So you may be more likely to experience liver problems if you drink alcohol during your Lipitor treatment. However, even medications that don’t require a prescription can be unsafe when mixed with alcohol. For example, OTC painkillers (including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) can cause a range of symptoms from gastrointestinal upset to bleeding and ulcers in the stomach to tachycardia (racing heart). Mild liver inflammation can occur in about 2% of people who take statins for a long time. While it typically gets better after stopping taking the medications, there has been concern that alcohol (which is metabolized by the liver) could potentially make liver inflammation worse. If you’re drinking excessively or regularly, you are increasing the risk of adverse medication reactions.
Impact of Drinking Patterns and Types of Alcoholic Beverages on Risk
- Data from isolated papillary and heart muscle cell (myocyte) experiments demonstrate that acute physiologic intoxicating doses of alcohol (80 mg% to 250 mg%) can have a negative inotropic effect (Danziger et al. 1991; Guarnieri and Lakatta 1990).
- Approximately 1 to 2 drinks per day may have no effect on or lead to a slight reduction in stroke events; however, greater daily alcohol levels increase the risk for all stroke events and incident stroke types.
- If you do experience more side effects than usual, your doctor may recommend a different birth control option for you.
- Low-to-moderate alcohol use may mitigate certain mechanisms such as risk and hemostatic factors affecting atherosclerosis and inflammation, pathophysiologic processes integral to most CV disease.
Heavy drinking is consistently tied to negative health outcomes, including high LDL (bad) cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure (7, 8, 9, 10). Taking diltiazem with Lipitor can increase your risk of side effects from Lipitor. This is because diltiazem can block your body’s ability to break down Lipitor. This can raise your risk of side effects, including serious side effects such as myopathy (muscle pain), rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown), and liver problems.
Light to moderate alcohol drinking can raise HDL, but heavy drinking can increase total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides. A few studies have found that people who drink alcohol in moderation have lower rates of heart disease, and might even live longer than those who abstain. Alcohol has also been tied to a lower risk of blood clots and decreased levels of inflammation markers. Additionally, if you have an underlying health condition like heart disease or high blood pressure (hypertension), mixing alcohol with your medications can put you at risk for complications. To help reduce health problems, medical experts often recommend limiting alcohol intake to one drink per day for women and no more than 2 drinks per day for men.
Data Availability Statement
Liver injury in people who drink alcohol and take statins is most likely caused by the alcohol, with no additional effect from the statins. However, heavy drinkers or those who already have liver damage due to heavy drinking could be at greater risk for more serious side effects. They do not pass readily through cell membranes, and they are major components of very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDLs), which are converted in the blood to LDLs. High levels of triglycerides in the blood have therefore been linked to atherosclerosis, heart disease, and stroke.
Eat heart-healthy foods
Heavy drinking is also linked with high levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, which can further worsen heart health. mdma wiki By some estimates, about 9% of people who take statins are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes after taking them for 4 years. Before taking statins, it is important to talk with a doctor about alcohol consumption habits and how much alcohol is safe to drink. It’s not uncommon to have abnormal liver function tests when taking Lipitor, but there are other considerations when looking at the effects of statins on the liver. According to the official package insert approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Lipitor should be used with caution in patients who consume substantial quantities of alcohol and/or have a history of liver disease. They stabilize and reduce the size of the coronary artery plaques that can lead to heart attacks, the leading cause of death in the U.S. before cancer.
Most investigators also define the amount of alcohol that constitutes a “standard” drink as 12 to 15 g (with only slight variation). Too much alcohol can lead to serious health problems, including high blood pressure, heart failure and strokes. If you’re concerned about your cholesterol levels or alcohol intake, talk with a healthcare professional. This article explains how alcohol intake affects cholesterol levels and heart health. In particular, red wine might offer the greatest benefit for lowering heart disease risk and death because it contains higher levels of natural plant chemicals — such as resveratrol — that have antioxidant properties and might protect artery walls. The doctor will also ask you how much alcohol you drink before prescribing statins.
Causes & Risk Factors
In another cohort, the risk of AMI appears weak in red wine drinkers, intermediate for white wine drinkers, and high for beer and spirits 13. In type 2 diabetic patients, moderate wine but not beer or spirit drinkers presented a 22%–23% lower risk of MACE and overall mortality compared to abstainers, with no differences in microvascular complications. However, compared to beer or spirits drinkers, wine drinkers showed no differences in the risk of MACE, although a reduced mortality trend was observed 101. One common risk factor for CV disease is the composition of the lipids found in the blood, and the effects of alcohol consumption on lipid profiles have been extensively studied.
The relationship between alcohol and health is complicated and depends on many factors, including how much and how often you drink. Cholesterol levels are affected by many factors, including body weight and dietary intake. Alcohol intake may also affect cholesterol levels, both positively and negatively (1, 2). Many believe that the main benefit of alcohol comes from its ability to raise HDL cholesterol levels (the “good” type that helps sweep cholesterol deposits out of your arteries and protects against a heart attack).
When people do experience side effects from taking statins, they are typically minor and resolve once a person stops taking the statins or changes their dosage. Statins can also increase the risk of developing benign proteinuria, a condition in which there is excess protein in the urine. But nearly all find that when they switch to a different statin, their symptoms resolve. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 93% of adults in the United States taking a cholesterol medication in 2012 were taking a statin. The hormetic effects of long-term and regular alcohol consumption in CVD will be briefly discussed below and are summarized in Table 2. Unfortunately, the vast majority of epidemiological studies and clinical trials linking alcohol consumption and CVD are performed in caucasic males and females to a lesser extent.
