Side Effects Of Cholesterol Medicine

Any prescription medication can have side effects. Most of these are not pleasant. The reasoning of why we put up with these side effects is that it is better to deal with them than the condition which the medication treats - in this case, elevated cholesterol levels. Such drugs work to lower cholesterol which, in turn, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.

There are two popular classes of drugs used to treat high cholesterol. They are specifically aimed at lowering LDL cholesterol. One is the group known as statins and the others are bile acid sequestrants.The most well known of the latter group is Niacin (nicotinic acid) which comes in both prescription form and as a dietary supplement. Popular statin brands are Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor, and Pravachol. Both classes of cholesterol medicine can have troublesome side effects. Higher doses of statins may be associated with a greater risk of side effects such that side effects tend to be dose-related and may disappear after reducing the dosage or, if necessary, withdrawing the medication. However, even if side effects are experienced, cholesterol medication should not normally be discontinued without consulting a physician. But speak to your doctor immediately. Do not wait for your next visit.

Side Effects Of Cholesetrol Lowering Drugs include:

  • Constipation
  • Nausea
  • Loss of appetite
  • Pain in the upper right part of the stomach
  • Fever
  • Flu-like symptoms
  • Hoarseness
  • Extreme tiredness
  • Lack of energy
  • Rash, hives or itching
  • Muscle pain, tenderness, or weakness
  • Yellowing of the skin or eyes
  • Unusual bleeding or bruising
  • Difficulty breathing or swallowing
  • Swelling of the face, throat, tongue, lips, eyes, hands, feet, ankles or lower legs

Lowering Cholesterol Medication Should Not Be Taken In Isolation

In addition to taking a cholesterol-lowering medication, making certain changes in your daily lifestyle can also lower your cholesterol blood levels. Eating a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol with little to no grains and sugars and exercising for 30 minutes on most, if not all days, will make a big difference. As will losing weight if you are overweight. Eliminating sugar and grains will inevitably cause beneficial side effects, such as normalizing your weight, increasing your energy and lowering your blood pressure and triglycerides. Lifestyle changes will work in the majority of cases of high cholesterol so why not try those first and give yourself the chance to avoid the cholesterol medicine side effects. Your physician will be able to advise you on this.

2,500 Marvel Comics Come Online Toda

I’m guessing there’s more than a few comic book nerds lurking amongst the many readers here, so I’m going to go out on a limb and admit to being a semi-regular frequenter of Marvel.com. That makes me sound like I’m not that big of a comic nerd, so while I’m in the mood for embarrassing admissions, I’ll also state for the record that I own every issue of every Batman-related titles released between 1988 and 1998. Presently, I also read anywhere between three and seven ongoing daily web-comics as well.I could go on, but let’s summarize with “I love comics.”

I say all this because I’ve been looking to the old guard in the comic world (I hesitate to call it Old Media, but I suppose that’s what it is) to come around to discovering the web as more than a billboard for the printed comics. Over and over, by actions and direct quote, it is clear that through the offerings I’ve seen by any of the major comic publishers, they only look to their website as a way to boost print sales, instead of looking at the web as distribution platform in and of itself.

That said, though, like any good collector worth his salt, I will be sad the day that the last issue of Batman hits the comic book shelves. Still, as much as we’d like, we can’t ignore technology’s forward march. Marvel, today, is one step closer to recognizing this bittersweet fact, and they’ve decided to release more of their comics in an online version starting today. Those that regularly frequent Marvel.com will probably not be surprised by this. It has been a long slow march towards what looks like eventually releasing all their comics online.

Unfortunately, this announcement doesn’t yet herald the release of all new issues in a delayed Hulu-esque manner, yet still is still nothing to scoff at. Over 2,500 issues of various origin back-stories will be released tomorrow at the site, with 20 issues more being released each week subsequently. Much like Hulu, though, comics will only be viewable through the site’s web viewer, and cannot be downloaded to the reader’s machine for storage.

It baffles me that the major publishers can’t take a look at the growing success of online web-comic artists in their efforts to monetize themselves, and say “Hey, with our ginormous ad sales teams, we could probably make a decent living doing comics this way, too!” It is true, that many (if not most) web comic artists typify the term “starving artist,” yet some are doing quite well for themselves.  Imagine how much better they could be doing if they had a brand with ten to forty years worth of marketing behind it?  Such is the conundrum of the mainstream comic world.While that that happy day of full transition has yet to come, you’ll be able to drown that sorrow in a sea of Marvel comics in the mean time. Happy reading!