Take the missed dose as soon as you remember. If it is almost time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and take only the next regularly scheduled dose. Do not take extra LIPITOR dose to make up the missed dose.
What happens if I miss a dose lipitior?
November 16th, 2009LIPITOR Side Effects
November 11th, 2009With more than 15 years of research, LIPITOR has been studied in more than 400 ongoing and completed studies involving over 80,000 patients. It is generally well tolerated. LIPITOR can be taken at any time of day with or without food. Side effects are usually mild and may go away.
Obesity Tied to Prostate Cancer Recurrence
November 10th, 2009Obesity increases the risk of prostate cancer recurrence in both black and white men, says a U.S. study that challenges previous research suggesting obesity may be more significant for black men.
“Not so. Obesity leads to worse cancer in both groups,” study senior author Dr. Stephen Freedland, an associate professor of urology and pathology at the Duke University Medical Center Prostate Center, said in a news release from the school.
Freedland and study author Dr. Jayakrishnan Jayachandran, a urology oncology fellow, examined the medical records of 1,415 prostate cancer patients who had undergone a radical prostatectomy. They found that race had no influence on the relationship between obesity and the aggressiveness of the cancer.
“We found that higher BMI [body-mass index] was associated with significantly increased risk of cancer recurrence for both blacks and whites,” Jayachandran said in the news release.
The reason why obesity increases the risk of prostate cancer recurrence isn’t clear, but altered hormone levels might play a role.
“Obesity is associated with more estrogen and less testosterone, and it may be that lower testosterone promotes more aggressive tumors as recent studies have suggested,” Jayachandran said.
Other obesity-related changes in the production of hormones, such as insulin, insulin-like growth factor or leptin, may also be involved in the development of more aggressive prostate cancer.
“This is something we simply do not understand, but we are actively studying all of these factors,” Jayachandran said.
Possible side effects of Lipitor
November 1st, 2009All medicines may cause side effects, but many people have no, or minor, side effects. Check with your doctor if any of these most COMMON side effects persist or become bothersome:
Constipation; gas; headache; stomach pain or upset; weakness.
Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur:
Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); bone, joint, or tendon pain; change in the amount of urine produced; chest pain; dark urine; fever, chills, or persistent sore throat; flu-like symptoms; joint pain; muscle pain, tenderness, or weakness (with or without fever or fatigue); painful or frequent urination; pale stools; red, swollen, blistered, or peeling skin; severe stomach pain; swelling of the hands, ankles, or feet; yellowing of the eyes or skin.
This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects.
Before using Lipitor :
October 28th, 2009Some medical conditions may interact with Lipitor . Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you have any medical conditions, especially if any of the following apply to you:
-if you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding
-if you are taking any prescription or nonprescription medicine, herbal preparation, or dietary supplement
-if you have allergies to medicines, foods, or other substances
-if you have low blood pressure, a serious infection, or a history of seizures
-if you have metabolism, hormonal, or electrolyte problems
-if you drink alcohol or have a history of liver problems or alcohol abuse
-if you have recently had major surgery, a serious injury, or a stroke
Some MEDICINES MAY INTERACT with Lipitor . Tell your health care provider if you are taking any other medicines, especially any of the following:
*Amiodarone, azole antifungals (eg, itraconazole, ketoconazole), colchicine, diltiazem, fibrates (eg, clofibrate, gemfibrozil), fluconazole, HIV protease inhibitors (eg, ritonavir), imatinib, immunosuppressants (eg, cyclosporine), macrolides (eg, erythromycin), mibefradil, nefazodone, niacin, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (eg, delavirdine), streptogramins (eg, dalfopristin), telithromycin, vasopressin receptor antagonists (eg, conivaptan), verapamil, or voriconazole because they may increase the risk of muscle or kidney problems
*Bosentan, carbamazepine, efavirenz, rifampin, or St. John’s wort because they may decrease Lipitor ’s effectiveness
*Digoxin, hormonal contraceptives (eg, birth control pills), macrolide immunosuppressants (eg, tacrolimus), or spironolactone because the risk of their side effects may be increased by Lipitor
This may not be a complete list of all interactions that may occur. Ask your health care provider if Lipitor may interact with other medicines that you take. Check with your health care provider before you start, stop, or change the dose of any medicine.
How should I take Lipitor?
October 21st, 2009Take Lipitor exactly as it was prescribed for you. Do not take the medication in larger amounts, or take it for longer than recommended by your doctor. Follow the directions on your prescription label.
Take Lipitor with a full glass of water. This medication can be taken with or without food.
Lipitor is usually taken once a day. Try to take your dose at the same time each day. Follow your doctor’s instructions.
To be sure this medication is helping your condition, your blood will need to be tested on a regular basis. Your liver function may also need to be tested. Do not miss any scheduled appointments.
In rare cases, Lipitor can cause a condition that results in the breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue. This condition can lead to kidney failure. Call your doctor at once if you have unexplained muscle pain or tenderness, muscle weakness, fever or flu symptoms, and dark colored urine.
Lipitor is only part of a complete program of treatment that also includes diet, exercise, and weight control. Follow your diet, medication, and exercise routines very closely.
You may need to take Lipitor on a long-term basis for the treatment of high cholesterol.
