What is the drug simvastatin used for?

What is the drug simvastatin used for?

Simvastatin belongs to a group of medicines called statins. It’s used to lower cholesterol if you’ve been diagnosed with high blood cholesterol. It’s also taken to prevent heart disease, including heart attacks and strokes.

Is simvastatin a blood thinner?

The short answer is YES, but very little. Cholesterol lowering drugs, often called “statins” are intended to lower an important component of your total blood cholesterol, the LDL or “low density lipoproteins”.

What happens if you take simvastatin?

Simvastatin can cause a condition that results in the breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue, potentially leading to kidney failure. This condition may be more likely to occur in older adults and in people who have kidney disease or poorly controlled hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid).

What are the bad side effects of simvastatin?

Common simvastatin side effects may include: headache; constipation, nausea, stomach pain; or cold symptoms such as stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat.

What are side effects of taking simvastatin?

The most common side effects of simvastatin are: headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, muscle pain, and. abnormal liver tests.

What can you substitute for simvastatin?

Another alternative to statins is bile acid-binding resins, or sequestrants . These drugs work by binding to the bile in your intestines and thereby blocking cholesterol absorption into your bloodstream. These are the oldest drugs available to treat high cholesterol.

What are the differences between simvastatin and pravastatin?

simvastatin has a greater effect on decreasing LDL and TG and increasing HDL than pravastatin. but pravastatin is more safe.because Simvastatin is also more likely to cause the rare but serious side effect of rhabdomyolysis because it is primarily eliminated by the liver where as pravastatin is excreted in the urine.