Cholesterol is a kind of fat in your blood. Your body makes its own cholesterol, but you also get it from the foods you eat, such as meat; foods fried in animal fat, like lard, butter, or margarine; dairy products; or other foods.

Most people do not show any signs of high cholesterol. The only way to know your cholesterol levels for sure is to ask your healthcare provider for a cholesterol test. A cholesterol test can tell you about your:

Some people have too much cholesterol in their blood. Cholesterol can build up on the inside of the blood vessels in your heart as well as other blood vessels in your body. If too much cholesterol builds up in the blood vessels in your heart, the blood cannot flow through to your heart and may lead to a heart attack. People with high cholesterol, especially high LDL, are more likely to have a heart event, such as a heart attack or stroke, or need surgery or a procedure to open up the blood vessels of the heart (bypass surgery, angioplasty, or stent placement).

A heart-healthy lifestyle may help lower your cholesterol and your chance of having a heart event at all ages. A heart-healthy lifestyle includes reducing the amount of total and saturated fat in your diet, participating in regular aerobic exercise, and losing weight (if you are overweight or obese).

Lowering LDL with certain medicines may decrease your chance of having a heart event. But not everyone with high cholesterol needs medicine. Whether or not you should start a cholesterol-lowering medicine depends on a few things: if you already have heart (cardiovascular) disease, your age, your cholesterol levels, and other factors. Your healthcare provider can help you decide about taking a cholesterol-lowering medicine, such as a statin.

In most cases, if you need to take a cholesterol-lowering medicine, your healthcare provider may consider prescribing a statin first. You can discuss this more with your healthcare provider.

People with very high triglyceride levels (500 mg/dL or higher) may be more likely to develop acute pancreatitis. Acute pancreatitis is swelling and irritation of the pancreas that feels like sudden, severe stomach pain. In some cases, the pain may get better, but in other cases you could have a fever, severe dehydration, and get very sick and need to go to the hospital for care to save your life. The most common causes of acute pancreatitis are gallstones, excess alcohol use, and taking certain medicines. Very high triglycerides may cause acute pancreatitis even in people who do not have gallstones or drink alcohol.

Many things can cause very high triglyceride levels, such as genetic causes (passed down from a parent), uncontrolled diabetes, taking certain medicines, being obese or overweight, alcohol use, pregnancy, and thyroid disease. People with high triglycerides should follow a low-fat diet with a goal of weight loss (if overweight or obese) and should not drink alcohol or take certain medicines. People with diabetes are typically instructed to follow a meal plan and take their diabetes medicine as prescribed to improve control of their blood sugar levels.

Some people may need to take medicine in addition to lifestyle changes (diet and exercise) to lower their triglyceride levels. If you have high triglyceride levels, you should talk to your healthcare provider.

There are different kinds of medicines to lower high cholesterol, triglycerides, or both.

Use this information as a guide to help you talk with your healthcare provider about your cholesterol or triglyceride medicine. Ask your healthcare provider about the benefits and risks of taking your medicine. This information only talks about some of the risks.

Tell your healthcare provider about any problems you are having. Your healthcare provider will help you find the medicine that is best for you.

Also, tell your healthcare provider if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning to become pregnant. Ask your healthcare provider to tell you about the benefits and risks of taking medicine when you are pregnant.

The different kinds of cholesterol and triglyceride medicines are listed below. The medicines are listed in groups. The brand names and generic names are given for the medicines in each group.

For the most complete and up-to-date information about the risks and side effects for each medicine, check Drugs@FDA.

These medicines treat high cholesterol and high triglycerides. Certain statins have been shown to reduce the risk of some heart problems or procedures in people who have heart disease or are at high risk of heart disease because of other conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. These problems can include heart attack, stroke, or other heart problems requiring hospitalization (including congestive heart failure). Certain statins may reduce the risk of or need for heart procedures, such as bypass surgery, angioplasty, or stent placement. Certain statins have also been shown to reduce the risk of dying from a heart attack, stroke, or other heart event.

Before taking these medicines, tell your healthcare provider if you:

Tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, herbal supplements, or other nutritional supplements. Especially tell your healthcare provider if you are taking medicines for your cholesterol, any infections, your immune system, heart failure, seizures, diabetes, heartburn or stomach ulcers, or birth control pills.

Statins can cause serious side effects, including:

If you are taking a statin, get medical help right away if you have any of these signs or symptoms:

This medicine treats high cholesterol.

Before taking this medicine, tell your healthcare provider if you:

Tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist about any prescription and non-prescription medicines you are taking or plan to take, including natural or herbal remedies.

