Zocor® and grapefruit interact with each other to produce negative and potentially life-threatening side effects. Possible side effects include muscle complications, kidney problems, and liver damage. Zocor®, also known as simvastatin, belongs to a class of drugs known as statins that lower levels of bad cholesterol. Zocor® and grapefruit don't mix well because grapefruit impairs the body's ability to metabolize certain statin drugs, which can lead to toxic amounts of Zocor® in the bloodstream. Other statins that grapefruit should not be mixed with include Lipitor® and Mevacor®.
Any food, beverage, or supplement containing grapefruit could negatively affect individuals taking Zocor®. It doesn't necessarily take a heavy mixture of Zocor® and grapefruit for one to experience negative side effects; as little as one serving of grapefruit mixed with Zocor® can make it more difficult for the body to break down levels of the drug in the bloodstream. When that happens, toxic levels of Zocor® leave a person at great risk of developing debilitating muscle conditions, such as rhabdomyolysis and myopathy. Such conditions can also severely impact the liver and kidneys, even leading to a complete failure of vital organs.
Myopathy is one of the chief muscle conditions a person might develop if combining Zocor® and grapefruit. It is marked by muscle weakness due to a breakdown of muscle fiber and is often accompanied by some combination of muscle twitches, spasms, and cramps. Rhabdomyolysis is another possible condition brought about by mixing Zocor® and grapefruit. It is also characterized by a breakdown in muscle fiber that causes impairments to the muscles, but it can also cause great damage to the kidneys, which have a difficult time breaking down muscle fiber that finds its way into the bloodstream.
Although some statins such as Zocor® react negatively to grapefruit, not all statins do. Provachol®, for example, is a cholesterol-lowering drug that does not result in negative side effects when combined with grapefruit. This means that someone may not need to change an aspect of their diet to take cholesterol-lowering medication, they may simply need to inquire whether there's a similar drug that won't interfere with a particular food group.
It's critical that individuals taking Zocor® take any warnings not to mix their medication with grapefruit seriously. Some may think it's OK to take their medication at the opposite time of day from when they ate grapefruit, but this is a dangerous line of thinking. Grapefruit can remain in your system long enough to negatively impair a dose of Zocor® many hours after it was eaten. The only safe way to avoid a negative reaction is to cut grapefruit completely out of a diet or to change to a statin that doesn't react negatively to grapefruit.