simvastatin.me

Simvastatin Interactions

simon — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:11:40 +0000

As any other medicine, Simvastatin may interact with other drugs, food supplements or foods. As a result of drug interactions, simvastatin and other the medicines may be metabolized differently than intended which may increase the risk of developing side effects. That is why it is important to inform your healthcare provider about all the medications, food supplements (including vitamins, minerals, herbal products ) you take before starting treatment with simvastatin. Do not start taking new drugs while on simvastatin without telling your doctor.

Many drugs can interact with simvastatin, below is just a list of the most common simvastatin interactions:

HIV or AIDS medication such as saquinavir (Invirase, Fortovase), ritonavir (Norvir), amprenavir (Agenerase), indinavir (Crixivan), lopinavir-ritonavir (Kaletra), or nelfinavir (Viracept)
antifungal medications such as fluconazole (Diflucan), itraconazole (Sporanox) or ketoconazole (Nizoral);
drugs that suppress your immune system such as cancer medicines, some rheumatoid arthritis drugs or steroids, cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune, Gengraf), leflunomide (Arava), tacrolimus (Prograf), Cyclophosphamide, sirolimus (Rapamune), and others;
diltiazem (Cartia, Tiazac, Dilacor, Cardizem), amiodarone (Cordarone), or verapamil (Verelan, Isoptin, Calan);
colestipol (Colestid) or cholestyramine (Questran)
warfarin (Coumadin);
clofibrate (Atromid-S), fenofibrate (Tricor) or gemfibrozil (Lopid)
nefazodone (Serzone);
clarithromycin (Biaxin), erythromycin (Ery-Tab, E-Mycin, others), or telithromycin (Ketek);
danazol (Danocrine);
niacin (Slo-Niacin, Nicobid, Nicolar, others);

Attention! Taking simvastatin with grapefruit, grapefruit juice, or grapefruit supplements can increase the level of simvastatin in your blood.
149 drugs (A total of 480 brand and generic names) may interact with simvastatin, 41 of interactions are major, 99 are moderate and 9 are minor.

Tell You Doctor The Following Before You Take Simvastatin

simon — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:42:27 +0000

You doctor needs to know if you have any of these conditions:
• Frequent use of alcohol
• kidney disease
• liver disease
• muscle aches or weakness
• being allergic or developing unusual reactions to medicines (including simvastatin), foods, dyes, or preservatives
• pregnant, trying or planning to get pregnant
• breast-feeding
• scheduled for major surgery
• other medical conditions
You must not become pregnant or breastfeed while taking simvastatin, the medicine may cause severe adverse effects in a baby. If you are scheduled for major surgery you will have to stop taking simvastatin a few days before the operation.
You doctor make tell you to take blood test before placing you on simvastatin, additional tests may be taken after dose increase. If liver enzyme levels rise too high you doctor may tell you to stop taking simvastatin to prevent damage to your liver. Inform your doctor about any unusual pain, tenderness of stiffness in the muscles. Simvastatin may affect muscle tissue

How to Take Simvastatin

simon — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:57:24 +0000

Always follow your doctor’s instructions on how to take simvastatin. The recommendations below are for the most general case. Your personal schedule and dose may depend on medications you are taking, age, diseases that you may have and other factors.

Simvastatin is taken by mouth, usually once a day in the evening at the same time with a glass of water, with or without food. In certain cases simvastatin can be prescribed to be taken 3 times a day.
You may start low dose and gradually increase it, not more than once every 4 weeks.

Continue to take simvastatin even if you feel well. Do not stop taking simvastatin without talking to your doctor. If you experience side effects, inform your doctor immediately. Some side effects may require to stop taking simvastatin.

In the course of treatment with simvastatin you should eat a low-cholesterol, low-fat diet that includes much fruit and vegetables, cottage cheese and low fat milk, polyunsaturated or monounsaturated oils. Foods with excess fat (fat meat, cakes, cookies, gravy, peanut butter, chocolate, potato chips, fried foods , coconut, cheese, pastries, egg yolks, cream, whole milk) should be avoided.