This medicine can cause serious side effects when taken with other cholesterol-lowering medicines, including:

If you are taking ezetimibe, get medical help right away if you have any of these signs or symptoms:

These medicines treat high cholesterol and decrease the chances of having a heart attack, stroke, or certain types of heart problems requiring hospitalization in people with known heart (cardiovascular) disease.

Before taking these medicines, tell your healthcare provider if you:

Tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription (over-the-counter) medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.

These medicines can cause serious side effects, including:

If you are taking a PCSK9 inhibitor, get medical help right away if you have any of these signs or symptoms:

This medicine treats high cholesterol.

Before taking this medicine, tell your healthcare provider if you:

This medicine may affect the way other medicines work, and other medicines may affect how this medicine works. Tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Especially tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist if you take or plan to take other cholesterol-lowering medicines, fluoroquinolones, or cortisone medicines.

This medicine may cause serious side effects, including:

If you are taking an ACL inhibitor, get medical help if you have any of these signs or symptoms:

These medicines are made up of two different kinds of cholesterol medicines. Some of these medicines appear alone on other lists in this guide. Look for the generic or brand names on the other lists.

Before taking these medicines, tell your healthcare provider if you:

These medicines may affect the way other medicines work, and other medicines may affect how these medicines work. Tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, herbal supplements, or other nutritional supplements. Especially tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist if you are taking medicines for your cholesterol, fluoroquinolones, medicines for any infections, your immune system, heart failure, seizures, diabetes, heartburn or stomach ulcers, birth control pills, or cortisone medicines.

The warnings and side effects for these medicines are the same as those listed for each of the generic medicines.

This medicine is made up of two different kinds of medicines. This medicine is used to treat both high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Before taking this medicine, tell your healthcare provider if you:

Tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Especially tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist if you take medicines for:

This medicine can cause serious side effects, including:

If you are taking a high blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering combination medicine, get medical help right away if you have any of these signs or symptoms:

These medicines lower very high triglycerides in adults.

Icosapent ethyl is used along with other medicines (statins) to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and certain types of heart issues requiring hospitalization in adults with heart (cardiovascular) disease or diabetes and two or more additional risk factors for heart disease.

Before taking these medicines, tell your healthcare provider if you:

Tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription (over-the-counter) medicines, vitamins, and dietary or herbal supplements. These medicines can interact with certain other medicines that you are taking. Especially tell your healthcare provider if you take medicines that affect your blood clotting (anticoagulants or blood thinners).

If you are taking an omega-3 fatty acid, get medical help right away if you have any of these signs or symptoms:

These medicines treat high cholesterol.

Before taking these medicines, tell your healthcare provider if you:

Tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, herbal supplements, or other nutritional supplements. Especially tell your healthcare provider if you are taking any of the following:

If you are taking a bile acid sequestrant, get medical help if you have any of these signs or symptoms:

These medicines treat high cholesterol and high triglycerides.

Before taking these medicines, tell your healthcare provider if you:

Tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, herbal supplements, or other nutritional supplements.

Especially tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist if you are taking any medicines that affect your blood clotting (anticoagulants or blood thinners), medicines that suppress your immune system, other cholesterol-lowering medicines, or colchicine.

These medicines may cause serious side effects, including:

If you are taking a fibrate, get medical help right away if you have any of these signs or symptoms:

This medicine treats high cholesterol and high triglycerides.

Before taking this medicine, tell your healthcare provider if you:

Tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, herbal supplements, or other nutritional supplements containing niacin or nicotinamide. Especially tell your healthcare provider and pharmacist if you take other medicines to lower cholesterol or triglycerides, aspirin, blood pressure medicines, medicines that affect your blood clotting (anticoagulants or blood thinners), or drink alcohol daily.

This medicine can cause serious side effects, including:

If you are taking niacin, get medical help if you have any of these signs or symptoms:

Pregnancy Exposure Registries are research studies that collect information from women who take prescription medicines or vaccines during pregnancy. Pregnancy registries can help women and their doctors learn more about how cholesterol medicines affect women during pregnancy. The FDA does not conduct pregnancy studies, but it keeps a list of registries.

Check to see if there is a registry for your cholesterol medicine or other medicines at www.fda.gov/pregnancyregistries.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Health Information Center

Phone: 1-877-NHLBI4U

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/high-blood-cholesterol

MedlinePlus

https://medlineplus.gov/cholesterol.html

This information should not be used in place of talking to your healthcare provider or reading the label on your medicine bottle. The medicine and risk information on this page may change and is not all inclusive.

For the most complete and up-to-date information about the risks and side effects of each medicine, check http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/drugsatfda/.