Lipid Disorder Education Program
Previous| Next| Table of Contents| Home Page
Sequestrant Alert
Five Questions to Ask Before Starting Sequestrants!
- i) Are fasting triglycerides above 250 mg/dl?
- Triglycerides will worsen by 10-50% with sequestrants!
- Consider lowering triglycerides to below 200 mg/dl before using sequestrants.
- ii) Is patient currently constipated?
- It will only get worse!
- Consider fiber, stool softeners, and/or mineral oil to treat the constipation.
- iii) Is patient currently taking 3 or more other drugs?
- Scheduling of sequestrants to separate them properly from other medications will be a problem.
- iv) Is patient a previous sequestrant failure?
- He/she will be unlikely to tolerate a rechallenge, but you might try a different sequestrant preparation (i.e. Questran Light instead of Questran).
- v) Is the patient willing and able?
- The patient must be cooperative to withstand initiation and maintenance of sequestrant therapy.
Previous| Next| Table of Contents| Home Page
Page 13b