Zocor vs. Zetia

Zocor (simvastatin) and Zetia (ezetimibe) are used to treat high cholesterol levels.

Zocor is also used to treat heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) in adolescents (males and females that are one-year post menarche, 10 to 17 years old).

Zocor and Zetia belong to different drug classes. Zocor is an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (a “statin” drug) and Zetia is a lipid-lowering compound.

Side effects of Zocor and Zetia that are similar include stomach/abdominal pain, diarrhea, headache, joint pain, and cold symptoms such as stuffy nose, cough, sneezing, or sore throat.

Side effects of Zocor that are different from Zetia include heartburn, gas, bloating, indigestion, nausea, constipation, muscle pain, skin rash, sleep problems (insomnia), mild memory problems or confusion, or

Side effects of Zetia that are different from Zocor include back pain, numbness or tingly feeling, tired feeling, dizziness, and depressed mood.

Both Zocor and Zetia may interact with blood thinners.

Zocor may also interact with alcohol, grapefruit and grapefruit juice, colchicine, digoxin, digitalis, fenofibric acid or fenofibrate, antifungals, medicines that contain niacin, drugs that weaken your immune system (such as steroids, cancer medicine, or medicines used to prevent organ transplant rejection), or other "statin" medications.

Zetia may also interact with cholestyramine, colestipol, colesevelam, gemfibrozil, and cyclosporine.

Common side effects of Zocor include:

• heartburn,
• gas,
• bloating,
• stomach pain,
• indigestion,
• nausea,
• constipation,
• diarrhea,
• headache,
• joint pain,
• muscle pain,
• skin rash,
• sleep problems (insomnia),
• mild memory problems or confusion, or
• cold symptoms such as stuffy nose, sneezing, or sore throat.

Common side effects of Zetia include:

• diarrhea,
• back pain,
• stomach or abdominal pain,
• numbness or tingly feeling,
• tired feeling,
• headache,
• dizziness,
• depressed mood,
• runny or stuffy nose,
• cold symptoms,
• joint pain,
• back pain, or
• cough.

Zocor (simvastatin) is a statin that lowers lipids and cholesterol levels used in conjunction with lifestyle changes such as a low-fat, low cholesterol diet, and exercise to reduce the chances of cardiovascular disease and ischemic strokes in patients with elevated lipids and cholesterol. Zocor is also used to treat heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) in adolescents (males and females that are one-year post menarche, 10 to 17 years old). Zocor is available in generic form.

Zetia (ezetimibe) is a lipid-lowering compound used to treat high cholesterol. Zetia works by decreasing the absorption of cholesterol from the intestine.

Tell your doctor about all other medications you use. Certain other drugs can increase your risk of serious muscle problems, and it is very important that your doctor knows if you are using any of them:

• amiodarone (Cordarone, Pacerone);
• colchicine (Colcrys);
• danazol (Danocrine);
• diltiazem (Cardizem, Cartia, Dilacor, Diltia, Diltzac, Taztia, Tiazac) or verapamil (Calan, Covera, Isoptin, Verelan);
• gemfibrozil (Lopid), fenofibric acid (Fibricor, Trilipix), or fenofibrate (Antara, Fenoglide, Lipofen, Lofibra, Tricor, Triglide);
• ranolazine (Ranexa);
• medicines that contain niacin (Advicor, Niaspan, Niacor, Simcor, Slo-Niacin, and others); or
• drugs that weaken your immune system, such as steroids, cancer medicine, or medicines used to prevent organ transplant rejection, such as sirolimus (Rapamune) or tacrolimus (Prograf).

Also tell your doctor if you use:

• cimetidine (Tagamet);
• a blood thinner such as warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven);
• spironolactone (Aldactone, Aldactazide); or
• any other "statin" medication such as atorvastatin (Lipitor, Caduet), fluvastatin (Lescol), lovastatin and niacin (Advicor), pravastatin (Zetia), rosuvastatin (Crestor), or simvastatin (Zocor, Simcor, Vytorin).

This list is not complete and other drugs may interact with lovastatin. Tell your doctor about all medications you use. This includes prescription, over-the-counter, vitamin, and herbal products. Do not start a new medication without telling your doctor.

Zetia may interact with cholestyramine, colestipol, colesevelam, gemfibrozil, cyclosporine, or blood thinners. Tell your doctor all medications and supplements you use.

The usual dosage range is 5 to 40 mg/day. In patients with CHD or at high risk of CHD, ZOCOR can be started simultaneously with diet. The recommended usual starting dose is 10 or 20 mg once a day in the evening. For patients at high risk for a CHD event due to existing CHD, diabetes, peripheral vessel disease, history of stroke or other cerebrovascular disease, the recommended starting dose is 40 mg/day. Lipid determinations should be performed after 4 weeks of therapy and periodically thereafter.

Restricted Dosing For 80 mg

Due to the increased risk of myopathy, including rhabdomyolysis, particularly during the first year of treatment, use of the 80-mg dose of ZOCOR should be restricted to patients who have been taking simvastatin 80 mg chronically (e.g., for 12 months or more) without evidence of muscle toxicity .

Patients who are currently tolerating the 80-mg dose of ZOCOR who need to be initiated on an interacting drug that is contraindicated or is associated with a dose cap for simvastatin should be switched to an alternative statin with less potential for the drug-drug interaction.

Due to the increased risk of myopathy, including rhabdomyolysis, associated with the 80-mg dose of ZOCOR, patients unable to achieve their LDL-C goal utilizing the 40-mg dose of ZOCOR should not be titrated to the 80-mg dose, but should be placed on alternative LDL-C-lowering treatment(s) that provides greater LDL-C lowering.

The recommended dose of Zetia is 10 mg once daily.