Is Atorvastatin Intake Safe To Lower Cholesterol?

Posted on Tue, 4 Feb 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 4 Feb 2014 Answered on

Thu, 27 Feb 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : My husband was prescribed simvastatin and had real problems with the medication - nausea, stomach cramps and some dizziness. He stopped taking that medication but is not able to lower his cholesterol on diet alone. He has now been prescribed atorvastatin. Isn't this likely to cause the same problem since it works in the same way?

Answered by Dr. Vaddadi Suresh (23 minutes later)

Brief Answer: ask your doc to change over to Rosuvastatin Detailed Answer: Hi XXXX you are correct. As both atorva and simvastatin works in the same way, he may develop similar side effects. However, as the required dose of atorvastatin is lesser than simvastatin, he may not have that severe problem. I would suggest, that you may ask your doc to change over to Rosuvastatin which is less lipophilic than atorva or simva, so that he may tolerate it. finally if none is tolerable, there are alternative drugs like ezetimibe or fibrates. Hope i answered your question. All the best.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar