Most people forget to take their medications at some point in their lives. In most cases, nothing really happens. Statin are drugs used to lower your cholesterol and have to be taken for many years, perhaps lifelong. Therefore, it is understandable if a dose is missed occasionally.
However, if a medication is missed for any reason, doubling up is not a great idea. Statins are generally very safe drugs and most individuals are prescribed low doses. Therefore, if you miss a dose of statin on a single day, it will not do you any harm. Statins do not work immediately and their benefits are derived over many months. In any case, to be on the safe side, do not double up the dose if you miss a pill. Nothing will happen and rest assured you will not get clogged up vessels by missing a single pill.
There are many drugs that can cause serious side effects if the dose is doubled up.
Overall statins are very safe and one can even miss a couple of days with no harm. However, that does not mean that you should continue with this erratic drug compliance. For best benefit of statins, one should take the pill everyday. If you routinely miss taking your statin, then use a calendar, a visual reminder, an automatic pill dispenser or get someone in the family to remind you. If you do not want to take the drug, talk to your health care provider and get your cholesterol levels rechecked. One of the best ways to reduce cholesterol levels is by changes in diet and exercise- and this is where you should have started in the first place.
