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Atorvastatin is also used to decrease the amount of fatty substances such as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol ('bad cholesterol') and triglycerides in the blood and to increase the amount of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ('good cholesterol') in the blood. Ītorvastatin is used together with diet, weight loss, and exercise to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke and to decrease the chance that heart surgery will be needed in people who have heart disease or who are at risk of developing heart disease. The FDA hopes the revised language in the prescribing information will help reassure health care professionals that statins are safe to prescribe in patients who can become pregnant, and help them reassure patients with unintended statin exposure in early pregnancy or before pregnancy is recognized that the medicine is unlikely to harm the unborn baby.įor more information visit the FDA website at: and. Advise those who require a statin because of their cardiovascular risk that breastfeeding is not recommended because the medicine may pass into breast milk Discuss with patients whether they may discontinue statins temporarily while breastfeeding. Because of the chronic nature of cardiovascular disease, treatment of hyperlipidemia is not generally necessary during pregnancy.
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#Side effect of statins professional
Your health care professional will be able to advise whether you should stop taking the medicine during pregnancy and whether you may stop your statin temporarily while breastfeeding. Patients: Patients taking statins should notify their health care professionals if they become pregnant or suspect they are pregnant.Medicines in the statin class include atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pitavastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin. This includes patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia and those who have previously had a heart attack or stroke.īACKGROUND: Statins are a class of prescription medicines that have been used for decades to lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C or "bad") cholesterol in the blood. Because the benefits of statins may include prevention of serious or potentially fatal events in a small group of very high-risk pregnant patients, contraindicating these drugs in all pregnant women is not appropriate.įDA expects removing the contraindication will enable health care professionals and patients to make individual decisions about benefit and risk, especially for those at very high risk of heart attack or stroke. A contraindication is FDA's strongest warning and is only added when a medicine should not be used because the risk clearly outweighs any possible benefit. These changes include removing the contraindication against using these medicines in all pregnant patients. ISSUE: The FDA is requesting revisions to the information about use in pregnancy in the prescribing information of the entire class of statin medicines. Can you use limes or lime juice while taking statin drugs (i.e.AUDIENCE: Patient, Health Professional, OBGYN, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Pharmacy.How do you manage muscle pain with cholesterol drugs?.Do I need to eat food when taking atorvastatin?.Body mass – generally the bigger you are the longer a drug will remain in your system.įor more information click on: Related medical questions Your age and health – older age and poor health will generally increase the time the drug stays in your system.Ĥ. Your metabolic rate – a slower metabolism will increase the time a drug remains in your system.ģ. How much and how often you have taken the drug.Ģ. However other factors to consider include:ġ. It takes approximately 5.5 x elimination half lives for a medicine to be out of ones system. This is the time it takes for your body to reduce plasma drug levels by half. The elimination half life of atorvastatin is approximately 14 hours. It takes about 77 hours (3 days) for atorvastatin to be out of your system.
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