Store Lipitor at room temperature, protected from moisture, heat, and light.
Unhooking the Obesity-Diabetes Connection
October 20th, 2009Scientists may be closer sometimes to solving sometimes a a few medical mysterious unusually w. dense implications in behalf of house and brilliantly public occasionally health : Why manner obese ppl are manner prone sometimes to developing systematically type 2 diabetes.
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Restoring T cells sometimes to any more occasionally normal levels literally reversed w. indifference gain and dramatically improved greatly improve significantly improved insulin violent resistance, be revenged when the mice continued on sometimes a high-fat abstain.
The fourth exploration looked at sometimes a the maximum rate of one more high class of unsusceptible cells automatically called mast cells, which are any more a little commonly linked sometimes to allergies.
An over-abundance of mast cells contributed sometimes to plumpness and diabetes in mice, but then when mast cells were removed fm. the pretty system the jam was corrected, account in behalf of by exploration Sr. a. Guo-Ping Shi, sometimes a biochemist w. Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
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Well-placed defibrillators could save many lives
October 20th, 2009Placing portable defibrillators in schools and other busy public spaces could get timely, possibly life-saving, treatment to many people whose hearts stop beating, according to two studies published Monday.
Most cases of cardiac arrest occur when the heart goes into ventricular fibrillation, a heart-rhythm disturbance in which the heart begins to quiver chaotically and can no longer pump blood around the body.
An electrical shock from a defibrillator can restore the heart’s normal rhythm and reverse cardiac arrest. In recent years, portable, layperson-friendly versions of the devices, called automated external defibrillators (AEDs), have been placed in a growing number of public places.
AEDs automatically analyze the heart’s rhythm and, if needed, instruct the user to deliver a shock.
In one of the new studies, researchers found that at 1,710 U.S. high schools with AEDs on site, nearly two-thirds of cardiac arrest victims survived. That compares with a typical survival rate of only about 5 percent when cardiac arrest occurs outside of a hospital.
In the second study, Danish researchers found that following guidelines from the American Heart Association (AHA) on placement of AEDs in public places could get prompt treatment to nearly 70 percent of cardiac arrests that occur in public.
The studies, both published in the AHA journal Circulation, suggest that strategically placed AEDs could improve the dismal survival rates from cardiac arrest.
The findings from the high school study are “good news,” according to lead researcher Dr. Jonathan A. Drezner, because while rare — the study found that it happened to about 4 in 100,000 student athletes per year — cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in young athletes.
AEDs can also be life-saving for adults on school grounds. Of the 36 cardiac arrests in the high school study, 22 occurred in adults. Fourteen of those victims survived, as did nine of 14 student athletes.
“Placing AEDs in schools in schools is a strategic way to protect children, young athletes and adults from a catastrophic outcome if they suffer an unexpected cardiac arrest,” Drezner, an associate professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, told Reuters Health.
The Danish study looked at the potential effectiveness of following two different guidelines on public placement of AEDs: the AHA guidelines, which recommend the devices for places that see at least one cardiac arrest every five years, and European guidelines that call for AEDs in public areas that see one cardiac arrest every two years.
The AHA advice, researchers estimate, would have covered 67 percent of cardiac arrests that occurred in Copenhagen over 10 years. The European guidance would have covered just 20 percent.
Still, wider AED placement is not enough on its own, according to lead researcher Dr. Fredrik Folke, of Gentofte University Hospital in Denmark. It’s still up to bystanders who witness a person collapse to quickly get help — calling 911 and alerting personnel who will know where the AED is, and how to use it.
Performing immediate CPR also remains vital, Folke told Reuters Health, since a victim’s chances of survival drop 10 percent for each minute defibrillation is delayed; CPR improves those odds.
Similarly, schools need to have an overall emergency response plan to cardiac arrest, Drezner’s team points out. That includes training all staff in the signs of cardiac arrest and the location of the school AED, Drezner said. He added that all coaches and physical education teachers should know how to perform CPR and use the AED.
In his study, 83 percent of schools had an emergency response plan, but only 40 percent reviewed and practiced it at least once a year.
SOURCE: Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, August 11, 2009.
Do NOT use Lipitor if:
October 13th, 2009*you are allergic to any ingredient in Lipitor
*you have liver problems or unexplained abnormal liver function tests
*you are pregnant or breast-feeding
*you are taking an HIV protease inhibitor (eg, ritonavir), itraconazole, or mibefradil
Contact your doctor or health care provider right away if any of these apply to you.
Before taking Lipitor
October 7th, 2009Do not use this medication if you are allergic to atorvastatin, if you are pregnant or breast-feeding, or if you have liver disease.
Before taking Lipitor, tell your doctor if you are allergic to any drugs, or if you have:
diabetes;
underactive thyroid;
kidney disease;
a history of liver disease; or
a muscle disorder.
If you have any of these conditions, you may need a dose adjustment or special tests to safely take Lipitor.
FDA pregnancy category X. This medication can cause birth defects. Do not use Lipitor if you are pregnant. Tell your doctor right away if you become pregnant during treatment. Use an effective form of birth control while you are using this medication. It is not known whether atorvastatin passes into breast milk or if it could harm a nursing baby. Do not take Lipitor without telling your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby. Lipitor is not for use in children younger than 10 years of age.