high cholesterol 101

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treatment

Cholesterol reduction begins with lifestyle and dietary changes. If these aren’t effective enough, your doctor may recommend medication.

Common cholesterol medications include:
Statins: The most commonly prescribed medications for lowering cholesterol, statins block a substance the liver needs to make cholesterol. (Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor)

Bile-acid sequestrants: These drugs bind with bile acids, which prompts the liver to use excess cholesterol to make more bile acids, thus reducing the level of cholesterol in the blood. (Prevalite, WelChol, Colestid)

Cholesterol absorption inhibitors: They reduce cholesterol by inhibiting its absorption from the intestinal tract. (Zetia)

Fibrates: These medications activate an enzyme that speeds the breakdown of triglycerides in the blood. (Atromid, Tricor, Lopid)

Niacin: Reduces the liver’s ability to produce very-low-density lipoprotein, the precursor of LDL. (Niaspan, Slo-Niacin)

Your doctor may recommend periodic liver-function tests to monitor the effect of medication on your liver.