"I can't take statins anymore, it's all side effects!"
Lao Liu was diagnosed with coronary heart disease a few years ago, and the doctor prescribed him a statin and told him to take it on time. But some time ago he saw from the Internet that statins have side effects.
Thinking that he was not feeling unwell during this time, and because the medicine was poisonous, he secretly stopped the medicine.
At first, it was fine, but recently he began to show signs of chest tightness and shortness of breath continuously, and one night, he suddenly couldn't breathe, and when his family found out and sent him to the hospital, he was diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction, and finally the rescue failed.
1. Long-term use of statins reduces the risk of liver cancer by 74%
The importance of statin drugs in preventing cardiovascular disease is self-evident, but many patients are afraid to take them for fear of "damaging the liver". A study published last year at RWTH Aachen University Hospital in Germany may change your mind.
The researchers analysed data from nearly 1.8 million people in three large cohorts in Europe and found that those who regularly used statins in the general population had a 15 percent lower risk of new-onset liver disease, a 28 percent lower risk of liver disease-related death, and a 74 percent lower risk of hepatocellular carcinoma than those who did not.
This is the first time that scientists have found that statins have a protective effect on the liver in the population, and statins may be used as an option to prevent liver disease in the future, but more research is needed to support this.
Statins are very important for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerotic disease, and both clinical use and research have confirmed that statins are very safe drugs. Patients who have been taking medication for a long time do not need to worry too much as they follow the doctor's instructions for regular check-ups.
Guo Yifang, vice president of Hebei Provincial People's Hospital, said that a small number of patients do have symptoms of liver injury after taking statins. But not only statins, other drugs may also bring liver side effects after taking them, and there are almost no drugs that are completely side-effect-free in clinical practice.
When taking medication, it is necessary to fully weigh the pros and cons of the drug to the body, as long as it is good > bad, you need to actively use the drug. Clinically, the use of statins in conventional doses generally does not cause liver side effects.
For patients who have just started taking the drug, it is recommended to have a blood check after 4 weeks of taking the drug to see if the cholesterol is under control and if there are any side effects in the liver. If there is a slight increase in the aminotransferase index, but not more than 3 times the normal value, it is recommended to recheck every 1~2 weeks, and if it exceeds 3 times the normal value, the drug needs to be stopped.
2. People who take statins for a long time should pay attention to three key points
Atherosclerotic plaque does not happen overnight, it takes more than ten years or even decades in between, and it takes so long for it to form, and treatment is naturally a long-term process. After taking statins, it generally takes 2~4 years to observe obvious effects, which can reduce the risk of cerebral infarction and myocardial infarction.
Liao Pengda, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Dade Road Hospital, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, reminded that in the process of using statins, three points should be paid attention to.
1. Pay attention to the time of taking the medicine
2 o'clock ~ 3 o'clock in the morning is the peak period of cholesterol synthesis in the liver, it is recommended to take medicine before going to bed, which can make the blood concentration of cholesterol synthesis peak to the peak, and have a better lipid-lowering effect.
Statins used in clinical practice can be divided into two types: long-acting and short-acting, among which atorvastatin and rosuvastatin are long-acting statins, which can maintain a lipid-lowering effect for more than 20 hours at a time, so it is also possible to take the drug at a fixed time point a day.
Simvastatin, lovastatin and other short-acting lipid-lowering drugs have a half-life of only 1~2 hours, so it is recommended to take them before bedtime.
2. Take it for a long time
Cholesterol in the body is synthesized every day, so it is necessary to maintain the blood concentration of statins at a certain concentration, and taking the drug once a day is a reasonable way to take it. Especially for some people who are at risk of cardiovascular disease, it is important to stick to daily medications.
3. Can I stop the drug after normal blood lipids?
People who take statins for conditions such as myocardial infarction, angina, acute coronary syndrome, and ischemic stroke need to maintain LDL cholesterol levels below 1.8 mmol/L or even lower for a long time. Therefore, even if the blood lipids return to normal values, the drug cannot be blindly stopped.
3. When taking statins, it is best to eat less of these 4 things
When lipids are improved with medication, lifestyle changes, including dietary changes, should be made at the same time. When taking statins, there are 4 types of foods that cannot be eaten together, and eating the wrong one can even harm the body.
1. High-cholesterol foods
For example, large fish and meat, animal offal and fried barbecue foods contain a lot of cholesterol and should be avoided as much as possible during the period of taking the medicine.
2. Grapefruit foods
The furanocoumarin in grapefruit, grapefruit and other grapefruit foods will inhibit the normal metabolism of statins, which is easy to increase the blood concentration abnormally, which will bring unnecessary side effects to the body.
3. Foods rich in vitamin E
Vitamin E significantly accelerates the clearance of simvastatin, reduces the efficacy of the drug, and is not conducive to disease control.
4. Alcoholic foods
Both alcohol and drugs need to be metabolized through the liver, and drinking alcohol while taking the drug can inhibit the body's absorption of statins, and there may be some interactions that can have adverse health effects.
If you take statins for a long time, you must not stop the drug at will, you must pay attention to avoid it, no matter how hungry you are, you must endure it, and you must strictly abide by the will to take the medicine to avoid adverse reactions.
Resources:
[1] "JAMA Sub-journal: Statin Really Protects the Liver!Scientists found for the first time that the use of statins in the general population is related to a 74% reduction in the risk of liver cancer and a 28% decrease in the risk of death due to liver disease丨Clinical Discovery".Singularity.com 2023-06-28
[2] "Shaping Heart School| What should I pay attention to with statins?", Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2023-12-28
[3] "Statin can lower lipids, but I am afraid of side effects?4 medication matters, 4 indicators, all need to be known early~".
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