Zetia works in the digestive tract by blocking the
absorption of cholesterol from food consumed. If Zetia used in combination with
a statin it reduces LDL-C levels by an extra 15 to 20 percent. However, there
have been no strong facts or evidence claiming that adding Zetia to a treatment
regimen results in reduced patient’s risk of experiencing stroke or heart
attack.
Both Vytorin and Zetia indicate as effective therapies to
diet for the reducing elevated total cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol,
apolipoprotein B, and LDL cholesterol in patients with primary hyperlipidemia.
This medicine comes as 10 mg tablet and Vytorin is a fixed dose combination of
ezetimibe (10 mg) with different strengths of simvastatin (10, 20, 40 and 80
mg). A patient can take both medications once daily without or with food.
Common Reactions
Zetia and Vytorin can result in strong reactions such as
muscle pain, common cold, joint pain diarrhea, and upper respiratory tract
infections. They have varying effects on different patients. Other side-effects
include skeletal muscle effects causing myopathy in which the individual feels
pain in muscles, or
rhabdomyolysis. This is related to the breakdown of muscle
that results in increasing the relative dose of statin administered. With 80 mg
of simvastatin, a hike in cases of rhabdomyolysis has been observed. But
patients, who have been using Vytorin in
10/80 mg over a period of twelve months without any incidents, can continue
treatment.
Risk of Cardiovascular Events
There are diverse factors linked with stroke and coronary
heart disease. Some of which include age, ethnicity and family history. Other
common risks are high
cholesterol, unhealthy diets, obesity, excess alcohol
and physical inactivity. Hypertension is the most critical risk factor for CVD.
If your blood pressure is too high it can damage supply
route dividers, and increase your risk of building up blood coagulation. Blood
pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and is recorded as
two figures:
·
Systolic
weight – the weight of the blood when your heart pulsates to
pump blood out.
·
Diastolic
weight – the weight of the blood when your heart rests in the
middle of pulsates, which reflects how firmly your courses are opposing blood
stream.
When
to avoid Zetia and Vytorin?
Zetia and Vytorin shouldn’t be taken by patients who have
a liver impairment. Pregnant women should also avoid the drugs. If you have an
allergy to any of the components that are found in these medicines, avoid
taking them.
Zetia plus Simvastatin (Vytorin) improves risk of
cardiovascular events after an acute coronary syndrome.
Most of the patients with high-risk heart
diseases are treated with statins and have decreased LDL-C levels
but, still have increased cardiovascular risk. There are various studies to
find out whether lowering LDL-C under 70 mg/dL by adding ezetimibe to statin,
results in reduced incidence of cardiovascular events including fatal stroke,
non-fatal myocardial infarction, and readmission into the hospital for unstable
angina, cardiovascular death, and coronary revascularization within a period of
30 days of the initial treatment.
It has been found through various researches that the
addition of ezetimibe to a statin can result in a greater decline in
cardiovascular events than monotherapy with a statin. It's for the first time
that a non-statin cholesterol-lowering medication has directly shown positive
results in a study.
With Zetia plus Simvastatin (Vytorin) there has been a
significant decrease in the amount of patients who have experienced
cardiovascular problems while taking this medicine. Zetia is not implemented
for acute coronary syndromes.
