Crestor is a drug prescribed to patients who have high cholesterol. High cholesterol can lead to heart disease, which is the primary cause of death for men and women in the U.S. High cholesterol can lead to heart attacks, and more than one million people in the U.S. die of heart attacks each year, while 500,000 die from heart disease. Crestor helps lower bad cholesterol, LDL, and raise good cholesterol, HDL.
Good cholesterol, or HDL cholesterol, actually helps keep arteries unclogged. HDL carries cholesterol away from arteries and back to the liver, which turns the cholesterol into waste and helps it pass through the body.
Bad cholesterol, or LDL cholesterol, builds up on the inside of the arteries. This makes it harder for blood to reach all the important areas and organs of the body, and it makes the heart have to pump harder to push the blood through the arteries. This build-up is called plaque, which is thick and hard and makes blood clots more likely, which can lead to strokes.
Crestor helps decrease bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol. However, the FDA released an alert in 2005 about the muscle damage that Crestor has been known to cause.
This muscle damage is called rhabdomyolysis, and can be fatal. When muscle breaks down, it releases small particles of muscle fiber into the blood stream, which is trapped by the kidneys. These particles can block the kidneys and lead to kidney failure. Therefore, Crestor has also been linked to kidney failure. Signs of the disease include:
- muscle weakness
- abnormal urine color
- muscle stiffness
- fatigue
- joint pain
- seizures
- weight gain
- fever
- vomiting
Contact your doctor immediately if you experience any of these symptoms. Many Crestor patients must use other drugs to increase the durability of their muscles to protect against rhabdomyolysis.
- harm to fetus if mother is pregnant while taking Crestor
- liver failure; liver tests must be conducted regularly while using Crestor
Contact a personal injury attorney if you are injured while using Crestor.