According to the American Heart Association, more than 100 million Americans over age 20 have high cholesterol and are at increased risk of both heart attack and stroke. First marketed as Pravachol in 1991 by Bristol-Myers Squibb, pravastatin is one of many cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins) prescribed for the prevention and treatment of both coronary artery and cerebrovascular disease. Commonly, statin drugs are used as monotherapy but can be combined with other cholesterol-lowering medications. Side effects of pravastatin are common, and you should discuss them with your doctor.
Common Side Effects
Cholesterol-lowering medications, such as pravastatin, are generally well tolerated. Side effects are usually self-limited and not serious. Abdominal complaints such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and heartburn occur in less than 7 percent of patients, according to "UptoDate." Other symptoms can include rash, headache, dizziness, chest pain and fatigue.
Muscle Pain
Myalgia, or muscle pain, may occur in up to 3 percent of pravastatin users, although myalgias were seen just as frequently in the control group. Muscle pain is more likely to occur in patients taking multiple cholesterol-lowering medications and in those with diabetes, hypothyroidism and pre-existing liver or kidney diseases.
Rhabdomyolysis, a serious and potentially fatal condition characterized by extensive muscle damage, is a very rare complication of statin use. Severe muscle pain, weakness, and dark, cola-colored urine are the recognized symptoms and should prompt immediate medical attention. According to a 2005 study published in "The Lancet," the risk of rhabdomyolysis among statin users (including pravastatin) was less than 0.03 percent and almost exclusively experienced by patients taking a different statin drug (cerivastatin) that is no longer available in the United States.
Liver Abnormalities
An asymptomatic elevation of liver enzymes (transaminases) can be identified in the blood in a minority of patients taking statins and can be reversed by reducing the dose or stopping the drug. According to a 2006 study in "Circulation," less than 1 percent of patients taking pravastatin developed a transaminase elevation. Transaminases are routinely monitored while taking any statin medication.
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