Vitamin B-12 is one of eight B vitamins that together are known as the B-complex vitamins. It helps your body produce red blood cells, which transport oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and organs. It is also needed for proper nerve function. There is some concern that some statin drugs may interact with certain B vitamins, in which case they should be taken at a separate time of day. You should consult your physician before taking B-12 or other supplements. High cholesterol increases your risk of heart disease. Statin drugs are a class of drugs that help lower your cholesterol levels by blocking a liver enzyme your body needs to manufacture cholesterol. Research suggests that simvastatin, or its brand-name counterpart Zocor, may interact with vitamin B-3 and increase the likelihood of serious side effects such as liver damage, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Statins are not known to interact with other B vitamins. Along with high cholesterol, a high homocysteine level has been identified as an independent risk factor for heart disease.
Evidence suggests that elevated homocysteine is associated with deficiency in vitamin B-12 and folate.These two vitamins -- and to a lesser degree, vitamin B-6 -- help keep homocysteine levels in check by converting the amino acid into beneficial substances, such as cysteine, which acts as an antioxidant. Even moderately elevated homocysteine levels increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, according to a review published in the winter 2004 issue of "The Journal of the American Nutraceutical Association." Supplementing with B-6, B-12, folate and betaine has been shown to effectively lower homocysteine levels, especially in people with documented deficiencies of these nutrients, and can be expected to protect against cardiovascular disease, according to an article written by nutritionist Mark F. McCarty on behalf of the Linus Pauling Institute. Managing your cholesterol levels is important for heart health. Excess cholesterol can accumulate in your arteries causing narrowing, which can lead to blockage.
A healthy and well-balanced diet consisting of plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains is associated with lower cholesterol and decreased risk for heart attack and stroke. A low-fat diet also can help maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Gain 2 pounds per week Gain 1.5 pounds per week Gain 1 pound per week Gain 0.5 pound per week Maintain my current weight Lose 0.5 pound per week Lose 1 pound per week Lose 1.5 pounds per week Lose 2 pounds per week The Best Form of B-Complex Vitamin Can Taking B-12 Make You Tired? What Are the Benefits of B-12 & B-100? What Helps B-12 Absorption? Can You Take Niacin & Vitamin B12 Together? Vitamin B Overdose Treatment Does Vitamin B12 Interact With Other Medicines? Benefits of Vitamin B100 Complex Does Taking B-12 Vitamins Help Raise Your Blood Pressure? Connection Between Low Blood Pressure and Vitamin B Deficiency Vitamin B Vegetable List Causes of High Blood Levels of Vitamin B12
How Much Is Too Much Vitamin B Complex? The Best Way to Absorb B12 How to Take Vitamin B-12 at Night Which Is Better Vitamin B6 or B12? How Much B12 & Thiamine Can I Take a Day? How Does Vitamin B Complex Help Your Body? Vitamin B Complex and Green Urine What foods and medications interact with cholesterol-lowering statins? Twenty-four million Americans take cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins on a daily basis. You may already know that statins can sometimes cause muscle soreness. Combined with the wrong prescription (RX), over-the-counter (OTC) meds or food, statins can also cause dangerous muscle breakdown. RX Interaction: Prescription Oral Fungal/Yeast Infection Medication This seemingly benign-sounding drug actually amplifies and destroys muscle, which can impact the kidneys' ability to filter out toxins and even lead to kidney failure. Supplement Interaction: Vitamin B Complex Vitamin B complex also impacts muscle damage when combined with statins and can cause the kidneys to break down.
Food Interaction: Grapefruit Juice Grapefruit juice and statins also wreck havoc on muscles and lead to kidney damage. What medications help treat lipid disorders?A total of 11 drugs (24 brand and generic names) are known to interact with Vitamin B Complex 100 (multivitamin).5 major drug interactions (11 brand and generic names)5 moderate drug interactions (10 brand and generic names)1 minor drug interactions (3 brand and generic names) Show all medications in the database that may interact with Vitamin B Complex 100 (multivitamin). Type in a drug name and select a drug from the list.Side Effects of Vitamin B Complex 100 (multivitamin)Drug Interactions CheckerDisclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Multum is accurate, up-to-date and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. In addition, the drug information contained herein may be time sensitive and should not be utilized as a reference resource beyond the date hereof. This material does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients, or recommend therapy.
Multum's information is a reference resource designed as supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill, knowledge, and judgement of healthcare practitioners in patient care. The absence of a warning for a given drug or combination thereof in no way should be construed to indicate that the drug or combination is safe, effective, or appropriate for any given patient. Multum Information Services, Inc. does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the aid of information Multum provides. Copyright 2000-2017 Multum Information Services, Inc. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist.An estimated 30 million Americans take statins, the most popular class of drugs in the nation. Prescribed primarily to lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, they include atorvastatin (Lipitor), the bestselling prescription drug in history;
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 50 percent of all American men age 65 to 74 take statins. In my view, however, statins are among the most ineffective and dangerous drugs on the market, largely because the doctors who prescribe them haven’t done their homework. (MORE: Get Your Pharmacist on Your Health Team) Statins lower your LDL levels by interfering with the liver’s ability to produce it. (The liver produces about 75 percent of the cholesterol that circulates in our blood; the rest comes from our diet.) If you’re taking a statin, your doctor probably placed you in one of two treatment categories — primary prevention or secondary prevention. In the first case, you likely have high cholesterol but no known coronary artery disease; your doctor’s assumption is that the statin will help prevent your from developing heart disease or having a heart attack. In the second classification, you’ve probably received a diagnosis of coronary artery disease and may have even had one or more heart attacks.
