Q: I am a 50 year old male taking cholestat 10 mg for the past 2 years to keep my lipid profile parameters in good conditions and results are excellent as long as I continue with the medicine i.e. total cholesterol is 165, HDL is 35, Triglycerides are 95 and LDL is 125. The moment I stop the medicine (inspite of diet control and regular morning walk), the lipid profile changes with cholesterol level going to 245. Kindly advise if I can continue taking medicine on regular basis for a very long time or there are any side effects?

A:It is important to distinguish the trade names from the real generic names of the medicines. Cholestat is not the name of the medicine but a brand name of a particular company. The name of the medicine is atorvastatin. It appears that you are suffering from familial (genetic) high cholesterol disease. Under such situations, one needs to take the drug for prolonged periods. You may wish to take Atorva brand of atorvastatin listed in international data bases of brands and hence is recognised as a quality product.