High Cholesterol Medication
There are 5 types of drugs to lower cholesterol:
- The bile acid binding resins such as cholestyramine (Questran) and colestipol (Colestid). Are used less frequently today since they lower both HDL (good) and LDL (bad).
- Niacin (several brands).
- Fibrates such as gemfibrozil (Lopid), fenofibrate (Tricor) and clofibrate (Abitarte). Fibrates spatially help people with high triglyceride levels.
- Statins, also called HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors such as lovastatin (Mevacor), simvastatin (Zocor), pravastatin (Pravachol), the fluvastatin (Lescol), atorvastatin (Lipitor) and rosuvastatin (Crestor). Statins block an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase required for the production of cholesterol. Commonly are prescribed as cholesterol-lowering drugs.
- Selective inhibitors of intestinal cholesterol absorption: only available on ezetimibe (Zetia).
If your cholesterol is not controlled with diet and other changes in your lifestyle, your doctor may recommend that you take one or more of these drugs. Each type of drug works differently and has several side effects.
In addition to changes in diet and medicine, people with high cholesterol should try to control other risk factors that contribute to coronary artery disease to you. This means keeping your blood pressure at normal levels, not smoking, controlling your blood sugar, maintain or lose weight and follow a regular exercise routine.
When To Call a Professional
Since it is possible to have high cholesterol for many years without symptoms, it is important to check the level of cholesterol in the blood periodically. Current guidelines recommend that adults older than 20 years carried out a full lipid profile fasting every 5 years. This test measures LDL and HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels. If results are within the recommended limits, your doctor may suggest you change your diet and consider your cholesterol more often.
Forecast
The effectiveness of a healthy diet and use cholesterol-lowering drugs varies from person to person. On average, diet and exercise can lower LDL cholesterol about 10%. Medications can reduce LDL cholesterol about 20 to over 50%.