Rovastin Side Effects

The most common side effects of rosuvastatin are headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and muscle pain. The most serious side effects are liver failure, muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis) and kidney failure. Liver failure caused by statins is very rare. More often, statins cause increases in liver tests due to injury to the liver. The test levels usually return to normal with continued therapy, but if the level is >3 times the upper limit of normal or baseline, practitioners usually stop the statin. Periodic measurement of liver tests is recommended for all statins. For rosuvastatin, these tests should be obtained before therapy is started, 12 weeks after therapy is started, when the dose is increased, if there is a medical concern, and periodically during prolonged treatment.
Rhabdomyolysis is a very rare but serious side effect of statin therapy. When used alone, the frequency of rhabdomyolysis due to statins is <1%. Rhabdomyolysis is a process in which there is severe injury to muscles leading to severe pain and the release of muscle protein (myoglobin) into the blood. Myoglobin may cause kidney failure. To prevent the occurrence of rhabdomyolysis, patients taking statins who develop unexplained muscle pain, weakness or tenderness should report the symptoms to the physician.
Rosuvastatin may cause reversible increases in the amount of protein excreted by the kidneys, and in some patients kidney failure has occurred as a result. This effect depends on the dose and occurs more often at the 40-mg dose.