Health question i take 60 mg of pravacol for cholesterol i have a stent the heart doc.wants me to go to 80 mg?

my total cholesterol is 141 but my regular doc says stay at 60 mg of pravacol because my ast sgot is 42 and the alt sgpt is 87 that are liver functions so how bad is that and who do i listen to my heart doc or reg doc
thank you






9

The Treating to New Targets (TNT) study demonstrated that intensive atorvastatin (Lipitor) therapy to achieve low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations well below recommended target levels provides an incremental clinical benefit in patients with stable coronary artery disease. This post hoc analysis of the TNT study was conducted to investigate whether this benefit extends to patients with previous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) aka having a stent deployed.

In conclusion, intensive lipid lowering to a mean low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level of 79.5 mg/dl (2.1 mmol/L) with atorvastatin (Lipitor) 80 mg/day in patients with previous PCI reduces major cardiovascular events by 21% and repeat revascularizations by 27% compared with a less intensive lipid-lowering regimen over the five years 10,000 patients were followed.

Am J Cardiol. 2008 Nov 15;102(10):1312-7.

Recently published research supports your cardiologist's position. Your heart doctor is a specialist who of course only deals with matters to do with the heart. Your regular doctor has to know something about every single system in your entire body...there are bound to be gaps in his/her knowledge of the latest research of a particular system. Go with the cardiologist on this matter.

You interestingly have some fear about an unknown (taking a higher dose of medication) while choosing to discount the very real known risk (heart disease). Use the higher dose unless there is some good reason not to. Your doctor should check you liver functions one month after you start the new dose, then at three months, then once yearly to be certain the medications are not doing harm to your liver. If you start to have chronic muscle aches, talk with your doctor also.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

its just a small difference from your previous dose, so go ahead and follow your main doctor..your reg doc should know you better than the heart doc, isn't it? as a client, you can always ask your heart doc about the changes, chances are you'll get the same response..good luck