High Cholesterol is a common condition that affects many people. Cholesterol is a fat that the body needs in order to be healthy, but too much cholesterol or too much bad cholesterol can lead to conditions like stroke, heart disease, and other secondary health problems. Patients with High Cholesterol can develop fatty deposits in the blood vessels that can cause significant health risks and even death.
This condition often does not have any symptoms associated with it. Blood tests often reveal this condition during something like an annual physical or treatment for another health condition. Patients who are not experiencing secondary health issues with their heart or emergency conditions like stroke might not have any idea that they have high cholesterol.
This condition can be inherited, but it is more often caused by poor diet and unhealthy lifestyle choices. This means that this condition is very treatable, no matter why a patient has been diagnosed with it. There are two kinds of high cholesterol that are present in the body:
This condition is caused by LDL or bad cholesterol. LDL cholesterol builds up in the walls of the arteries and makes them hard and narrow.
HDL cholesterol is the good cholesterol, and it picks up excess cholesterol and carries it back to the liver.
Patients with high LDL cholesterol levels will need to make modifications to their diet and activities, and they might also have to take medications to help them to reduce the bad cholesterol in their body.
The risk factors for high cholesterol are:
Diagnosis of High Cholesterol is made by taking a lipid panel, which is a blood test that checks the various kinds of cholesterol in the body. The total cholesterol, the LDL and HDL cholesterol, and the triglycerides in the body will be tested using a blood sample.
This is the main method of diagnosis for High Cholesterol, even if the patient has shown up at the emergency room due to a secondary health concern like a heart attack or stroke. Diagnosis of High Cholesterol will still be confirmed in these patients using a lipid panel test.
Prevention of High Cholesterol involves eating a low-salt diet that includes whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. You might need to lose weight, quit smoking and stop drinking alcohol. You should exercise for at least half an hour every day and manage your stress. Even if your High Cholesterol is caused by genetics, you can still make major improvements in your cholesterol levels by taking these actions.
Treatment of High Cholesterol requires eating a healthy diet and getting enough exercise. You might also be given medications to take that help to control the level of cholesterol in your body. These might be statins, which block a substance in the liver that allows your body to make cholesterol. Cholesterol absorption inhibitors can also be used to treat this condition. These medications limit the absorption of dietary cholesterol.
There are a couple of other medications that can be used to reduce cholesterol in the body. Bild-acid-binding resins prompt the liver to use excess cholesterol to make more bile acids, and PCSK9 inhibitors help the liver absorb more LDL cholesterol. High triglycerides can be treated with medications like fibrates, niacin, and omega-3 Fatty acids.