Lipitor is a prescription medicine that is used along with a low-fat diet.
It lowers the LDL ("bad") cholesterol and triglycerides in your blood. It can raise your HDL ("good") cholesterol as well. LIPITOR can lower the risk for heart attack, stroke, certain types of heart surgery, and chest pain in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease such as age, smoking, high blood pressure, low HDL, or family history of early heart disease. Lipitor is usually prescribed to treat high cholesterol and high triglycerides. It also helps prevent cardiovascular disease.
Trade Name—Lipitor Chemical Name—Atorvastatin Calcium Official Name—Atorvastatin Calcium The common dosage for Lipitor is 10 or 20 mg once daily. Patients who require a large reduction in LDL-C (more than 45%) may be started at 40 mg once daily. The dosage range of Lipitor is 10 to 80 mg once daily. Lipitor can be administered as a single dose at any time of the day, with or without food. The starting dose and maintenance doses of Lipitor should be individualized according to patient characteristics such as goal of therapy and response.
After initiation of Lipitor, lipid levels should be analyzed within 2 to 4 weeks and dosage adjusted accordingly. Common precautions for Lipitor can potentially interact with a number of other medications, if you are an alcoholic or drink alcohol frequently, discuss this with your healthcare provider prior to starting Lipitor, Do not eat grapefruit, drink grapefruit juice, or take supplements containing grapefruit while taking Lipitor, statins have been known to cause an increase in liver enzymes.Therefore, doctors typically recommend that you have a blood test that assesses your liver function before starting Lipitor, again 12 weeks after treatment has started, and then periodically thereafter. Lipitor is a pregnancy Category X medicine, meaning that it could potentially cause harm to your unborn child. Therefore, doctors do not recommend this drug for women who are pregnant, also if you are nursing, you should not take Lipitor.Common side effects of Lipitor are muscle problems like weakness, tenderness, or pain that happen without a good reason, especially if you also have a fever or feel more tired than usual, allergic reactions including swelling of the face, lips, tongue, and/or throat that may cause difficulty in breathing or swallowing, which may require treatment right away, experience nausea and vomiting, pass brown or dark-colored urine, feel more tired than usual, skin and whites of your eyes get yellow, stomach pain, have an allergic skin reaction, diarrhea, tiredness, tendon problems.
