Precautions
Zetia (Ezetimibe) is different from statins. They do not raise the blood sugar, there are studies that show an improvement of glycemia while using Zetia. Nausea and vomiting may be a side effect of Zetia. You can try to stop it for some days, and observe.
Does ezetimibe cause high blood sugar?
What are some serious side effects of ezetimibe?
- Severe muscle damage, muscle pain or weakness (rhabdomyolysis, myopathy)
- Liver damage or increases in liver enzyme levels
- Allergic reactions
What are the side effects of ezetimibe?
The cholesterol absorption inhibitor, ezetimibe, is one of the nonstatin drugs that additionally reduces ASCVD risk, when added to a statin, leading to a modest reduction of LDL-C by about 20%.2 The aim of this review is to address the question of therapeutic efficacy, as expressed through the hypolipemic and ASCVD risk reduction effect and safety of ezetimibe in combination therapy with statins.
Is ezetimibe a statin drug?
What Conditions does EZETIMIBE Treat?
- high cholesterol
- homozygous inherited high blood cholesterol
- heterozygous inherited high blood cholesterol
- high cholesterol and high triglycerides
- excess absorption of diet plant and shellfish sterols and cholesterol
- excessive fat in the blood
What does ezetimibe treat?
How much does ezetimibe lower cholesterol?
Ezetimibe is a cholesterol-lowering drug from the class of cholesterol absorption inhibitors, with the potency to decrease LDL-C by about 10–18% and Apo B by 11–16%, while in combination therapy with statins, an additional LDL-C lowering of 25% or total LDL-C lowering of 34–61% is observed.
When is the best time to take ezetimibe?
There is no specific time of the day that is best to take ezetimibe, as it works exactly the same whether you take in the morning, afternoon or at night. Ezetimibe is taken once a day, at the same time each day and it can be taken with or without food.
How much does ezetrol lower cholesterol?
Ezetimibe: Safety and Efficacy Ezetimibe lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) by 15-20% when used alone2 as compared to 5-10% from doubling the dose of statin.
How is ezetimibe different from a statin?
Ezetimibe inhibits cholesterol absorption in the intestine whereas statins inhibit cholesterol production primarily in the liver; so they have complementary effects.
What foods should be avoided when taking ezetimibe?
Grapefruit Juice: Ezetimibe interacts with grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice increases the drug levels in the blood stream potentially leading to side effects of the drug.
What drugs should not be taken with ezetimibe?
Ezetimibe is used to treat high cholesterol....You should not use ezetimibe with a "statin" cholesterol medicine (Zocor, Lipitor, Crestor, and others) if:you have active liver disease;you are pregnant; or.you are breastfeeding a baby.
What are the most common side effects of ezetimibe?
Common side effects may include:diarrhea;cold symptoms such as stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat;pain in an arm or leg;joint pain; or.muscle pain while taking ezetimibe with a statin.
What happens if you stop taking ezetimibe?
If you stop taking the drug or don't take it at all: Your cholesterol level may rise. If your cholesterol is high and not controlled for a long time, you can have narrowing of the arteries. This may lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Is 5mg of ezetimibe as effective?
These data strongly suggest that ezetimibe as a 5-mg split tablet is comparable to a whole 10-mg tablet with respect to achievement of ATP III LDL-C goals and lowering of LDL-C. This clinical equivalency is achieved at half the cost and potentially reduced toxicity.
How long should you take ezetimibe?
Ezetimibe can often be prescribed together with a statin to further lower your cholesterol levels. If you take your medicine as prescribed, your cholesterol levels should drop within 2 weeks. Usually, treatment with ezetimibe is for life. You will need to keep taking it for it to work.
Can ezetimibe cause liver damage?
by Drugs.com Yes, Zetia (ezetimibe) can cause liver damage, although it is very rare. Monitor liver enzymes for the development of serious toxic hepatitis and consider ezetimibe discontinuation if it develops.
Does ezetimibe lower blood pressure?
Official answer. Zetia does not affect blood pressure. In clinical trials Zetia did not increase or decrease patients' blood pressure. Some people may have already been diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure) before they start taking Zetia.
