How and when to take atorvastatin (2024)

FAQs

How and when to take atorvastatin? ›

Take atorvastatin once a day. You can choose to take it at any time, as long as you stick to the same time every day. This prevents your blood levels from becoming too high or too low. Sometimes doctors may recommend taking it in the evening.

How long does it take to work? Your cholesterol levels should drop within 4 weeks, if you take your medicine regularly, as prescribed. Although the medicine is working, you may not feel any different, as most people with high cholesterol do not have any symptoms.

Atorvastatin every other day significantly reduced total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and LDL-c versus baseline. The TC, TG, and LDL-c levels were lower by 23 per cent, 8 per cent, and 30 per cent.

Moderate-intensity atorvastatin (10–20 mg) is recommended for reduction of LDL cholesterol levels by 30% to 49% in individuals with low or intermediate risk. Low-intensity atorvastatin (5 mg) monotherapy is considered insufficient in decreasing LDL cholesterol levels by ≥ 30%.

Avoid eating foods high in fat or cholesterol, or atorvastatin will not be as effective. Grapefruit may interact with atorvastatin and cause side effects. Avoid consuming grapefruit products and drinking more than 1.2 liters of grapefruit juice each day. Drinking alcohol may increase your risk of liver damage.

For high cholesterol: Adults—At first, 10 or 20 milligrams (mg) once a day. Some patients may need to start at 40 mg per day. Your doctor may increase your dose as needed.

Furthermore, according to the CDC, a doctor may prescribe statins if: You have already had a heart attack or stroke, or have peripheral arterial disease. Your LDL cholesterol level is 190 or higher (this is the one lipid profile result where you might base a statin decision on the lipid profile alone).

Diet and exercise can lower your cholesterol by about 20 to 30 percent . If home remedies, diet, and exercise aren't enough to get your LDL cholesterol to a safe level, medication is the next step in keeping your heart healthy. Medication can bring your cholesterol down even further, if needed.

Adult: Dose is individualised according to baseline LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, the goal of therapy, and patient response. As an adjunct to diet: Usual initial dose: 10 mg or 20 mg once daily; patients who require >45% reduction in LDL-C may initiate at 40 mg once daily. Usual range: 10-80 mg once daily.

The usual dose for adults is between 10mg and 80mg a day. Your dose depends on the reason why you're taking it, your cholesterol levels, and what other medicines you're taking. Do not reduce your dose without talking to your doctor first. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice if you're unsure how much to take.

Why are some doctors against statins? ›

While statins are highly effective and safe for most people, they have been linked to muscle pain, digestive problems and mental fuzziness in some people.

Eat a low-cholesterol, low-fat diet, which includes cottage cheese, fat-free milk, fish, vegetables, poultry, and egg whites. Use monounsaturated oils such as olive, peanut, and canola oils or polyunsaturated oils such as corn, safflower, soy, sunflower, cottonseed, and soybean oils.

Alternate-day treatment with atorvastatin is comparable in efficacy and safety to the established daily treatment regimen, thus being a cost effective alternative.

ACE inhibitors cause the body to retain excess potassium that your kidneys would normally flush out. As a result, eating bananas or other potassium-rich foods while taking an ACE inhibitor can cause your body to have too much potassium. This can result in serious heart complications.

Niacin. Niacin (Niacor) is a type of B vitamin (vitamin B3) that can be used to help lower cholesterol. But large doses (typically more than 1,000 mg per day) interact with atorvastatin. Niacin can raise your risk of developing muscle pain or rhabdomyolysis from atorvastatin.

Atorvastatin does not interact with caffeine. However, beverages that include caffeine, such as soda, energy drinks, and blended coffee drinks can lead to high cholesterol and coronary heart disease.

You should see major changes in your cholesterol levels within two to four weeks after starting treatment. When you take a statin, you do more than improve your cholesterol levels. They also reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, and other heart problems.

The Summary of findings table 1 documents the effect of atorvastatin on LDL-cholesterol over the dose range of 10 to 80 mg/d, which is the range for which this systematic review acquired the greatest quantity of data. Over this range, blood LDL-cholesterol is decreased by 37.1% to 51.7% (Summary of findings table 1).

The ATP III recommendations for monitoring of statin therapy are as follows: check lipid panel at baseline, 6–8 weeks after starting or adjusting the medication/dose, and then every 4–6 months; check LFTs at baseline, approximately 12 weeks after starting therapy, then annually or more frequently if indicated; and ...

Initial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the aorta suggested that statin use might result in atherosclerotic plaque regression as early as 6 months after initiation of therapy [2].