I am going to my doctor in a couple days and am going to do just that. Also, if your tricor is not as effective as it should be, adding 250mg of niacin a day makes a dramatic difference. I had lipid levels over 1000 and sometimes up to 3000 while on tricor for years. After a well informed NEW Dr. told me to add the Niacin, my levels dropped to 130-160 range immediately and never go up. Saved my life! A $5 bottle of Niacin!
After a while on Tricor alone, I found out by trial and error that I had to stop Tricor for a couple of weeks to be able to walk around without general muscle aches and fatigue, or "flu-like symptoms, and then I would take it for 8 - 10 days and have to stop again.
Bottom line is that I can no longer tolerate Tricor, which drastically lowered my triglycerides from over 2000 to around 1000. Diet changes after a heart attack and stroke keep my triglycerides around 700.
Augmentin and Zocor have been known to be potentially hepatotoxic. Tylenol is safe, if it is taken as directed (less than 4,000 mg/daily). I imagine that those 3 drugs taken together can increase the potential for damage to the liver.
Have you talked with your doctor about possibly substituting another lipid lowering drug...and getting off the Zocor? Are you still taking Augmentin?
Remember to be careful about your tylenol intake...
High cholesterol runs in my family so even with diet and exercise my numbers are still a little high. I started getting heart palpitations a few years ago and after a lot of testing was told they were harmless PVC's/PAC's. Well, I stoped taking my Tricor and Zocor for a few months and my heart palps were gone. The problem is that my cholesterol numbers went back up. I started back on the statins and low and behold the palps returned.
Has anyone read how horrific the side effects really are to some of these statins and realized that either they or their loved ones had these very symtoms and becames seriously ill to the point that they ended up in ICU not knowing who they were, where they were, in so much pain they could not bear to be touched and had regressed to near infancy before anyone figured out that it was zocor or lipitor or another statin they were on that was causing these bizarre illnessess ?
However at this time I think you need to be started on medication as well because those numbers are quite high. When Triglycerides are above 500 you run the risk of an inflamed pancreas which can be quite dangerous and life threatening. You most definitely have insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. From those numbers you already have diabetes.
Zetia is Ezetimibe. As you know, it works by keeping the body from "recycling" cholesterol in the intestines. You are correct, it can be taken without a statin.
I've been off my statins (Zocor and Tricor) for a couple of months now and it seems my palps are way less frequent. I'm not sure if it's coincidence or if I'm just in one of those quiet palp times that we all experience. The problem is that I'm sure my cholesterol has gone up since I've been off my meds. I'm going to get it rechecked soon and then weigh my options.
The free clinic I go has switched me from Crestor to Lipitor even though my LDL is very high. It's a thorn in my side and won't budge even with Crestor. The cardiologist was even talking about adding another medicine to fight it.
When I mentioned this to the clinic they told me every couple of years they switch drugs. So basically they can't afford to care about exceptions.
My father has been having the same problem of muscle loss while taking zocor. He has been very fit his whole life and was a marathon swimmer - and at 84 years old he still exercises regularly. However, he finds his doctors are very UNsympathetic to his complaint that the cholesterol lowering medications are stripping his muscles away.
It works great, but carries the same warnings as statins. Also, Tricor should not be taken with statins but sometimes is in very extreme cases of total high cholesterol and triglycerides. My total cholesterol at the time was 486.
I feel the combination of medicines left me with permanent peripheral neuropathy (PN) in my extremities, especially in my legs and feet. I have to take a medicine, neurontin, for the PN.
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I have had high trygicerides for a while but never even colse to high sugar levels. I started taking 