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Alternatives to Lipitor

Millions of people have high cholesterol, and many of those people take a drug prescribed by their doctors to help lower their cholesterol. One of the drugs available is Lipitor, the brand name for a drug called atorvastatin calcium. Lipitor is one of a class of drugs called statins, which help lower cholesterol by blocking an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase. This in turn causes the liver to make less cholesterol. While Lipitor is effective for many people, it is expensive and can cause bothersome side effects. For those reasons, you may want to consider alternatives to Lipitor.

  1. Other Statins

    • If Lipitor is not working for you or is causing side effects, there are other statins you can try. These include rosuvastatin (Crestor), fluvastatin (Lescol), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravstatin (Pravachol) and simvastatin (Zocor). Keep in mind that these drugs will have many of the same potential side effects as Lipitor. If price is your issue, there are generic statins available, although as of 2009 there was not a generic form of Lipitor.

    Bile Acid Sequestrants

    • Bile acid sequestrants make up a class of drugs that works by binding to bile acids in the intestines, preventing them from being absorbed back into the body. Since bile acids are made in the liver from broken-down cholesterol, preventing them from being reabsorbed helps to lower your cholesterol levels. Some bile acid sequestrants include Prevalite, LoCholest, Questran, Colestid and WelChol.

    Niacin

    • Niacin is another name for vitamin B3, which is also called nicontic acid. It is available both as a dietary supplement and a prescription-strength medicine. Niacin has several effects on the body that help to lower cholesterol. It works to increase HDL cholesterol, or good cholesterol, by preventing the liver from removing it from the bloodstream. Niacin also helps to decrease the liver's production of LDL and VLDL, two types of bad cholesterol. And niacin helps lower the release of fatty acids into the bloodstream.

    Fibrates

    • Fibrates work by slowing down the rate of production of triglycerides and VLDLs, and also by raising the level of HDLs (good cholesterol). Fibrate drugs include Lopid, Tricor, Antara, Lipofen, Triglide and Lofibra.

    Cholesterol Absorption Inhibitors

    • The main drug in the class of cholesterol absorption inhibitors is Zetia, which works by blocking the absorption of cholesterol from food in the digestive tract. By not receiving any excess cholesterol from food, the liver is forced to deplete stored cholesterol, leading to lower cholesterol levels in the body. Zetia lowers LDLs and triglycerides, but does not increase HDL levels.

    Combination Drugs

    • Combination drugs give cholesterol a double whammy by combining two different classes of drugs. For instance, Vytorin combines Zocor, a statin, and Zetia, a cholesterol absorption inhibitor. Other drugs in this class are Simcor, which combines Zocor and Niaspin, and Advicor, which is a combination of Niaspin and Mevacor.

    Lifestyle Changes

    • If your doctor put you on Lipitor, it's probably because he didn't think lifestyle changes were lowering your cholesterol enough. But if for some reason you cannot tolerate Lipitor or another cholesterol medication, you can do some things naturally that could lower your cholesterol. These include eating a diet low in fat and high in fruits, vegetables and fiber; getting plenty of exercise and losing weight, if you need to; stopping smoking; and drinking alcohol sparingly.

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