Explain to the patient that there are different characteristics and properties of these medications even though they are in the same drug class. Explain that simvastatin and atorvastatin are some of the more lipophilic statins and are more likely to penetrate into the muscle tissue to cause muscle pain, but pravastatin which is a hydrophilic statins are less likely to cause muscle pain. The patient could get baseline labs such as CK levels prior to initiating therapy and after initiation to monitor for muscle pain as well as a full lipid panel. There should be a discussion with the patient about therapeutic lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise, smoking cessation if they smoke, and weight loss to help lower their cholesterol as well as improve