What Are the Dangers of Cholesterol Pills?

When your cholesterol is out of control, and your diet and exercise regimen is not working to keep your cholesterol down, it may be time to consider a medication that will help lower your cholesterol levels. There are drugs that can help, but, there are always dangers when taking pills to lower your cholesterol.

What Are Cholesterol Pills?

These pills are generally medications that are intended to lower your cholesterol levels. The most popular medications being marketed for cholesterol are the statin drugs, and red rice yeast is reputed to lower cholesterol as well.

How Do They Work?

The statin medications work by interrupting an enzyme that is responsible for producing cholesterol. Because of this, statins help to lower your "bad" cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins), decrease another fat in your blood called triglycerides, and increase your "good" cholesterol (high-density lipoproteins). Red rice yeast works because it contains substances called monacolins that are known to slow down cholesterol synthesis.

Benefits of Cholesterol Medications

In addition to lowering your bad cholesterol levels and increasing your good levels, there are other benefits to taking cholesterol pills. Statins can have the added benefit of making your body absorb accumulated cholesterol in the arteries, and may prevent fat deposits from sticking to the walls of your arteries. On the alternative side, red rice yeast may also have cardiovascular benefits as well as improving blood flow.

Side Effects

One of the side effects of taking statin cholesterol pills is muscle pain and tenderness. It can be a mild pain, or be severe enough to make day-to-day functioning difficult. The next dangerous side effect is when your liver enzymes increase, because this can indicate liver inflammation or liver damage. Elevated enzyme levels can also cause many diseases, including cirrhosis of the liver. Digestive problems are another side effect that can cause diarrhea, nausea or constipation. Lastly, according to the Mayo Clinic, you might suffer neurological side effects from taking statin drugs.

Alterative Treatment Side Effects

If you are considering an alternative treatment, red rice yeast can be dangerous because it naturally contains a form of Lovastatin, which is a prescription drug used to treat high cholesterol. What makes this natural treatment dangerous is not knowing how much or how little of the beneficial substance is actually present in red rice yeast. Too much Lovastatin can have serious side effects. According to the Mayo Clinic, some of the adverse effects can be bladder pain, bloody or cloudy urine, chest tightness, cough, difficulty moving, and joint pain.