What are the most common side effects of ezetimibe?
Common side effects may include:diarrhea;cold symptoms such as stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat;pain in an arm or leg;joint pain; or.muscle pain while taking ezetimibe with a statin.
Does ezetimibe make you sleepy?
Ezetimibe oral tablet can cause drowsiness. It can also cause other side effects.
What is the safest drug to take for high cholesterol?
Fortunately, most side effects are mild and disappear promptly when the statin is stopped. In some cases, the problems will resolve simply by reducing the dose or switching to another statin, but care is required. Still, all in all, the statins are the safest and best tolerated of all cholesterol-lowering medications.
How long does it take for ezetimibe to work?
Ezetimibe helps stop your body taking in cholesterol from food. It usually lowers cholesterol levels within 2 weeks.
Before Taking This Medicine
You should not use ezetimibe if you are allergic to it, or if you have: 1. moderate to severe liver disease.You should not use ezetimibe with a "st...
How Should I Take Ezetimibe?
Take ezetimibe exactly as it was prescribed for you. Follow all directions on your prescription label. Do not take this medicine in larger or small...
What Happens If I Miss A Dose?
Take the missed dose as soon as you remember. Skip the missed dose if it is almost time for your next scheduled dose. Do not take extra medicine to...
What Should I Avoid While Taking Ezetimibe?
Avoid eating foods that are high in fat or cholesterol. This medicine will not be as effective in lowering your cholesterol if you do not follow a...
Ezetimibe Dosing Information
Usual Adult Dose for Hyperlipidemia:10 mg once a day with or without food.Usual Adult Dose for Sitosterolemia:10 mg once a day with or without food.
What Other Drugs Will Affect Ezetimibe?
Tell your doctor about all your current medicines and any you start or stop using, especially: 1. cyclosporine; or 2. a blood thinner (warfarin, Co...
How many cardiovascular events can be prevented with ezetimibe?
In other words, approximately 11 total cardiovascular events (MI, stroke and revascularizations) can be prevented for every 100 patients treated for 10 years with ezetimibe and simvastatin, which is essentially double the number of first cardiovascular events prevented. Therefore, providing this data on recurrent and total events helps clinicians, insurers, and patients better understand long-term benefits.
How long does ezetimibe last?
It has a half-life of approximately 22 hours due to enterohepatic circulation; it is metabolized in the small intestine and the liver – not via the cytochrome P450 system – and excreted back in bile as means of elimination. 1
What is the AHA/ACC cholesterol treatment guideline?
The 2013 American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC) cholesterol treatment guideline focused on lowering ASCVD risk through LDL-C lowering. 6 The guideline emphasized the importance of lifestyle modification and maximizing statin therapy, with attention to adherence, prior to adding non-statin therapy. The expert panel stated that non-statin therapies were an important consideration in high-risk patients when a less-than-anticipated LDL-C lowering was observed.
Does Ezetimibe lower LDL?
Ezetimibe lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) by 15-20% when used alone 2 as compared to 5-10% from doubling the dose of statin. 3 A recent pooled analysis 3 of 17 double-blind trials of patients who were already on a statin showed that the largest percent reductions in LDL-C were seen with adding ezetimibe.
Is 50 mg/dl better than statin?
The most recent IMPROVE-IT trial results reinforce the LDL-C hypothesis rather than the statin intensity hypothesis and suggest that an LDL-C closer to 50 mg/dl is even better . Ongoing outcomes trials are studying the effect of adding a PCSK-9 monoclonal antibody to statin therapy (Evaluation of Cardiovascular Outcomes After an Acute Coronary Syndrome During Treatment With Alirocumab [ ODYSSEY Outcomes ], Further Cardiovascular Outcomes Research With PCSK9 Inhibition in Subjects With Elevated Risk [FOURIER], The Evaluation of Bococizumab in Reducing the Occurrence of Major Cardiovascular Events in High Risk Subjects [SPIRE-1], SPIRE-2) to attain similar or lower LDL-C levels.
Is ezetimibe safe for statins?
