I am a 43 year old females who has had type 2 for two years which is treated with a oral agent, and I also take Lisinopril, Zocor, Prilosec and an alphabetic vitamin once a day. The Prilosec was prescribed after having trouble with Baycol. Baycol was then replaced with Zocor, but the Prilosec was not stopped. I am worried about liver problems with these various medications. I would like to stop taking the Zocor and Prilosec and plan to ask my physician about that at my next appointment. Do these medications help more than they harm? Are my fears about them correct?

First, abnormal lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides) cluster with type 2 diabetes. When a lipid-lowering medication is started, it generally needs to be continued indefinitely. This has profound benefits for decreasing cardiovascular risk over your lifetime. If you stop it, you lose the protection. Therefore, it is not generally one of the medications easily stopped. However, the Prilosec may be able to be stopped.

To answer the question of whether the medications are doing you harm, your physician can check blood tests which monitor their toxicity. However, the rate of adverse side effects is not great and the medication should be stopped for only clear reasons. It sounds like your sugars are well controlled. It sounds like you need to get reassurance from your physician and they should be able to help you.

JTL