Understanding Your Medicines: Lipitor

What is Lipitor?

Lipitor is a prescription medication used to lower cholesterol. Visit www.lipitor.com to learn more about lipitor

Background Science

When scientists and doctors advice the public about the connection between heart diseases or stroke and food, they are alluring to the role of cholesterol, in addition to other fats like triglycerides, in blocking your blood vessels. Cholesterol, classified as a steroid fat, is an important determinant of heart disease and stroke. High levels of cholesterol, referred to as bad cholesterol when combined with low density lopoproteins (LDL), which is a carrier for cholesterol in blood circulation, binds to the walls of blood vessels to form plaques. These plaques as they gets bigger and bigger blocks the blood vessels, resulting in heart attack and stroke.

Most people are not aware of the fact that the human body is capable of synthesizing cholesterol on its own. Therefore it doesn’t matter whether you consume a high cholesterol diet or not, as long as you eat high calorie or high fat diet and fail to burn it by physical activity or exercise, the body can keep making cholesterol, because the body has evolved a mechanism to store excess food as fat, and cholesterol is of course fat. The body’s ability to synthesis cholesterol should not in any way construed as an excuse to consume high cholesterol diet. Anyway the body is going to make its own cholesterol, so what is the point in avoiding cholesterol? If you are asking this question, you must be aware that eating low cholesterol diet is always better as that will translate into less body cholesterol.

How Lipitor Works

HMG-CoA is an enzyme that plays an essential role in synthesizing cholesterol in the human body. Because of its importance this enzyme is called as a rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of cholesterol in liver. Scientists have known for sometime that a group of chemicals called statins can block HMG-CoA enzyme and prevent synthesis of cholesterol. One such statin is atorvastatin, which is marketed as Lipitor by Pfizer.

Research and Clinical Studies on Lipitor

Clinical studies have shown that regular consumption of Lipitor lowers blood cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol, and raises the good cholesterol, HDL cholesterol. Lipitor reduces cholesterol level by 39 to 60% when taken along with low calorie healthy diet and exercise. According to the company web site, nearly 19 years of research and 400 clinical studies conducted over 80000 patients have supported the cholesterol lowering effect of the drug. The drug has been prescribed for more than 17 million patients. Nearly two decades of research and 400 clinical studies are formidable forte for any prescriptive medication available in the market.

Who Should Not Take Lipitor?

Don’t take Lipitor if you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant or breast-feeding, because Lipitor may harm your baby. People having liver problems or who are allergic to Lipitor are also advised not take the drug.

Side Effects of Lipitor

Most serious side effects of Lipitor are muscle problems and liver problems. Muscle problem may lead to kidney failure. According to the company website side effects have happened to only a small number of people and the site also claims that those side effects go away if the drug dose is reduced or stopped. In clinical studies patients reported other side effects such as diarrhea, upset stomach, muscle and joint pain, alterations in lab tests, tiredness and tendon problems.

As with any drugs patients must consult their doctor before taking Lipitor and tell the doctor about any side effects and other medicines taken along with Lipitor. Patients must be aware that some medicines should not be taken with Lipitor and the doctor must know all the medicines the patient is taking.