Ezetimibe is a safe and efficacious non-statin LDL-C-lowering agent particularly in high-risk patients, such as those post -ACS. Clinicians now have randomized clinical trial evidence to support the prescription of ezetimibe as an add-on agent or alternative therapy in statin intolerant patients or among those with suboptimal LDL-C reductions on a statin monotherapy, incremental to lifestyle modifications. Furthermore, until further evidence is available, targeting at least 50% reduction in LDL-C levels and down to about an LDL-C of 50mg/dl seems to be an efficacious and safe strategy for utilizing ezetimibe in our clinical practice for better ASCVD outcomes in persons with recent ACS.
How should I take ezetimibe?
Take ezetimibe exactly as prescribed by your doctor. Follow all directions on your prescription label and read all medication guides or instruction sheets.
What is ezetimibe?
Ezetimibe is a prescription medicine used to lower levels of total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol in the blood.
What should I avoid while taking ezetimibe?
Avoid eating foods high in fat or cholesterol, or this medicine will not be as effective.
What other drugs will affect ezetimibe?
If you also take other cholesterol medication: Take ezetimibe 2 hours before or 4 hours after taking cholestyramine, colestipol, or colesevelam.
How long does it take for cholesterol to improve?
Your cholesterol levels may not improve for up to 2 weeks.
Can ezetimibe harm an unborn baby?
It is not known whether ezetimibe alone will harm an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Use effective birth control to prevent pregnancy while you are using ezetimibe with a statin medication.
Can ezetimibe be taken with other medications?
Ezetimibe is used in patients who cannot control their cholesterol levels by diet and exercise alone. It can be used by itself or with other medicines to treat high cholesterol. You should stay on a cholesterol-lowering diet while taking this medicine.
What is ezetimibe used for?
Ezetimibe is used to reduce cholesterol in people with high cholesterol levels.
Do you need a blood test for cholestrol?
You’ll need to have your cholesterol levels monitored while you take this drug. A cholesterol blood test will tell if your medication is working.
Does ezetimibe help with cholesterol?
Ezetimibe blocks the amount of cholesterol that’s absorbed from your intestines. This reduces cholesterol in your liver and blood.
Is Ezetimibe a generic drug?
Ezetimibe oral tablet is available as a generic drug and a brand-name drug. Brand name: Zetia.
Is ezetimibe a long term medication?
Ezetimibe is used for long-term treatment. It comes with risks if you don’t take it as prescribed.
Can you take cyclosporine and ezetimibe together?
Taking cyclosporine with ezetimibe increases the levels of both drugs in your body. Your doctor may monitor you more closely if you take these drugs together.
Can you take ezetimibe with warfarin?
Taking warfarin with ezetimibe can cause warfarin to work too well or not well enough. Your doctor may monitor you more closely if you take a blood thinner with ezetimibe.
Does ezetimibe reduce cardiovascular events?
I view this as a “proof of concept study” – proof of the concept that ezetimibe reduces cardiovascular events, including cardiac death, MI, stroke, revascularization, and unstable angina. It took so long to see the effect because on treatment LDL-Cs were so good in both group and only slightly lower with ezetimibe, 53.7 vs. 69.6 mg/dL.
Does ezetimibe improve cardiac outcomes?
Even a randomized, controlled clinical trial that showed ezetimibe improved cardiac outcomes when added to a statin got no respect. The IMPROVE-IT or “Improved Reduction of Outcomes: Vytorin Efficacy International Trial” 2 randomized patients with an acute coronary syndrome to simvastatin 40 mg/day with or without ezetimibe.
Is ezetimibe safe for older people?
There are now recent data demonstrating that ezetimibe is especially effective in older patients. The absolute reduction in cardiovascular events in IMPROVE-IT with ezetimibe was 0.9% for those under age 65, 0.8% for those age 65 to 74, but 8.7% in those 75 or older. 3 The curves for the oldest patients started to diverge in the first year. Among patients less than 75 years old only 11 needed to be treated to prevent 1 event whereas among patients less than 75 you had to treat 125 patients to prevent one event. The absolute risk reduction was 10 times higher in those over age 75! This is probably due to the fact that cholesterol absorption increases with age.
