What Ongoing Monitoring is Required?

A side effect of bile acid sequestrants is that they can potentially lower the levels of fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) and B12 in the body because the medications can disrupt the way these vitamins get absorbed. Bile acid sequestrants are used to help lower cholesterol in some people and, unfortunately, the downside of this is that they can lead to an increase in the levels of different sorts of cholesterol in the blood, namely triglycerides and therefore the following ongoing tests are necessary:

• blood test to check vitamin levels (A,D, E, K) and B12 after 3 months of treatment and then yearly thereafter

• yearly monitoring of triglycerides levels