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Zocor And Heart Failure

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Zocor is the brand name of simvastatin, developed by an American company called Merck & Co. Originally, the research was done by a biochemist named Akira Endo in the Sankyo Company. This drug is now used to treat various lipid disorders and patients at high risk for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). When the research first begun, in 1976, Akira Endo took an “isolated factor from the fungus Penicillium citrium.” This was recognized a powerful inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase and named Compactin (or Mevastatin). Animal trials began with a dog, a rabbit, a monkey, and a rat. Although it lowered plasma cholesterol is the dog, rabbit, and monkey-it did not lower them in the rat. This made some scientist skeptic about the overall effectiveness of the drug. …show more content…

This is when normal arteries get clogged and cause the path no become narrower and narrower. This causes an abnormal blood flow that allows less oxygen-rich blood to pass through. From the lack of oxygen, the heart muscle begins to weaken and over time, can lead to heart failure. The heart failure comes from the inability of the heart to supply your body with the blood that it needs. Zocor blocks the cholesterol inducing reductase (HMG-CoA reductase) which “causes an increase in the number of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors on liver cells.” That is what causes more cholesterol to be taken from the bloodstream and filtered out of the …show more content…

Some of the major side effects that can come from taking too high of a dosage is myopathy. Myopathy is when your muscles begin to weaken because they lose their ability to function as well. Many people also complain about muscle pain, which is a sign of muscle breakdown. Once the tissues have broken down, your body must eliminate the waste. This waste can overload the kidneys, which causes much more serious problems. Another side effect is neuropathy. This is simply a “malfunction in the peripheral nervous system.” This can disturb bodily functions such as the heart beat and your breathing. However, some of the side effects that are meant to occur are beneficial to the body. Zocor is beneficial in not only lowering LDL levels, but rasing HDL levels. This is basically to say that is lowers the bad and raises the good. Due to the lowering of LDL, there is also increased blood flow, this helps to keep the heart muscle

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