{"id":10217,"date":"2021-05-11T17:39:34","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T17:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/?p=10217"},"modified":"2021-05-11T17:41:25","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T17:41:25","slug":"are-you-at-risk-for-high-cholesterol-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/are-you-at-risk-for-high-cholesterol-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You at Risk for High Cholesterol?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is cholesterol? Lipids are fatty substances in your blood. These substances are called cholesterol and triglycerides. It is normal to have some fats in your blood. Your body needs them to perform important functions like making hormones and digesting fatty foods. However, sometimes the levels of fats in your blood can get too high. This is called dyslipidemia or high cholesterol. When you have too many fats in your blood, they can build up and clog the blood vessels in your heart, which can cause heart attack, stroke and other diseases.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are two types of cholesterol\u2014LDL (low-density lipoprotein), or sometimes called \u201cbad\u201d cholesterol, and HDL (high-density lipoprotein), or sometimes called \u201cgood\u201d cholesterol.<\/p>\n

Risk Factors: You may be at greater risk for high cholesterol if you:<\/p>\n

\u00bb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are older than 65 years of age<\/p>\n

\u00bb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Have a family history of high cholesterol<\/p>\n

\u00bb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are a smoker<\/p>\n

\u00bb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eat an unhealthy diet<\/p>\n

\u00bb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Drink alcohol very frequently<\/p>\n

\u00bb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do not exercise<\/p>\n

\u00bb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are a person with high blood pressure, obesity or diabetes<\/p>\n

Talk to your doctor about your risk. You will be asked about your current health and health history. You may also get a physical exam, and your doctor will check your cholesterol levels through a blood test. This test may require you to not eat for a few hours beforehand.<\/p>\n

Treatment Options<\/strong>: If you do have high cholesterol, your doctor will work with you to create a treatment plan. One part of your treatment will include making healthy changes, such as eating a heart-healthy diet, getting regular exercise, quitting smoking, and losing weight if needed.<\/p>\n

Sometimes lifestyle changes aren’t enough. When this is the case, there are medicines available that help lower the fat levels in your blood. Many people are prescribed one of several medicines called statins.<\/p>\n

What are statins?<\/strong> Statins are used to lower LDL and raise HDL. They inhibit your body\u2019s ability to make cholesterol, which can help your body achieve a better balance between \u201cbad\u201d and \u201cgood\u201d cholesterol. Your doctor will identify which is right for you and, through regular blood tests, can monitor your progress to control cholesterol levels.<\/p>\n

Diabetes<\/strong>: If you have diabetes, certain other illnesses, or if you\u2019ve had a heart attack or stroke, your doctor may prescribe a statin even if your cholesterol levels are normal. This is to help prevent atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n

Ask Your Doctor<\/strong>: At your next appointment, ask your doctor about your cholesterol and what\u00a0\u00a0 you can do to manage it if it\u2019s high. If you are already on a statin, be sure to follow your doctor\u2019s instructions for taking your medication correctly, exercising and eating a heart-healthy diet.<\/p>\n

Sources: Annals of Internal Medicine, 5 December 2017; and <\/em>https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/cholester<\/em>ol<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is cholesterol? Lipids are fatty substances in your blood. These substances are called cholesterol and triglycerides. It is normal to have some fats in your blood. Your body needs them to perform important functions like making hormones and digesting fatty foods. However, sometimes the levels of fats in your blood can get too high. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medicare"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/cholesterol-risk.jpg?fit=1978%2C814&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZZGa-2EN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10217"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10221,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10217\/revisions\/10221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}