People with certain thyroid problems may have an increased risk of side effects, such as muscle pain, from taking Lipitor. Before you start taking Lipitor, tell your doctor about any thyroid problems that you have. Your doctor can help treat your thyroid condition before Lipitor treatment. It’s possible to develop liver damage from taking statin medications such as Lipitor. Although liver damage was not a common side effect, it may still occur during Lipitor treatment. Muscle pain was a common side effect reported in studies of the drug.
Can Drinking Alcohol Affect Your Cholesterol Levels?
Your doctor can prescribe a cholesterol medication that’s safe to use during pregnancy. Taking a medication with certain vaccines, foods, and other things can affect how the medication works. If you have questions about whether Lipitor is safe for you to take, talk with your https://rehabliving.net/how-to-stop-taking-gabapentin-6-simple-steps-to/ doctor or pharmacist. For lowering cholesterol in children with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH), the recommended dosage is 10 mg to 20 mg, taken once per day. While allergic reaction wasn’t reported in clinical studies of Lipitor, it can still happen.
Alcohol – Beer, Wine, & Liquor in Glasses
They described no changes in either HDL-C or TG levels during the trial, yet LDL-C levels were lowered in the RW group (−0.3 mmol/L; 95%CI −0.6–−0.04). The reduction of LDL-C by RW was 16% when compared with the other groups at the end of the 90-day period [72]. In a recent review, Wakabayashi investigated the relationship between platelet count and alcohol intake in 6508 middle-aged men who were either non-drinkers or drank less than 66 g/day. He described that there was no significant correlation between these two variables and concluded that further studies are needed to evaluate this association in heavier drinkers [40].
Drinking alcohol while on statins
Clean the bite area with antiseptic and the tweezers with alcohol. It’s also unknown if Lipitor passes into breast milk or affects a child who is breastfed. Due to the possible risks, your doctor may advise you to avoid breastfeeding while taking Lipitor. Currently, there is not enough information to determine if Lipitor affects a developing fetus, but it is possible.
This may increase the risk of certain side effects from the statin drug, such as muscle pain. Statin drugs are prescription medications a healthcare provider gives to lower cholesterol levels. Lipitor (atorvastatin) is a brand-name statin drug prescribed to treat high cholesterol. Specifically, Lipitor lowers the “bad” cholesterol, also known as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, in the blood and increases the “good” high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. It can also help lower certain fats in the blood called triglycerides. Lowering cholesterol may help reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other complications and adverse events.
Former Editor, Harvard Men’s Health Watch
Digestive problems, rashes, flushing, poor blood glucose management, memory issues, and confusion are other side effects that have been reported. According to the Humane Society, you’ll want to monitor your pet’s behavior over the next few days. Contact your vet if you notice any symptoms of tickborne illness, such as swollen joints, swollen lymph nodes, fever, loss of appetite, neurological problems or general fatigue. Removing a tick from a dog is a similar process – grasp the tick with tweezers and pull straight up to prevent the tick from popping.
But there may be a link between taking statin medications such as Lipitor and an increase in appetite. An older study showed that people taking statins consumed more calories and fat than people not taking such drugs. So it is possible that this increase in appetite may lead to weight gain. Lifestyle changes that include regular exercise, a healthy diet that limits salt and alcohol, maintaining a healthy weight and managing stress can prevent high blood pressure. Some people may need medication to lower high blood pressure.
Aswani-Omprakash says she’s never had a doctor talk to her about alcohol’s potential impact on IBD. Some doctors, however, feel that it’s very important to have the discussion. There’s no single answer to whether people with IBD can consume alcohol, experts say. As with certain foods, it requires experimentation to determine personal tolerance.
- Taking a higher dose of Lipitor may increase the risk of side effects.
- This is because heavy drinking and statin use, although rare, can both potentially interfere with liver function.
- I’m not recommending anyone discontinue medications their physician has prescribed for them.
- Heavy alcohol use may also be linked to high blood pressure and obesity, which are risk factors for heart disease.
- And Lipitor is approved to decrease the risk of cardiovascular problems in some people with heart disease.
- Or they may prescribe a different drug to treat your condition.
Alcohol intake may also affect cholesterol levels, both positively and negatively (1, 2). The importance the type of alcoholic beverage has on its health effects has been a subject of discussion. Studies examining the influence of beverage type have shown that there is no difference in CVD outcomes, and that the benefit comes from alcohol itself [6,18,19,20]. Thus, it appears that components other than ethanol could also exert beneficial effects [21]. Nonetheless, evidence to support this theory is still lacking.
“For most of these diseases, the pills and surgeries don’t address the root cause, and the disease continues to get worse and worse and worse. They just sort of mask the symptoms,” Lufkin, who holds a medical license in California, tells TODAY.com. BCVS is one of the largest meetings in the world dedicated to fundamental and translational research to improve heart health, a goal that the pandemic has only made more critical. The study findings are limited by the short duration and the use of an animal model. Because the study was conducted in rats, the results may not fully represent the longer-term impact of taking estrogen and regularly consuming alcohol in menopausal women as they age. It makes sense that red wine would be the best choice since it’s rich in phenols, which are known to have anti-inflammatory properties, Gutierrez says.
However, even if you fall into the heavy drinking category, cutting back on alcohol may significantly reduce your risk of heart disease. This is why heavy drinking is linked to an increased risk of heart disease and heart disease-related death (13, 14). This article explains how alcohol intake affects cholesterol levels and heart health. Cholesterol levels are affected by many factors, including body weight and dietary intake.
These higher estrogen levels may lead to fewer heart attacks and strokes in premenopausal women than in men of the same age. However, alcohol exposure worsens cardiovascular function more in women than men, researchers said. Also, in previous animal studies, alcohol has been confirmed to worsen heart function more in those animals with the highest estrogen levels.
Lipitor may interact with a blood pressure drug called diltiazem (Cartia XT, others). Diltiazem belongs to a group of drugs called calcium channel blockers. For example, females are much more sensitive to the effects of alcohol because they have lower levels of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, which breaks down alcohol (15). HDL protects heart health because it collects excess cholesterol and transports it to your liver, where it can be removed or recycled.
As you might imagine, high levels of either type of this waxy fat are not exactly desirable for managing cholesterol or optimal health. Alcohol is also well-known for causing liver problems, such as liver inflammation, scarring, and cirrhosis of the liver. Alcohol-related liver disease can be severe and irreversible, which can lead to an array of problems.
But nearly all find that when they switch to a different statin, their symptoms resolve. If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding or planning to become pregnant or breastfeed, tell your doctor before starting Lipitor treatment. They can help you understand the risks of taking Lipitor during these times.
Alcohol can also impact the body’s ability to make the most of the food people consume. Costs of prescription drugs can vary depending on many factors. These factors include what your insurance plan covers and which pharmacy you use. While taking Lipitor, you should not eat https://rehabliving.net/ large amounts of grapefruit or drink more than 1.2 liters of grapefruit juice per day. Ending your Lipitor treatment should not cause any side effects. But if you stop taking Lipitor and do not replace it with a different treatment, your cholesterol may increase again.