What is High Cholesterol
Hypercholesterolemia (literally: high blood cholesterol) is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is not a disease but a metabolic derangement that can be sec...
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Vytorin: Whats the deal?
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Many of you have heard the news generated by results released by Merck about Vytorin..I know many of my patients called me about it
Here is the story: 1) As you know Vytorin is a mixture of 2 medications: Zetia (a non-statin drug) and Zocor (Simvastatin) 2) Remember when Zocor went generic Merck made the mixture of the two which enabled them to keep a cholesterol drug (brand name) on the market (more money for them...) 3) the ENHANCE trial looked at 720 patients with a familial form of hypercholesterolemia (Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia) 4) They compared ZOCOR alone to VYTORIN (the mixture of zetia and zocor)and measured 3 sites in the carotid arteries to see if they saw improvement (they measure something we commonly look at on ultrasound of the carotids called INTIMA-MEDIA THICKNESS or IMT) 5) THE RESULTS SHOWED no difference in the Zocor group vs the Vytorin group in the thickness of the carotid artery wall 6) There is an ongoing study (IMPROVE-IT) with 10,000 patients trying to see if there is a difference in cardiovascular mortality between the two.....no results yet....stay tuned..... Bottom line: if you are NOT AT GOAL LDL on the maximum dose of Zocor (Simvastatin) which is 80 mg....THEN it makes sense to add Zetia. Dr O. Posted on 01/25/08, 09:01 pm |
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Dr. O,
What about switching to Lipitor instead of Zocor?? I went to a Cardiac Symposium last year, and they seemed to show Lipitor as superior to Zocor, or other statins/cholesterol meds. I am on Zocor now, to help keep my med costs down, since I am on so many...and just added Niaspan by my Pdoc, since the Seroquel doubled my TGL, and my LDL's went up. But, if I don't show much improvement, I was going to ask for Lipitor. Lipitor is more expensive, since there is no generic yet. What do you think of Zocor vs. Lipitor?? 
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bump
for more questions ive received
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Thanks, Dr. O. This is great.
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What about people who have had HORRIBLE side effects from statins (lipitor)????? My dr says nothing works as well as a statin, but NONE of her fibro patients can tolerate it. Lipitor stole what quality of life I had by causing horrible fatigue that isn't much improved now that I'm off and my cholesterol has rebounded to an all time high! Oh, and while on lipitor for 7 yr, they kept having to increase the dosage...
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To reply #5
I cannot take statins either so I am taking zetia and it has not done one thing for me. My cholesterol level went from 150's range to 200+ off statins, my triglycerides are up and my good cholesterol is shot to hell. Yet my dr is saying stay on Zetia. It is also formulary for my ins and cost 50$ a month. At my appt at the end of the month if my levels are not showing any good change I am going to insist on the niacin based med. I have also been told that someof the other statins in lower doses may not cause the trouble I had with lipitor then simvastatin. I do not know what to do. I am very confused and sick to death of oatmeal. But at least my ck level went from over to 200 down to 116 off the simvastatin.
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lorelei, what's a ck level? I was on pretty low levels of lipitor and could barely get out of bed in the mornings and it caused memory issues too. From what I've heard (& my dr confirmed it), unless it's a statin, it won't get rid of existing cholesterol, just keep more from piling up. There have been some study results lately that are saying that statins don't really help that much.
I looked up lipitor's website and it's pretty scary. I should have never been put on it in the first place. I did discover that lipitor works by blocking the ABSORPTION of cholesterol-related stuff. I can't help but wonder what ELSE it blocks from being absorbed? I found out I should have been taking coq10 as soon as I started lipitor because it depleats our bodies of that and we NEED coq10. Sorry, but I think the only people benefiting from cholesterol meds are the drug companies!
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CK level is creatinine kinase...a muscle enzyme that is released in to the bloodstream when you have damage to the muscles (like with rhabdomyolysis) caused rarely by statins.
Dr O.
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