Medical Dictionary |
A Medical Dictionary of Medical Terminology
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Your body needs some cholesterol to work properly. But if you have too much in your blood, it can stick to the walls of your arteries and narrow or even block them. This puts you at risk for coronary artery disease and other heart diseases.
Cholesterol travels through the blood on proteins called lipoproteins. One type, LDL, is sometimes called the "bad" cholesterol. A high LDL level leads to a buildup of cholesterol in your arteries. Another type, HDL, is sometimes called the "good" cholesterol. It carries cholesterol from other parts of your body back to your liver. Then your liver removes the cholesterol from your body.
What are the treatments for high cholesterol?If you have high cholesterol, lifestyle changes can help you to lower your cholesterol level. But sometimes the lifestyle changes are not enough, and you need to take cholesterol medicines. You should still continue with the lifestyle changes even though you are taking medicines.
Who needs cholesterol medicines?Your health care provider may prescribe medicine if:
There are several types of cholesterol-lowering drugs available, including:
There are also a few other cholesterol medicines (lomitapide and mipomersen) that are only for people who have familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). FH is an inherited disorder that causes high LDL cholesterol.
How does my health care provider decide which cholesterol medicine I should take?When deciding which medicine you should take and which dose you need, your health care provider will consider:
Medicines can help control your cholesterol, but they don't cure it. You need to keep taking your medicines and get regular cholesterol checks to make sure that you cholesterol levels are in a healthy range.
Statins are drugs used to lower cholesterol. Your body needs some cholesterol to work properly. But if you have too much in your blood, it can stick to the walls of your arteries and narrow or even block them.
If diet and exercise don't reduce your cholesterol levels, you may need to take cholesterol medicine. Often, this medicine is a statin. Statins interfere with the production of cholesterol in your liver. They lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and raise HDL (good) cholesterol levels. This can slow the formation of plaques in your arteries.
Statins are relatively safe for most people. But they are not recommended for pregnant patients or those with active or chronic liver disease. They can also cause serious muscle problems. Some statins also interact adversely with other drugs. You may have fewer side effects with one statin drug than another.
Researchers are also studying the use of statins for other conditions.
Food and Drug Administration