cutting Simvastatin pills in half

  I did the same thing back in February, getting nervous about my cholesterol blood tests.  Things came out great back then with the exception that my overall cholesterol number was low, 106 mg/dl from 130 mg/dl three months earlier.  Monday (5-17-10) I see my PCP to go over these numbers as well as to discuss another newly diagnosed ear problem for the first time (superior canal dehiscence).

  Currently I take a 40mg Simvastatin every night.  Assuming the cholesterol drops considerably again, would one option be to cut the current pills in half?  I don't know what the price differences are for smaller dose pills but assuming the worse that they are higher in price, and that the Dr wants me to take 1/2 the dose, would cutting the pills in half have the same effect as getting 20mg pills?

[erijon]

Simvastatin has been shown to be safe to split. You would see the same results as if your were dosed at 20mg.

Jon

[ed34]

Just as a matter of interest, what would be the effect of taking 40mg every two days?

[erijon]

The class if statins that Simvastatin belongs in has a half life of only 11.3 hours at the most and it loses it's effect within 22 hours so it needs to be taken daily to get consistent results.

Jon

[kenkeith]

Once a day sounds reasonable when considering the metabolism rate.  I take a nitrate every other day, but the effect is for the day only prior to a workout.

[ed34]

"The class if statins that Simvastatin belongs in has a half life of only 11.3 hours at the most"

But surely that's plasma half life? If a statin has a half life of just 11.3 hours for  inhibiting
activity for HMG-CoA then it's really useless and shouldn't be on the market. You need at least 30-40 hours.