Livalo

Common use

Livalo is used to treat high cholesterol in adults. Lowering your cholesterol may help prevent heart disease and hardening of the arteries, conditions that can lead to heart attack, stroke, and vascular disease. Livalo is used together with diet to lower blood levels of "bad" cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein, or LDL) and triglycerides, to increase levels of "good" cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein, or HDL), and to lower triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood).

Dosage and direction

Take Livalo exactly as prescribed by your doctor. You may take Livalo with or without food, but take it at the same time each day. While using Livalo, you may need frequent blood tests to check your liver function.

Precautions

To make sure Livalo is safe for you, tell your doctor if you have ever had: kidney disease; liver disease; a thyroid disorder; or if you drink large amounts of alcohol.
Livalo can cause a condition that results in the breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue, potentially leading to kidney failure. This condition may be more likely to occur in older adults and in people who have kidney disease or poorly controlled hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid).

Contraindications

You should not use Livalo if you are allergic to pitavastatin, or if you have: liver disease (including significantly abnormal liver enzyme tests); if you are pregnant or breastfeeding; or if you are taking cyclosporine.
Do not use Livalo if you are pregnant. Pitavastatin can harm an unborn baby. Use effective birth control to prevent pregnancy. Stop taking this medicine and tell your doctor at once if you become pregnant.
Pitavastatin can pass into breast milk and may harm a nursing baby. Do not breastfeed while you are taking Livalo.

Possible side effect

Common Livalo side effects may include: muscle pain; pain in your arms or legs; back pain; or diarrhea, constipation.

Drug interaction

Tell your doctor about all other medicines you use. Like pitavastatin, 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: colchicine; gemfibrozil; fenofibric acid; fenofibrate; or medicines that contain niacin (Advicor, Niaspan, Niacor, Simcor, Slo-Niacin, and others).

Missed dose

Take the missed dose as soon as you remember. Skip the missed dose if it is almost time for your next scheduled dose. Do not take extra medicine to make up the missed dose.

Overdose

Seek emergency medical attention.

Storage

Store at room temperature away from moisture, heat, and light. Keep away from children and pets.