Your doctor believes the statin will help stave off another cardiac event. But there are some things your doctor may not have told you about statins: Statins may not reduce your risk of death. If you’ve been prescribed a statin because you’re in the primary prevention category, like 75 percent of all people who take the drugs, you’d do well to question whether you really need to be taking it, and whether it might be doing more harm than good. A comprehensive review of previous studies published in 2011 by the Cochrane Collaboration, a well-respected nonprofit research organization, found no “strong evidence” that statins reduce deaths from coronary heart disease among patients of any age who have not suffered a heart attack or other cardiovascular event. A similar review of studies published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2010 found “little evidence that statins reduce the risk of dying from any cause in individuals without heart disease.” Statins can destroy your muscles.
When I see an older patient who complains of muscle pain, fatigue and weakness, I know from experience that a statin drug is the most likely culprit. In my judgment, muscle-related adverse effects are much more common than most research suggests because they often go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. When you consider that nearly everyone 60 and older has sarcopenia — the gradual, natural loss of muscle mass and strength that comes with aging — it’s wise to question the use of any drug that could accelerate the effect. Statins inhibit cell growth in muscles, so from the time you start taking a statin, your muscle health is compromised — and statin-induced muscle conditions often don’t go away when the drug is discontinued. A study of statin-induced myopathies (muscle diseases) published in the journal Muscle & Nerve in 2006 found that “variable persistent symptoms occurred in 68 percent of patients despite cessation of [statin] therapy.” (MORE: What Your Mystery Pains Are Trying to Tell You)
Statins can cause serious cognitive problems. In a study published in 2004 in the American Journal of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers examined 283 patients with high cholesterol treated over a six-month period with statin drugs or a placebo, giving them test of cognitive function before and after the trial. As a group, the patients on statins showed major declines in performance on test measuring attention, memory and overall mental efficiency. Statins increase your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. An analysis of statin studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2011 found that people treated with higher doses of statins were more likely to develop diabetes than those treated with moderate doses. Other studies have reached similar conclusions, and the federal Food and Drug Administration recently ordered manufacturers of statin drugs to add a new safety warning about the increased risks of diabetes to their product information.
If you’ve had a hemorrhagic stroke, taking a statin drug may increase your risk of having another one. Many patients at risk of hemorrhagic stroke — the type that occurs when a blood vessel in the brain bursts or breaks — are prescribed statins. But a team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School reported in the Archives of Neurology in 2011 that the use of statins in such patients actually increased their risk of a second hemorrhagic stroke by up to 22 percent, offsetting any cardiovascular benefits. Statins can interfere with your ability to metabolize other drugs. Some of the most widely prescribed statins are metabolized by a liver enzyme known as CYP3A4. So are about half of all prescription drugs. Drugs that interfere with the CYP3A4 pathway — or merely compete within it, as a regular statin dose would — can lead to a wide variety of adverse drug reactions, the buildup of drugs within the liver to toxic levels and the lessening of intended pharmacological effects.
Doctors often fail to recognize the side effects of statin drugs and prescribe additional drugs to treat those problems, which could be resolved more simply by withdrawing the statins. When I see a patient who has been prescribed ropinirole (Requip) or another drug to treat restless legs syndrome (RLS), for example, I’ve learned to immediately check to see if there’s a statin on board. Nearly always there is. Other potentially telltale side effects of statins, particularly in older patients, include muscle and joint pain; stomach pain (which I tend to believe results from the degradation of muscles in the stomach and diaphragm); trouble swallowing (also a muscle problem); and elevated liver enzymes. (MORE: Questions to Ask Before Beginning a Treatment) Doctors too often dismiss the possibility that the statin drugs they’ve prescribed as a preventive measure could be causing these complaints. A study published in the journal Drug Safety in 2007 looked at 650 cases of adults who had muscle pain, cognitive impairment or other recognized symptoms of statin toxicity.
Researchers reported that 87 percent of patients talked with their doctors about whether these symptoms could be related to their statin regimen — with the vast majority of the discussions initiated by the patients, not the doctors. But more often than not, the doctors rejected the notion that statins might be responsible for the symptoms. When considering if a statin is right for you or a loved one, it’s important to keep in mind that older people tend to have higher levels of the essential amino acid homocysteine in their blood, which in itself can elevate one’s LDL levels. Instead of trying to address that problem with statins, I recommend using the body’s own chemistry to lower homocysteine levels through a combination of nondrug approaches, including changes in diet, like avoiding foods high in saturated fat and consuming more fiber. Exercise is probably the best way to boost protective HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. Inactive people who take up some form of regular physical activity can expect to see their HDL levels rise by as much as 20 percent.