Atorvastatin for the treatment of dyslipidemia: How to use, advantages and disadvantages, side effects

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Atorvastatin is a drug used to treat dyslipidemia very commonly used in clinical practice. The benefits of atorvastatin have been demonstrated and become part of the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. However, how to use the drug to achieve high efficiency, how to monitor the side effects of the drug as well as the risk of interactions with other drugs, not everyone who uses the drug knows well.

1. What is Atorvastatin?

Atorvastatin is a statin drug that helps lower blood cholesterol through the mechanism of inhibiting HMG CoA reductase in the cholesterol metabolism pathway in the liver. Along with diet, atorvastatin is used to lower the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood (low molecular weight lipoprotein, or LDL), to increase the level of "good" cholesterol (high molecular weight lipoprotein or HDL), and to decrease it triglycerides.

Atorvastatin is the first line when you are diagnosed with high cholesterol. Moreover, this drug is also one of the drugs to prevent cardiovascular events such as stroke, myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease, especially in high-risk subjects such as people with diabetes. type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease or metabolic syndrome. Typically, treatment with statins in general, and atorvastatin in particular in these conditions, is lifelong. The benefits only continued as long as you were on the drug even if the blood lipids were within normal limits. If you stop taking atorvastatin without starting another lipid-lowering medication, your cholesterol levels may rise again shortly thereafter.

2. How should atorvastatin be used?

Atorvastatin is always a prescription drug. Therefore, you need to take atorvastatin exactly in the dose and number of times prescribed by your doctor. Your doctor may also sometimes change your dose to ensure the best results, but do not use this medicine in larger or smaller amounts or for longer than recommended.
Atorvastatin is usually taken only once a day, with or without food. The drug is in the form of tablets, including swallowing tablets and chewable tablets for people who have difficulty swallowing. If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you remember. However, skip the missed dose if your next dose is less than 12 hours away. Do not take extra medicine to make up the dose.
Atorvastatin is for use only in adults and children who are at least 10 years old. You should not take atorvastatin if you are planning to become pregnant, are pregnant or breast-feeding because atorvastatin can pass into breast milk and could harm a nursing baby. Because atorvastatin can harm an unborn baby or cause birth defects, you need to stop taking it right away and tell your doctor right away if you find out you are pregnant. You also need to use effective birth control to prevent pregnancy while you are taking this medicine.

In rare cases, atorvastatin can cause breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue, potentially leading to kidney failure. The condition is more common in older adults and in people with kidney disease or poorly controlled hypothyroidism. That's why it's important to tell your doctor right away if you have unexplained muscle aches, fever or fatigue, unusual tiredness, and dark-colored urine.
Avoid eating foods high in fat or cholesterol. Atorvastatin will no longer be as effective at lowering cholesterol if you don't follow a cholesterol-lowering diet plan with exercise and weight control. It may take up to 2 weeks before your cholesterol levels improve after you start taking atorvastatin; so you don't need to have blood tests too often. In addition, you also need to minimize alcohol consumption, because alcohol can increase blood fat levels and can increase the risk of liver damage. In addition, drinking grapefruit juice and eating grapefruit can interact with atorvastatin and lead to potentially dangerous effects. Therefore, while taking the drug, avoid eating too much grapefruit or drinking more than 1 liter of grapefruit juice per day.
As with other drugs, atorvastatin should be stored at room temperature; Avoid moisture, heat and light. Absolutely keep out of reach of small children.

3. The side effects of atorvastatin

Remember that your doctor has prescribed the medicine with atorvastatin because he or she has judged that the medical benefit to you is greater than the potential risk of side effects. In fact, after going through trials with a very large number of patients and also having a long history of use worldwide, there are very few people who experience serious side effects while the price is low. The benefits of atorvastatin are immense.
Like all medicines, atorvastatin can cause side effects in some people, and different statins affect them in different ways.
A rare but serious side effect is unexplained muscle soreness. This can happen a few weeks or months after you start taking the medicine. At this point, you should talk to your doctor if this side effect is affecting your life a lot. The replacement with another statin can completely solve the above problem while the treatment effect is still guaranteed.

The following are other possible side effects of atorvastatin :
Nausea Stomach bloating, indigestion Headache Pain in the back and joints Nosebleeds Sore throat Flu-like symptoms with a cold , runny nose, stuffy nose or sneezing Constipation Diarrhea

Side effects of severity with atorvastatin are rare and occur in less than 1 in 1,000 people taking the drug. Accordingly, you must stop taking atorvastatin and tell your doctor if you feel:
Muscle pain or cramps - this could be a sign of rhabdomyolysis and kidney damage Yellow skin or sclera with dark urine color - this can be a sign of liver damage Skin rash with pinkish red spots, especially on the palms or soles of the feet Abdominal pain in the epigastrium - this could be a sign of pancreatic damage Cough , feeling short of breath and weight loss - these can be signs of lung damage Serious allergic reactions - in rare cases, atorvastatin can also cause severe allergic reactions and anaphylaxis.

4. What drugs can interact with atorvastatin?

Serious drug interactions can occur when certain drugs are used together with atorvastatin. That's why it's important to let your doctor know when you're taking any medications, especially those that are metabolized by the liver. In some cases, because of the benefits atorvastatin provides, you can stop. some drugs have the potential to cause interactions or switch to less risky drugs, namely:
Antibiotics or antifungals Contraceptives Other cholesterol-lowering drugs HIV or AIDS drugs In short, lipid-lowering is a key issue in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. In which, atorvastatin belongs to the statin group plays the most prominent role. However, maximum drug effectiveness can be achieved when users know the above instructions as well as avoid unwanted side effects, bringing the highest treatment benefit.

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