. There will be something called a rebound effect in the person s body, he adds.