2.5mg of Rosuvastatin has similar effectiveness as 2mg of Pitavastatin but there is evidence that Pitavastatin has significantly less detrimental effect on blood glucose control than Rosuvastatin. Having reviewed all the statins, I think everyone should be on Pitavastatin unless they have some unusual specific intolerance to it.
You can get it in 1, 2 and 4mg doses. As a practical matter I buy 4mg tablets and split them in two for cost effectiveness.
Pitavastatin carries a lower risk of insulin resistance side-effects compared to other statins.
Pitavastatin 4mg is a weak statin, if it gets you good numbers, that’s great, I took 4mg and my ldl went up about 6points, however no aches and pains that rosuvastatin causes……back on rosuvastatin….
On average it is as strong as 20mg atorvastatin.
Just as an aside. My lowest LDL of 61 (from 205) was on 5 mg Rosuvastatin every other day and 10mg Atorvastatin on every other day.(Alternating) ///Also my lowest side effects.// But when I was on Rosuvastatin 40mg daily my LDL was never less than 110. - and when I was on 40 mg or Atorvastatin my LDL was 115
You should stack the pitavastatin with ezetimibe if you haven’t already.
Question for people taking pitavastatin:
Are you getting it through your primary care provider? I realized it’s not covered under my plan (unlike rosuvastatin). However, my doctor can write an external prescription, so I’m considering using one of the online pharmacies — GoodRx, Cost Plus, etc. Do you have tips on which works best? Thanks!
Cheapest to just get it through one of the Indian sources here.
I think every patient is different and the general rules are just that - general - and don’t apply to everybody.
For me, 10mg Rosuvastatin (+10mg Ezetimibe) was more effective than 5mg. My HBA1C never changed. My ALT went down quite significantly and some fatty liver was cleared up. My fasting insulin and glucose also never changed. The only effect was a massive reduction in LDL-C and ApoB.
So for me, the massive upside of reducing my ApoB by 50%, and the lack of “cost” in terms of glucose/liver/muscle etc means statins are an awesome drug. Meanwhile there are other people who get muscle aches and all sorts from lower doses.
I think if you’re committing to take something lifelong, you just work with your doctor to figure out what works for you - whether it’s less frequent dosing, pill splitting, lower doses, higher doses etc. That’s why we have doctors. And new AHA and ESC guidelines are recommending targeting LDL-C of less than 70mg/dl, so doctors should be pretty happy to work with patients on getting their medications in order to hit those goals.
$40 for 100 4mg tablets from India. Snap in two if you just want 2mg a day and then you’ve a 200 day supply.