People who have had a heart attack or stroke will be advised to take a statin to help reduce the risk of them having another event. You'll also be advised to take a statin if you're considered to be at significant risk of developing cardiovascular disease, or of having 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). If your risk is very high — for example, you've had a heart attack in the past — a statin may be helpful even if you don't have high cholesterol.
While statins are highly effective and safe for most people, they have been linked to muscle pain, digestive problems and mental fuzziness in some people who take them and may rarely cause liver damage.
If you have high cholesterol and are at high risk for cardiovascular disease, you should consider statins. That's because the benefits of statins greatly outweigh the risks. Statins reduce the risk of serious cardiovascular events like heart attack or stroke by up to 25%, and death by 10%.
Fear of side effects and perceived side effects are the most common reasons for declining or discontinuing statin therapy. Willingness to take a statin is high, among both patients who have declined statin therapy and those who have never been offered one.
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.
Because many factors are involved, your cholesterol numbers may be considered normal and yet you may still be found to be at an elevated risk for heart problems. As a result, statin medications are now used to lower the risk of heart disease and heart events in most anyone found to be at high risk.
Some people do not tolerate statins or may want to try natural remedies to treat their high cholesterol. Statin alternatives include some prescription medications like ezetimibe and fibric acids. Natural remedies that some people use to help treat high cholesterol include omega-3 fatty acids and red yeast rice extract.
Statins do not address the underlying cause of heart disease: Chronic inflammation. Statins may lower cholesterol, but they do not address the underlying cause of heart disease, which is typically chronic inflammation (some people are genetically predisposed to cardiovascular disease).
Context: Heart failure (HF) is rapidly increasing in incidence and is often present in patients receiving long-term statin therapy.
According to a research review people who take simvastatin (Zocor) or pravastatin (Pravachol) may experience fewer side effects.
Most people can lower high cholesterol with lifestyle changes, like prioritizing heart-healthy foods, quitting tobacco products, exercising regularly, and sleeping enough. Making changes to lower your cholesterol might mean you don't need to take cholesterol medication anymore (or deal with the side effects).
Statins are the most common medicine for high cholesterol. They reduce the amount of cholesterol your body makes. You take a tablet once a day. You usually need to take them for life.
Inclisiran will only be given to people who are unable to lower their cholesterol with statins and/or lifestyle changes, or are unable to tolerate statin medication.
Abstract. Previous studies have shown that the commonly used statin lipid lowering drugs can delay the progression of atherosclerotic plaque. Atorvastatin can stabilize atherosclerotic plaque, but it can not reverse atheromatous plaque.
Statin use is associated with increased calorie intake and consequent weight gain.
Most people who take statins do not notice any side effects. Side effects that can occur tend to be mild and temporary, and include muscle pain, abnormal liver enzyme levels and a slightly increased risk of diabetes. Serious side effects are rare.