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Are you struggling to improve your health with cholesterol prescription medication? Changing to a healthy diet with increased physical activity can help some people reduce their high cholesterol and prevent heart disease. However, such lifestyle changes may be insufficient for others, requiring prescription medications to lower their high cholesterol level.
If you are one of them, you may have heard of various medications without being able to pick one due to your lack of knowledge about how they work. In this article, you can discover the relationship between the types of cholesterol, the different types of cholesterol medications to lower them, and how compound pharmacies can help you get the most suitable cholesterol medicine.
Types of Cholesterol Prescription Medication: HDL and LDL Cholesterol
Before discovering the types of medication to use, it’ll be beneficial to know the types of cholesterol to understand what the drugs will do. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is generally known as bad cholesterol because a high LDL cholesterol level can build up in the blood vessels, clot, and cause a heart attack.
Contrastingly, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is regarded as good cholesterol because it takes excess cholesterol in the body to the liver for removal from the body. Therefore, when you raise HDL cholesterol levels, you will inevitably lower LDL cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease since HDL eliminates cholesterol in the body.
Types of Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs
With everyone not being lucky enough to have lifestyle changes that help them lower their cholesterol level, cholesterol-lowering medication may help them achieve their goal. A person with heart disease and stroke record should also consider getting cholesterol-lowering medicines to lower LDL cholesterol to a non-risk level.
Furthermore, if you are 40-75 years with diabetes, have a high risk of heart disease, and have a cholesterol level of 70mg/dL or more, getting medication for high cholesterol treatment will help reduce cholesterol. Moreover, a cholesterol level of 190mg/dL or more is enough to get you to start searching for cholesterol-lowering medications.
Statin medications
One of the standard high cholesterol treatment options, statins reduce cholesterol production in the liver. They are also called HMG CoA reductase inhibitors because they lower cholesterol production by blocking the HMG CoA reductase enzyme, the producer of cholesterol.
With statin therapy, you can lower triglycerides in your body and stop platelets from clumping together and causing blood clots. It’s noteworthy that statins may cause side effects like memory issues, headaches, constipation, cold-like symptoms, nausea, increased glucose levels, or muscle pain; thus, talk about them with your doctor before using the medication.
Cholesterol Absorption Inhibitors
To prevent cardiovascular disease, this cholesterol-lowering medicine can help reduce dietary cholesterol absorbed in the intestines. By lowering such absorption, there will be a decreased delivery of cholesterol into the liver, reducing high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol after increasing hepatic LDL receptor activity.
Cholesterol absorption inhibitors also serve as a treatment plan for hyperlipidemia by reducing the total cholesterol in the body. In your quest to avoid developing cardiovascular disease by using this drug, you should beware of the side effects such as fatigue, stomach aches, headaches, and diarrhea.
Bile Acid Sequestrants
With their ability to attach to bile in the intestine, bile acid sequestrants can help lower cholesterol by preventing the bile from being produced by the liver. This medication works because bile is made of cholesterol, and the less of it your liver produces, the less cholesterol you’ll have.
Also known as bile acid resin, the medication also blocks your liver from absorbing bile acids in your stomach, leaving the liver to absorb the cholesterol in your blood as an alternative. Before using this medication, consider its side effects like bloating, constipation, loss of appetite, vomiting, upset stomach, or indigestion.
Nicotinic Acid
As a B vitamin, nicotinic acid is one of the dietary supplements and over-the-counter drugs that can help you reduce LDL cholesterol and blood fat production in the liver. However, this is one of the nutritional supplements to be wary of because it has several limitations.
A person with liver disease or gout should avoid using this supplement. Since it’s also one of the supplements that can increase blood sugar, people with diabetes should avoid it. Failure to adhere to its restrictions may cause potential side effects such as an upset stomach, itching, or headache.
Fibrates
If you are at risk of developing heart disease, using fibrates can help reduce triglyceride levels. By lowering triglycerides, fibrates will ensure a reduction in LDL cholesterol and decrease cardiovascular risk factors.
Despite improving cardiovascular health, the medication varies in its effects on users. If you have severe liver damage, it may cause you harm. Other side effects to look out for include weight loss, muscle pain, bloating, or constipation.
PCSK9 Inhibitors
When people use other medications without success and still have a high risk of developing heart disease, PCSK9 inhibitors are usually the medication to use. They work by attaching to the surface protein in the liver.
Once they attach to the protein, they ensure a reduction in LDL cholesterol. Just like other drugs, they have side effects such as cold-like symptoms, back pain, and swelling.
How to Take Cholesterol Medication
After getting a correct diagnosis and treatments from your healthcare provider, it’s essential that you take your medications as instructed. Make sure you don’t take high doses because you are trying to heal fast; only take the prescribed dosage.
Also, you should avoid reducing your dosage to save money. Ignoring the instructions about the dosage may increase the risk of a heart attack. With the correct use of your medications, you will quickly reduce triglyceride levels and cholesterol in your body.
How Compound Pharmacies can Help With Compound Medication for Lowering Cholesterol Levels
After engaging in exercise habits and healthy diets without reducing cholesterol, the next best step is to get medications that can help you prevent the lifetime risk of heart damage. But what if the drug is causing you trouble in its current form?
As a reputable compound pharmacy, Fort Worth Pharmacy can help you create customized compound medications for your exact needs. If you want your current prescription to be made into liquid form, we can help you customize it.
Even if there’s a drug shortage, we can take the ingredients from other medications and produce what you need. Be sure to speak to us to find out the various ways we can help you.