Cholesterol Medicine: Uses, Benefits and Side Effects

Today's normal diet contributes to problems with high cholesterol. High cholesterol contributes to problems with heart disease and can lead to heart attacks. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs in your liver, and this cholesterol will help make and maintain cells, insulate nerves and produce hormones, and even helps your body to digest fat. The cholesterol you don't need comes from your food.

Meat and dairy products contain cholesterol and any other foods that contain saturated or trans fats will increase your cholesterol. Exercise helps lower bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol. Smoking will make cholesterol problems worse. Unfortunately, not all cholesterol fixes are within your control.

Certain medical conditions like diabetes will make cholesterol worse. Some medicines will do the same. And there isn't much you can do to repair your heredity. When your cholesterol levels are beyond your control, your doctor will prescribe a cholesterol medicine.

What They do

Different types of cholesterol medicine are very effective combined with diet and exercise to lower cholesterol levels. Most types of cholesterol medicine are statins, niacin, bile-acid resins or fibric acid derivatives. Statins work by blocking the production of cholesterol in your liver. Bad cholesterol and triglycerides are lowered and good cholesterol can be increased a bit.

If you need cholesterol medicine, your doctor is most likely to prescribe a statin. Your doctor will watch for such side effects as intestinal problems and liver damage. A small number of people can suffer muscle tenderness.

Niacin, or nicotinic acid, is a B-vitamin. This cholesterol medicine is a natural ingredient in food and is added to some manufactured foods. Higher doses can be prescribed. Niacin lowers bad cholesterol and raises good cholesterol. Side effects can include flushing, itching, tingling and headache. Bile-acid resins work within the intestine. Cholesterol is made in your liver where bile is also made.

Bile is largely composed of cholesterol. Ideally, your body should make good cholesterol, incorporate it into the bile which travels into the intestine and is reabsorbed for distribution throughout the bloodstream. Bile-acid resins bind to bile to prevent its reabsorption. Side effects are constipation, gas and stomach upset. Fibrates limit production of triglycerides and can help increase good cholesterol.

Side effects of all cholesterol medicine include digestive problems, allergic reactions and muscle aches. The most dangerous side effect of cholesterol medicine is signaled by muscle aches. See your doctor about them. You shouldn't take more than one kind of cholesterol medicine at a time or take them with anticoagulants. Grapefruit and grapefruit juice can interfere with the metabolization of cholesterol medicine. Over the long term, effective cholesterol medicine can help you maintain a healthy life.

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