Is Ezetimibe good for older patients?
So, I guess ezetimibe is a drug of interest to older cardiologists and therapeutically very useful in older patients. But I don’t think ezetimibe should be restricted to older patients and cardiologists. Ezetimibe is generic and therefore inexpensive. Anything that lowers LDL-C by increasing LDL receptor activity reduces cardiovascular events. 5 Consequently, ezetimibe should be tried in patients with insufficient LDL-C reduction from statins alone before progressing to more expensive, “younger” agents.
What should I know about Zetia vs. statins?
Zetia isn’t a statin drug. Instead, it belongs to a class of drugs called cholesterol absorption inhibitors. (A class of drugs is a group of medications that work in a similar way.) Drugs in this class prevent your small intestine from absorbing cholesterol. For more information, see the “ How Zetia works ” section below.
What happens if you take Zetia?
While taking Zetia, tell your doctor right away if you experience extreme muscle pain, muscle tenderness, or dark-colored urine. These can be signs of rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown), which is a serious medical condition. If left untreated, it can cause your kidneys to stop working properly.
Does Zetia lower triglycerides?
Yes, treatment with Zetia should lower your triglycerides. Zetia is FDA-approved to lower your total cholesterol level, and triglycerides are one part of your total cholesterol level. For this purpose, Zetia may be used alone or with fenofibrate. For more information about the effectiveness of Zetia for lowering your triglycerides, see the “ Zetia uses ” section above.
Does Zetia affect my blood pressure or blood sugar levels?
No, clinical studies haven’t shown Zetia to affect blood pressure. And Zetia hasn’t been shown to affect blood sugar levels in clinical studies of people with diabetes and people without diabetes.
Can Zetia be crushed, split, or chewed?
The manufacturer of Zetia has n’t stated whether the tablets can be crushed, split, or chewed. Talk with your doctor or pharmacist if you have trouble swallowing Zetia tablets.
How much Zetia is in a tablet?
Zetia comes as a tablet that you swallow. It’s available in a strength of 10 mg.
What is the drug class of Zetia?
Zetia contains the active drug ezetimibe. It belongs to a class of drugs called cholesterol absorption inhibitors. Drugs in this class prevent your small intestine from absorbing cholesterol. For more information, see the “ How Zetia works ” section below.
How much does ezetimibe reduce cholesterol?
The results also showed an 18.5% reduction in LDL-C, a 3% increase in HDL-C ("good" cholesterol), and a 13% reduction in total cholesterol.
Why is Zetia prescribed?
Zetia may be prescribed to people who have had to discontinue statins because of intolerable muscle aches and pains. Zetia reduces the buildup of fats, cholesterol, and other substances on the artery walls (this process is known as atherosclerosis) and if taken long term it may reduce the risk of heart disease.
What is Zetia used for?
Zetia is a brand (trade) name for ezetimibe which is a medicine that may be used to lower cholesterol. Ezetimibe works by reducing the absorption of cholesterol from the brush border of the small intestine so that less cholesterol is delivered to the liver.
What class is Zetia?
Zetia belongs to the class of medicines known as cholesterol absorption inhibitors.
Does Zetia lower cholesterol?
Zetia may be used to lower cholesterol alone or in combination with a statin or fibrate. It has few reported side effects and few drug interactions. It is effective at lowering intestinal absorption of cholesterol by approximately 54%; however, research has not yet determined if it reduces the risk of cardiovascular hospitalizations or death.
Does Zetia cause dizziness?
Overall, Zetia has few side effects. Rarely, dizziness and gamma-glutamyltransferase increases have been reported. Research has not yet determined if Zetia reduces the risk of hospitalization or death from cardiovascular disease. It is unknown if Zetia is effective for Fredrickson Type I, III, IV, and V dyslipidemias.
Does Zetia increase liver enzymes?
Studies have not shown an increase in liver enzymes when Zetia is used as sole therapy; however, an increase has been noted when Zetia is used in combination with a statin. Zetia is available as a cost-saving generic under the name ezetimibe. 3. Downsides.