Important! Large quantities of grapefruit juice (more than 1 quart a day) should be avoided if you a taking simvastatin!

Simvastatin Side Effects

simon — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:05:06 +0000

As any medicine, simvastatin may cause side effects. Simvastatin side effects are minor in most cases and do not require special treatment or are treated easily. Most people tolerate simvastatin well. Please note that the list below may contain not all of simvastatin side effects.

Most common simvastatin side effects:

Headache;
Abdominal pain;
Back pain;
Dizziness or weakness;
Upset stomach or nausea;
Diarrhea or constipation;
Rash, flushing, itching or redness;
Runny or stuffy nose;

Less common simvastatin side effects (less than 1 per cent of cases):

These side effects require immediate medical attention.

severe or continuous allergic reactions
difficulty breathing;
face, lips, tongue or mouth swelling, rash; itching; hives;
peeling skin;
tightness in the chest;
abnormally husky voice;
changed urine color
discolored stools
yellowing of the skin or eyes
tachycardia or arrhythmia
numbness or tingling of the limbs
swelling of the limbs
severe or persistent weakness, dizziness or fainting;
severe or continuous nausea or stomach pain
fever;
joint pain;
vision problems;
persistent muscle pain or cramps
breast development in boys

Sometimes simvastatin side effects can be unpredictable. You should inform your doctor about anything in your condition that seems abnormal. According to studies, about 1.4 per cent of people have to stop taking simvastatin because of side effects.

How Simvastatin Decreases LDL

simon — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:11:06 +0000

Simvastatin is a medication referred to the class of statins. Simvastatin lowers “bad” cholesterol levels in the blood by reducing the production of LDL cholesterol in the liver, which is achieved by suppressing the action of HMG-CoA reductase in the liver, an enzyme responsible for the production of cholesterol. The decreased amounts of LDL cholesterol in the liver makes liver cells compensate the imbalance by taking cholesterol from the blood stream. As a result, the levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood decrease. It is important to note that simvastatin is the most effective when taken at night because most cholesterols are produced in the body at night.
What is “bad” cholesterol or LDL? LDL stands for low density lipoprotein, the type of cholesterol that accumulates in the arteries and narrows them (atherosclerosis) which is associated with high risks of heart disease. As opposed to LDL, the so called “good” cholesterol (HDL, high density lipoprotein) prevents depositing “bad” cholesterol in the arteries.
Narrowed or blocked arteries limits the amount of oxygen being delivered to the heart muscle, which results in chest pain (angina) and in worst cases – a heart attack (myocardial infarction).

Timely treatment with simvastatin can prevent first or second heart attack. That is why it is so important to know your LDL levels, especially if your lifestyle is not quite healthy, and contact a doctor in case of such warning signs as chest pain.
A small decrease in the production of triglycerides (other ‘bad fats’ ) in the blood called and a slight increase of “good” cholesterol is an additional beneficial effect of simvastatin.

Simvastatin: Recovery Story

simon — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:36:28 +0000

Falling ill is not always that bad, now I know that. When I learned the news about high cholesterol I was depressed. I was sure bad things can happen to anyone but me. The necessity to take simvastatin was an unpleasant bonus, I hate to depend on meds. But now I see that at different angle.

Understanding that taking simvastatin could be in vain if don’t change my lifestyle brought about really positive changes. I never touched a hamburger or cigarette since I started treatment with simvastatin and I never skip daily exercises. That alone benefited my health as nothing before that.
I do 30 min exercises daily and I’m satisfied with the results. I lost 10 lbs and I don’t feel short of breath during long or intensive walks or jogging. Blood tests show improvements as well, liver is ok. That took me about 3 months.

I experienced none of the side effects I was warned about so I think the treatment is going on well. Getting prescribed simvastatin changed my life and taking simvastatin turned out to be very beneficial. I don’t think I would be able to give up smoking and unhealthy food if the treatment terms haven’t been so strict. Now my aim is to eliminate the necessity to take simvastatin as soon as possible. And never fall into the dangerous high- cholesterol state again.