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Cholesterol Pills and Grapefruit Don't Mix
Cholesterol Pills and Grapefruit Don't Mix -- Posted by Gumbo on 11-08-04 19:08
Cholesterol Pills and Grapefruit Don't Mix
Tue Nov 2, 6:02 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Taking certain cholesterol-lowering drugs at the same
time as grapefruit juice can increase the risk of potentially
life-threatening muscle toxicity, British regulators warned on Tuesday.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said the risk was
greatest with Merck & Co Inc's Zocor, or simvastatin, which recently went on
sale without prescription in Britain, and Pfizer Inc's Lipitor (news - web
sites).
The problem occurs because grapefruit contains a chemical that inactivates a
liver enzyme involved in drug metabolism. As a result, regular consumption
of grapefruit juice can lead to excessively high levels of medicine in the
blood.
The risk of serious muscle problems also increases when these cholesterol
pills, or statins, are taken along with some other drugs, including HIV
(news - web sites) protease inhibitors, the agency said in an update to
doctors.
The grapefruit hazard is not significant for other statins, such as Novartis
AG's Lescol, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's Pravachol and AstraZeneca Plc's
Crestor.
But muscle toxicity is still a recognized adverse reaction with high doses
of all statins, leading in rare cases to rhabdomyolysis -- a condition in
which muscle fibers break down and are released into the circulation,
damaging the kidney.
Worries about rhabdomyolysis have been a particular issue for Crestor, the
most potent of the anti-cholesterol drugs, with U.S. consumer group Public
Citizen calling for its withdrawal following a handful of cases.
To date, Britain's Committee on Safety of Medicines has received 10 reports
of suspected rhabdomyolysis with Crestor, the agency said.
AstraZeneca recently advised that all patients should start on the initial
dose of 10 mg of Crestor once daily and move up to a higher dose only after
a 4-week trial of 10 mg.
Despite this cautious approach, the Anglo-Swedish group says all the
evidence suggests that Crestor's safety profile is in line with that of
other marketed statins.
Re: Cholesterol Pills and Grapefruit Don't Mix -- Posted by Harvey R. Stone on 11-10-04 06:55
"Gumbo" wrote in message
news:cmpcem$c7n$0@pita.alt.net...
> Cholesterol Pills and Grapefruit Don't Mix
>
Thank you for posting this and many more. The truth of it is that many
medicines that we take by mouth are effected by grapefruit. I have RA
along with type 2 diabetes and grapefruit is a no-no with many of what a
person takes with/for RA because it increases the amount that is actually
absorbed in the gut where some of what is taken would normally go through
the gut and out.
I love grapefruit and used to eat them like an orange and gave them up.
harv
Re: Cholesterol Pills and Grapefruit Don't Mix -- Posted by dwacon on 11-23-04 22:29
"Harvey R. Stone" wrote in message
news:tZpkd.20804$bP2.8936@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
>
> "Gumbo" wrote in message
> news:cmpcem$c7n$0@pita.alt.net...
> > Cholesterol Pills and Grapefruit Don't Mix
Coming into this thread late -- does this mean not to wash down the pills
with grapefruit juice but wait a few hours... or does this mean you can
never have grapefruit again?
Thanks in advance.
--
du werdest eine krankenschwester brauchen
http://www.dwacon.com
Re: Cholesterol Pills and Grapefruit Don't Mix -- Posted by Harvey R. Stone on 11-24-04 08:57
> Coming into this thread late -- does this mean not to wash down the pills
> with grapefruit juice but wait a few hours... or does this mean you can
> never have grapefruit again?
>
> Thanks in advance.
You can not have grapefruit juice in and past your stomach and take medicine
by mouth at the same time. Your body will get more of the medicine than
normal and the amount you take is measured by what you normally absorb.
Soooooooo, the amount your doctor thinks you are getting is going to be
greater.
I really do not know how to say this to you. If you get that you can
not eat it again out of this,,, I can't help you. If you are like me with
type 2 diabetes and Rheumatoid arthritis,,,, There are no days when I am
not taking some kind of medicine. If there were some days when I did not
take something,,, I would love to eat a grapefruit,,,, or two or three.
Harv
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