Treatment for High Cholesterol: Lipitor Vs. Zocor

Finding out that your cholesterol level is high, putting you at risk for a heart attack, can be quite difficult to handle. The buildup of cholesterol as plaque in the blood vessels blocks the flow of blood around the body and to your heart, causing the heart muscle to be damaged. This is known medically as a myocardial infarction, and commonly as a heart attack. In the middle of this new information, your doctor may tell you that you need to be put on medication to control and/or lower your cholesterol levels. While this can be a hard pill to swallow, it is still important to be informed about your medication choices. Lipitor and Zocor are two of the newest and most prescribed cholesterol medications. Both are HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors designed to slow down your body's production of cholesterol in order to lower your risk of having a heart attack. Since the medications work in the same way, your doctor may ask you to choose between them. Hopefully this article will help you decide if either of these medications is right for you.

Lipitor is the brand name for the drug Atorvastatin, and is taken one time a day in pill form, with or without food. Your doctor will generally start you on a low dose that he or she will raise every few weeks until your cholesterol is under control.

Zocor and Vytorin are the brand names for Simvastatin, and are taken in pill form between one and three times a day, ideally at approximately the same time each day. Like Lipitor, your doctor may start you on a low dose and gradually increase the medication until your cholesterol is under control, but Zocor levels are only increased every 4 weeks or more.