A culmination of causes and risk factors result in an elevation of blood cholesterol; among them are heredity, lifestyle choices and dietary choices. In some cases, changes in lifestyle and eating habits are enough to lower blood cholesterol to healthy limits. In others medication is needed to reduce cholesterol levels and preserve a person's health and well-being. While these medications all have benefits, they also have side effects that accompany them.
Statins
Statins are some of the most commonly used cholesterol-lowering drugs on the market. These drugs help reduce blood cholesterol by preventing the formation of LDL cholesterol in the liver, according to the American Heart Association.
The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute states that patients taking these drugs may see a 20 to 60 percent reduction in their bad cholesterol. While these benefits are impressive, a number of side effects accompany statins that can be unpleasant and sometimes severe.
One of the most common side effects is muscle pain. The pain can range from mild to severe, and it generally presents as muscle soreness, weakness or fatigue.
Patients who take statins may also experience an increase in liver enzymes, which are protein molecules produced by the liver that increase the rate of chemical reactions in the body. As the Mayo Clinic explains, a mild increase of liver enzymes is usually okay and patients can continue taking the drug. If the increase is severe and enzymes rise too high, patients must discontinue use. Over time, increased liver enzymes may lead to liver damage, and for this reason, doctors use routine blood tests to monitor the liver enzyme levels of patients taking statins.
Stains may also cause digestive problems in some people, including constipation, nausea or diarrhea. Taking the medication with an evening meal can help ease these effects.
Resins
Also known as bile acid sequestrants and bile acid binding resins, resins help lower cholesterol by binding to the bile acids the body produces during digestion, ridding the body of them. Because cholesterol produces these acids, the body uses excess cholesterol to produce more bile acids, ultimately lowering cholesterol levels, as FamilyDoctor explains. These drugs typically lower cholesterol by 10 to 20 percent. In some cases, a doctor prescribes these drugs in combination with statins to increase the efficacy.
Drugs in this class include Prevalite, Welchol and Colestid. Many patients experience few or no side effects with this medication. Some of the most common side effects of these drugs involve the digestive tract and include constipation, a feeling of fullness, bloating, gas and nausea. Resins are also available in a powder form, and mixing the powdered resin with a fiber laxative may relieve constipation.
Fibrates
While many cholesterol-lowering drugs are most effective at reducing LDL cholesterol, fibrates actually do little for this blood cholesterol type. Instead, fibrates are more effective at lowering high triglycerides or raising high-density lipoproteins, or HDL--the good cholesterol. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute states that, on average, fibrates reduce triglycerides by 20 to 50 percent and increase HDL levels by 10 to 15 percent.
The three drugs in this class include Lopid, Atromid-S and Tricor, and even while most patients tolerate these drugs well, gastrointestinal problems may occur. The most common are nausea and stomach pain. In addition, patients taking these medications have a greater risk of developing cholesterol gallstones, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. In rare cases, patients may develop rhabdomyolysis, a condition that destroys the muscles.
