What Is Lipitor?
Lipitor® (atorvastatin calcium) is a prescription medication used to treat a number of conditions related to heart disease, including high cholesterol and high triglycerides.
Who Makes Lipitor?
Lipitor is manufactured by Pfizer.
What Is Lipitor Used For?
Lipitor has been licensed for several conditions. These Lipitor uses include the:
Treatment of high cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia)
Treatment of high triglycerides
Prevention of heart or blood vessel disease (known as cardiovascular disease).
How Does Lipitor Work?
Lipitor is part of a class of drugs called statins (or HMG-CoA
reductase inhibitors).
Lipitor works by blocking a particular enzyme, HMG-CoA reductase, that controls the rate of cholesterol production in the body. This causes the liver to make less cholesterol. Lipitor also:
Increases the liver's ability to collect and get rid of LDL cholesterol ("bad cholesterol")
Increases HDL cholesterol ("good cholesterol")
Decreases triglycerides.
What Are the Effects of Lipitor?
In general, cholesterol treatment begins with lifestyle changes (weight loss, exercise, and diet). If lifestyle changes do not lower cholesterol to a desirable level, cholesterol medication, such as Lipitor, may be necessary.
The main goal of high cholesterol medication is to lower LDL cholesterol levels enough to reduce your risk for developing problems related to high cholesterol, such as heart disease or a heart attack (see Effects of High Cholesterol). The higher your risk, the lower your LDL goal will be.
(Click High Cholesterol Risk to see what your risk is and what level your LDL cholesterol level should be under.)
Because Lipitor can lower LDL cholesterol (along with lowering total cholesterol and increasing HDL), taking the medication can lower a person's risk for developing cholesterol-related health problems.
In previous Lipitor research studies, people taking Lipitor 10 mg were able to, on average, decrease LDL cholesterol by 39 percent, total cholesterol by 29 percent, triglycerides by 19 percent, and raise HDL by 6 percent. For higher dosages of Lipitor, the effect was even greater.
When and How Do I Take Lipitor?
Some general considerations for when and how to take Lipitor include the following:
Lipitor comes in tablet form; you take it once a day. Take your Lipitor dose with a glass of water, with or without food.
It does not matter if you take Lipitor in the morning or at night; however, you should take Lipitor at the same time each day, to maintain an even level of the medication in your blood.
Do not break, chew, or crush the Lipitor tablets.
For Lipitor to work properly, you have to take it as prescribed. Lipitor will not work if you stop taking it.
