Reducing High Cholesterol – Are You Aware Of The Risks Factors Of Statin Drugs?
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Wednesday, Jun. 30th 2010
Did you know that researchers have spent the last 40 years trying to find an effective cholesterol medicine?
You might ask, what was the inspiration for this research? It was the discovery in 1961, by the Framingham Heart Study in Framingham, Massachusetts, that cholesterol levels in the blood were a contributing factor to cardiovascular disease.
This unique and ambitious health research project began in 1948, and continues to this day, following the development of heart disease over a long period of time in a large group of study participants. Once cholesterol had been linked to heart disease, countless health professionals began to seek a variety of ways that people could keep their cholesterol levels down, or lower them by using cholesterol medicine if they were already dangerously high.
The “bottom line,” of course, has to do with lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. It’s well known that the safest way of reducing high cholesterol is to increase exercise and change your diet to minimize food sources of cholesterol.
Diet and exercise alone, however, may not always be enough to make the dramatic changes that are required in some cases. You and your doctor may decide that you would benefit from adding some cholesterol medicine in the form of statin drugs to your new regimen.
At that point, you should do some research and compare the benefits and risks of statins.
Statins were developed in the late 1970s, and have become probably the most widely-used cholesterol medicine. Statins block a substance in the body that is used to make cholesterol. In addition, they help the reabsorption of accumulated cholesterol on the inner walls of the arteries in the form of plaque. Plaque is a substance that contributes heavily to cardiac problems by gradually blocking the blood vessels.
As research into statin drugs continues, some serious side effects have been revealed. One is the effect of statins on liver enzymes, which – if undetected or untreated – can lead to liver dysfunction. All manufacturers of statin drugs warn against this symptom, and caution that regular blood tests should be administered to monitor liver function in people taking statins.
A secong serious side effect can occur when a patient takes niacin together with a statin drug: it creates a risk for the breakdown of skeletal muscles, as well as life-threatening kidney failure. So it’s very important that niacin should never be taken as a cholesterol medicine without being monitored by your doctor.
Other side effects that may occur with statin drugs include muscle aches and cramps, headaches, and insomnia. Digestive-tract problems are also sometimes an issue; for example, abdominal pain, gas, diarrhea, and nausea.
More rarely, statins can cause hepatitis, skin rash, and a serious muscle disease. The latter has symptoms of muscular tenderness, weakness, and pain.
If you are concerned about reducing high cholesterol, and you want to try the quick and reliable, but riskier, statin drugs – be sure your doctor is supervising your progress.
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