Advice from a person on the other side of the pharmacy counter. This video’s topic: Simvastatin, also known as Zocor.
Hi this is our exhales advice for a person on the other side the pharmacy counter i know it’s been a while since i’ve posted a video i was going to post a serious videos for this summer but that didn’t work out because i only got time to tape one and it’s not a serious if you only have one but if you guys do want me to post it it was about sunburn so let me know
If that’s of interest to anybody and i will post it even though it’s only one but anyway today but what i’m going to be talking about is simvastatin or zocor and the new guidelines on it that came out earlier this summer most people that are on this medication probably have already heard about it particularly from their pharmacist possibly their physician so
Basically what happened was in june or late may one or the other earlier this summer uh regulations were put out based on a study that was done showing that simvastatin or doe core has a higher risk for something called wrapped in milos’s which is essentially muscle breakdown and it’s a big side effect of statin cholesterol drugs it’s not a common side effect but
It is a potential which is why they always say when you go on statins to watch for any um any unexplained muscle pain or muscle weakness because that could be the start of it but anyway there is a study saying that the zocor or civis sadden had a higher potential for this than the other statins which in my opinion the study was really stupid it showed something
That everybody that knows about statins already knew and now it just made regulations more it made using zocor more difficult especially on the pharmacists end and so it’s kind of annoying but anyway here to tell you exactly what’s going on so basically what they what the regulations say now is that unless you’ve been taking seven satin or zocor 80 milligrams
For over a year you shouldn’t be on it now some doctors will review the risks versus benefits for each patient and they’ll decide hey this station can’t take things like lipitor and crestor because their insurance will cover it this is the only thing that’s going to cover that’s going to be covered by their insurance and i would rather them get their ldl bad
Cholesterol down low then um then worry about muscle breakdown because it isn’t a common side effect so some some physicians will override the regulations but mainly it unless you’ve been on soak or 80 milligrams for over a year at this point um pharmacists are supposed to call the physician and let them know about the regulations and you know what they could do
Instead which includes switching or just lowering it or or adding another agent to help get your cholesterol panel down so yeah that’s basically what’s been going on but it it adds up to a lot of phone calls from my end so i do get to see a lot of it um it also adds up to a lot of counseling on my end so i get to talk to a lot of patients about it in person which
Is good i love counseling and i love letting know letting people know what’s going on with their medication because most of the time patients will think that they know everything they need to know and when i talk to them they’re like really i didn’t know that why didn’t my doctor tell me this so i always like talking to patients in person but anyway the other
Thing that goes along with the regulation besides the fact that lass’s you know being on the high dosage you have to be on it for a year is that if you’re on things that fall into the class of calcium channel blockers for heart prob homes such as norvasc or m lo de peen and cardi ism or dill tie them and let if you’re on any of those calcium channel blockers you
Want to have the maximum dose of sin satin or zocor be twenty milligrams because calcium channel blockers increase the risk of rhabdomyolysis for whatever reason they increase your risk of developing it and getting it from statins so they want to keep the dose of the statin lower since the risk is higher but once again some physicians will bypass it especially if
Their patients then on it from then on that combination for a long time but if it’s inducing where where pharmacists really strive to make a difference with this is when the patient is either new to us new to new to the system or the pharmacy or the patient is newly put on either the combination or the high-dose so you know it’s but that’s basically what’s going
On and that’s why you know if you bring a statin prescription to a new pharmacy ah the pharmacist may not give it to you right away so try not to get too aggravated it is something that we’re supposed to do on our end that’s part of the regulation is that pharmacists are supposed to contact the physicians and talk with them so try not to get to aggravate it with
Them because they’re just following the regulations posted and they’re doing it to ensure your safety as a patient so please above all for that reason do not get aggravated we’re only doing it for your benefit we’re not doing it to aggravate you and make you angry and make you wait more we don’t want to but we’re doing it to help you and to ensure that you are
Safe yeah that’s basically it this is a pretty short video because the regulations are pretty straight full straightforward and cut and dry but that’s pretty much what’s going on if you are on um civis statin and you know you probably notice to change over the summer if you’ve done at a high dose so that’s pretty much it if you have any questions please let me
Know oh by the way i am officially licensed so i am so excited i got licensed uh two weeks ago today actually yeah um so i’m all excited i am officially a real pharmacist not just a farm pharmacy school graduate so yeah yeah and they have a job so that’s good but yeah so i think that’s it for today let me know if you guys want that summer series with the only
Video that i made about sunburn and i’ll host it um otherwise i’ll see you guys when i think of a topic next time which hopefully will be soon because i’m working and i see things more up close and personal alright i will see you guys later
Transcribed from video
RxHelp – Simvastatin Scare By chrissytinalalala
