Atorvastatin is a well-known medication used to treat patients with hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases. In many cases, the doctors prescribe it for a long-term period to patients to help maintain their good health. So the question arises how the body is changed if a person is on atorvastatin therapy for a long time? Should this drug be taken for a long time?
When we go deep down through the layers of medical clinical research, atherosclerosis is recognized as the main cause of the development of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. And “raising low-density lipoprotein will worsen atherosclerosis”. Among the “lipid family”, the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is considered the “bad molecule”, and the main action of statins is to reduce this “harmful lipid”, to keep the plaques in the vessels stable and prevent them from getting worse. As a result, the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases is blocked.
Atorvastatin is a medicine that works wonders in the regulation of blood lipids. Besides, it not only significantly lowers the LDL cholesterol, but also raises the HDL cholesterol, which is good for the body, and it also has a certain inhibitory effect on triglycerides. To sum up, atorvastatin shows the effects of lowering blood lipid levels, anti-inflammatory, plaque stabilizing, and preventive plaque rupture simultaneously.
So, what are the changes in the body when you take atorvastatin for a long time? It should be noted that you ought to be cautious of the possible side effects that follow if you are taking this medicine for a long time.
1. Impaired liver function
Many patients may encounter liver function abnormalities when they start using the medicine. A few of them will also experience a slight pain at the liver area and yellowing of the skin and sclera, which is called jaundice in medicine, and at the same time, the aminotransferase values will be highly raised. When the aminotransferase elevation exceeds 3 times the normal range, it is obligatory to think about stopping the administration or changing to another drug. But in the case of taking the medicine for half a year without any side effect, the chance of side effects will be significantly lower after that.
Hence, the patient is advised to go for the liver function test during the 1st, 3rd and 6th months after they take the medication. When the situation is stable, it is just every six months that a review is needed.
2. Muscle abnormalities symptoms
Muscle ache symptoms can appear if the atorvastatin is taken for a long time. Additionally, the patient may feel that the limbs are weak, they are incapable of lifting their spirits during the whole day, and they are always sleepy. At this stage, the creatine kinase value needs to be checked. In case the creatine kinase is over 10 times the normal value, the drug must be discontinued without delay.
Besides, people with complaints should look at their urine colour and if it’s dark red like soy sauce they should go to the hospital immediately because this could be rhabdomyolysis caused by the long-term use of atorvastatin.
3. Abnormal fluctuations in blood sugar
Only a small proportion of patients develops high blood sugar after prolonged treatment with atorvastatin. Indeed, atorvastatin is capable of causing blood sugar abnormalities which may lead to diabetes onset. However, this negative effect is modest compared to the huge benefits the drug brings to the health of the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system. Furthermore, quite a few of the newly diabetic patients are already prediabetic before commencing the drug. Hence, during the atorvastatin period, the patient is expected to be extra vigilant of his/her blood sugar changes and that, if any abnormality occurs, correct intervention should be done immediately. Even if the unfortunate case of new-onset diabetes takes place, stopping atorvastatin is not the general recommendation practice.
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“Dr. Rana Patir is an eminent Neurosurgeon of India with more than 30 years of experience in the field of advanced neurosurgery. Besides being a teaching faculty at AIIMS and at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, and professor of Neurosurgery at Guwahati Assam. He has also been the head of the department of Neurosurgery at Max hospitals, and Sir Ganga Ram hospital New Delhi. He is known as one of the best Neurosurgeons and spinal surgeons in India, having more than 10,000 neurosurgical procedures to his credit. He specializes in Minimal Invasive Brain and Spine Surgery, Skull Base Surgery, Neurovascular Surgery, Extra Cranial-Intracranial Bypass Surgery,”
