Crestor
Friday, September 7th, 2007CRESTOR lowers your LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol and your triglycerides. CRESTOR also increases the HDL, or “good,” cholesterol in your blood. In fact, in clinical trials, LDL cholesterol was decreased by up to 52% in people taking CRESTOR 10 mg (versus 7% with placebo; your results may vary) and HDL cholesterol was increased by up to 14% (versus 3% with placebo; your results may vary). To get the most benefit from CRESTOR, you should still follow a diet low in fat and cholesterol, and exercise regularly. CRESTOR is a prescription medication used along with diet and exercise to lower high cholesterol. It belongs to a group of medications called statins. Statins are widely accepted by the medical community to help those who cannot lower their cholesterol enough with diet and exercise alone. Statins offer proven benefits when prescribing guidelines are followed. For many people, the benefits of the medication outweigh the risks of developing a side effect.
In clinical trials, the safety profile of CRESTOR was found to be in line with that of other similar statins currently on the market. As with some other statin medicines studied that lower cholesterol, there is a chance of having a drug interaction while taking CRESTOR. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about all of the medications you are taking. As with other statin medicines, a drug interaction may occur if you are also taking:
Cyclosporine (Sandimmune®, Neoral®), a medicine with multiple uses, including use after organ transplants or for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis
Warfarin (Coumadin®), a blood thinner
Gemfibrozil (Lopid®), clofibrate (Atromid-S®), fenofibrate (Tricor®), and niacin (Niaspan®, Niacor®), which are other medicines that lower cholesterol
Antacids
While you are taking CRESTOR, do not start taking any of these medicines without checking with your doctor first. If you do not know whether you are taking any of these medicines, check with your doctor or pharmacist.