Mia
Ezetimibe is most commonly known as a tablet that helps decrease the amount of cholesterol your body takes in. With its help, you may help reduce bad cholesterol in your blood. However, like most medications, this tablet may have side effects such as severe stomach pain and dizziness.
Not only this, but some studies show serious side effects of the drug – one of which links Ezetimibe with depression due to its lipid-lowering properties. If you want to know more about such, continue reading below about the drug, its side effects, and implications for use:
What is Ezetimibe?
Ezetimibe is a generic name for a prescription-taken drug included in the cholesterol-absorption-inhibitor class. Ezetimibe lowers lipids, the fatty compounds in your body, and inhibits their absorption.
In a more in-depth explanation, Ezetimibe decreases intestinal absorption risk at the border in one’s small intestines. Due to this property, one would have a decrease in the delivery of cholesterol from the intestine to the liver, which clears any bad cholesterol found in the blood.
Uses
Ezetimibe is most commonly used for those who can’t lower their cholesterol with exercise alone. It can also be used as a monotherapy, a one-type treatment like surgery, or radiation therapy. Likewise, the drug can also help prevent the onset of heart attacks or strokes, so you can quickly relieve your condition with a single oral-taken drug.
Dosage
Ezetimibe is available as a 10 mg oral tablet. For adults with hypercholesterolemia (a lipid disorder that results in high rates of bad cholesterol), it’s best to take the drug once a day. The same goes for children and older people with hypercholesterolemia. Since it needs to be taken once daily, it’s best to get help from your insurance when buying the drug, and it’s better if you have an Ezetimibe Coupon to help you.
However, you shouldn’t take this drug to lose weight. Since there isn’t any existing medical condition to help decrease excess cholesterol, taking the drug could result in serious side effects. So, it’s best to ask your doctor about your condition first and decide whether you require the drug. Your Ezetimibe dosage and treatment should be based on your medical condition.
Most Common Side Effects
Your body will need time to adjust to the drug once you start taking it. You could experience common side effects such as fever, headache, runny nose, sore throat, or muscle pain. However, these side effects may disappear once your body completely adjusts to the medicine. If you have a problem coping with the drug, it’s best to immediately see your health care professional to help you reduce these side effects.
Depression and Ezemitibe
Although the drug is quite helpful for treating a cholesterol-increase condition, there have been adverse effects when taking the drug, which significantly impacts one’s mental health. During a World Health Organization report in Australia last 2003, older adults who took the drug as a treatment for hypercholesterolemia reported having a depressed mood.
Not only this but there was an unusual feature of the effects. In most cases, the beginning of the depressed symptoms started within four to seven days of taking the drug. There were also instances of depressed mood starting at four to six weeks. Additionally, some reports revealed how the depressed symptoms resolved when the dosage was lessened from 10 mg to 5 mg.
However, these findings significantly differed from a 2018 study comparing the effects of different lipid-lowering drugs on insomnia and depression. The study’s results found that only statin (another cholesterol inhibitor) increased one’s risk for depression, whereas Ezetimibe showed no effects whatsoever.
Moreover, although all of the drugs significantly reduced the risks of coronary artery disease, only the Ezetimibe treatment didn’t show adverse effects on insomnia and depression. On the other hand, the other two lipid-lowering drugs showed increases in the risk of depression – although the mechanism by which it does so is unclear.
Implications for the Use of Ezetimibe
Although there are existing studies that tackle the effects of Ezetimibe on one’s mental health, most of these studies tackle statin and depression – with only a few studies focusing on Ezetimibe itself.
Moreover, the WHO study focusing on Ezetimibe and depression was over two decades ago, which explains the need for recent studies. Likewise, studies comparing the effects of different lipid-lowering drugs on mental health reveal that Ezetimibe shows no effects on depression or insomnia. Moreover, most side effects caused by Ezetimibe are common physical symptoms (as listed above.)
However, it’s best to take caution at all times. With this, it’s best to start talking with your doctor before taking the drug to know whether you’re prone to experience adverse side effects. For all of your questions, it’s always best to seek the help of a medical professional.
Final Thoughts
Like any other drug, Ezetimibe also has side effects and adverse reactions. Due to this, it’s best to take precautions and never take the drug without prior medical consultations. Most importantly, it’s best to put your mental health first and immediately contact your doctor if you’re in a depressed mood while taking the drug.
