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simvastatin (ZOCOR)

• atorvastatin (LIPITOR); lovastatin (MEVACOR); lovastatin extended release (ALTOCOR); pravastatin (PRAVACHOL); simvastatin (ZOCOR)

• Elevated Cholesterol Levels [hide all summaries]
  The evidence for treatment, especially with cholesterol-lowering drugs, is much weaker for people who have not yet had the cardiovascular disease described above, known as primary prevention. This is especially so for those people who do not have more than one of the following risk factors: hypertension, diabetes, smoking, obesity, or a close family history of premature heart attacks or strokes.

• Muscle Damage from Interactions Between Statins and Other Commonly Prescribed Drugs [hide all summaries]
  (July 2009)
  The article lists 38 prescription drugs that can harmfully interact with statin drugs. The article also advises that No matter what statin you are taking and regardless of any interacting drugs, you should notify your prescriber immediately if you develop muscle pain, weakness or a darkening of your urine. .
• Colchicine Interactions with Other Drugs Can Be Life-Threatening [hide all summaries]
  (December 2008)
  This article lists 27 drugs that can have life-threatening interactions with the widely-used gout drug, colchicine, resulting in dangerously elevated levels of colchicine. Too much colchicine in the body leads to toxicity such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and muscle pains. Even worse, it can impair the bone marrow’s ability to make red and white blood cells, causing severe anemia and dangerously low numbers of white blood cells. When the number of white blood cells is reduced, your body may have difficulty fighting infections. Most people who have died from colchicine toxicity have had bone marrow toxicity or had preexisting kidney problems. Every patient on colchicine — whether on other drugs or not — should be alert for evidence of colchicine toxicity as described above.
• Muscle Injury From Use of Simvastatin (ZOCOR) with Amiodarone (CORDARONE) [hide all summaries]
  (November 2008)
  Despite the dangers of this combination--risk of severe muscle injury, rhabdomyolysis, which can lead to kidney failure or death--many clinicians continue to prescribe them together and cases of life-threatening adverse reactions from continue to be reported to the FDA. Patients taking simvastatin at a dose greater than 20 milligrams a day in combination with amiodarone should let their physician know that this combination puts them at high risk of muscle injury. There are other statins that do not appear to interact with amiodarone that are discussed.
• FDA and Drug Makers Should Have Warned Public Earlier About Zetia, Vytorin [hide all summaries]
  (March 2008)
  Find out why Worst Pills warned against the use of VYTORIN more than three years ago. Also, learn about new evidence showing that despite the fact that this drug lowers cholesterol, there is no evidence that it prevents heart attacks or strokes (though massive misleading advertising would have you believe otherwise).
• Is Less More? New Study Challenges Conventional Thought on Desirable Cholesterol Levels, Links Very Low Cholesterol to Cancer [hide all summaries]
  (February 2008)
  We review a recent study suggesting that very low cholesterol levels may be linked to an increased risk of cancer. The related issue discussed in the article is whether the current U.S. thinking that "lower is better," especially for those who have not yet had a heart attack or stroke or angina, is correct. There is also a discussion about the difference between primary and secondary prevention.
• The Cholesterol-Lowering Statin Drugs and Memory Loss [hide all summaries]
  (December 2005)
  In the October 2005 issue of the Canadian Adverse Reaction Newsletter, 19 case reports of memory loss or impairment associated with the use of a cholesterol-lowering statin drug were analyzed. If you are taking a statin drug and you notice memory problems, talk to your doctor about stopping the drug or reducing the dose.
• Rosuvastatin (CRESTOR) - The Most Dangerous Cholesterol-Lowering Statin Drug [hide all summaries]
  (July 2005)
  Further evidence that Crestor causes uniquely high rates of muscle and kidney damage
• Cholesterol-Lowering Statin Drugs and the Dietary Supplement Coenzyme Q10 [hide all summaries]
  (June 2005)
  You should not use coenzyme Q10 in an attempt to prevent or treat the adverse reactions associated with the use of the cholesterol lowering statin drugs.
• The Cholesterol Lowering Statin Drugs — Not All Have Proven Health Benefits [hide all summaries]
  (March 2005)
  If you must use a statin drug to control your cholesterol, you should use one that has an FDA health benefit claim in its professional product labeling. (chart with these statins listed in the article)
• Grapefruit Juice and Prescription Drugs: Some Dangerous Interactions [hide all summaries]
  (February 2004)
  The January 5th issue of the Medical Letter, a widely respected source of independent information about pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements, has a review of the increasingly researched problem of the interaction between grapefruit juice and many prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Like most interactions between chemicals in the body, this one involves the impairment, by grapefruit juice, of the body’s ability to metabolize many drugs, leading to higher than expected — and sometimes dangerous — levels of these drugs.This article lists the drugs.
• Drug Induced Psychiatric Symptoms [hide all summaries]
  (October 2002)
  This is the first of a two part series on drug induced psychiatric symptoms that is based on the July 8, 2002 issue of The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics. Regular readers of Worst Pills, Best Pills News will recognize The Medical Letter as a reference source written for physicians and pharmacists that we often use because of its reputation as an objective and independent source of drug information. The article lists the drugs and their psychiatric adverse effects.
• Grapefruit Juice and Drug Interactions [hide all summaries]
  (June 2002)
  Grapefruit juice can interact with a number of therapeutically important drugs that could lead to the possibility of toxicity. These drugs are listed in the article.
• FDA Safety Office Recommends Warning About Liver Failure With The Cholesterol Lowering “Statin” Drugs [hide all summaries]
  (January 2001)
  The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Postmarketing Drug Risk Assessment (OPDRA) recommended in a memorandum dated May 1, 2000, that liver failure be included as an adverse reaction in the professional product labeling, or “package insert” for the family of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as “statins.” The statins now being marketed in the U.S. are .....

• Statin-associated rhabdomyolysis (HRG Publication #1733) [hide all summaries]
  Letter to the editor that appeared in the April 2005 issue of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety. Submitted by Amer Ardati MD, Paul Stolley MD, Deanne E. Knapp PhD, Sidney M. Wolfe MD and Peter Lurie MD, MPH*
• Petition to the FDA to issue strong warnings about the potential for certain cholesterol-lowering drugs to cause potentially life-threatening muscle damage. (HRG Publication #1588) [hide all summaries]
  On the basis of these data, Public Citizen, representing 135,000 consumers nationwide, hereby petitions the FDA to add a black box warning and additional consistent bolded warnings about this serious problem to the label of all statins marketed in the United States.

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