If you have high cholesterol, you’ve probably been warned: Failure to control this beast ups your odds of heart disease and can cause a heart attack or stroke. It’s a no brainer to take your meds, right? Wrong.
Remarkably, 50% of all people who’ve been prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs don’t take them even though the consequences to heart health can be dire. Blowing off your cholesterol meds can be deadly, says Guy L. Mintz, M.D., director of cardiovascular health and lipidology at Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital in Manhasset, NY. “The stakes are high.”
So, what’s keeping folks from staying the course with a treatment plan? Some people just hate the side effects. Others say routinely remembering to take a pill (or pills) is the problem. As is failing to understanding just how important it is to take your meds.