How Do You Know if You Have High Cholestrol

High Cholesterol - Causes, Symptoms & Treatments

Having loftier cholesterol can increment your risk of heart and circulatory diseases such as heart assault, stroke and vascular dementia.

What is high cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fat substance found in your blood. It's produced naturally in the liver.Everyone has cholesterol. We demand it to stay healthy because every cell in our torso uses it. Some of this cholesterol comes from the food we eat.

High cholesterol is when you lot have as well much cholesterol in your blood. This can increase your risk of heart and circulatory diseases such every bit heart attack and stroke.

What are the types of cholesterol?

There are two principal types of cholesterol, one skilful and the other bad. Having too much 'bad' cholesterol can cause problems with your health. Cholesterol is carried in your blood by proteins. When cholesterol and proteins combine, they're chosen lipoproteins.

High-density lipoproteins or HDL is called 'practiced' cholesterol. This is because it gets rid of the 'bad' cholesterol from your claret. It takes cholesterol that you don't demand back to the liver. The liver breaks it downwardly so it can exist passed out of your body.

Non-high-density lipoproteinsor non-HDL is called 'bad' cholesterol. This is considering when there is too much of it, information technology tin can build up inside the walls of the blood vessels. This clogs them up causing narrowing of the arteries which increases your adventure of having a heart attack or stroke.

You may accept too heard 'bad' cholesterol being called 'LDL' cholesterol. This was previously used as the main measure of bad cholesterol but nosotros at present know that other forms of not-HDL cholesterol are likewise harmful.

Triglycerides

Our blood also contains a type of fatty called triglycerides. This is stored in the body's fat cells. Beingness very overweight, eating a lot of fatty and sugary foods or drinking too much booze can make you lot more than likely to accept a high triglyceride level. Triglycerides tin can besides contribute to the narrowing of the artery walls, increasing your take chances. Yous may meet it on your cholesterol reading results, and your md will exist able to tell you lot if it'southward too loftier.

You can have a normal level of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol merely nevertheless take a high triglyceride level.

Why is high cholesterol bad for y'all?

Non-HDL take cholesterol from the liver to the cells around your body. Too much bad cholesterol (non-HDL) can be harmful because information technology sticks to the inside walls of your arteries. This tin lead to fatty textile (atheroma) edifice upwards - this process is known equally atherosclerosis. Information technology makes information technology harder for blood to flow through, which can atomic number 82 to a heart attack or a stroke.

If your total cholesterol is high, it tin can mean that you have a lot of bad (non-HDL) cholesterol in your blood. A high level of skilful (HDL) cholesterol can help keep that bad cholesterol in check and remove information technology from your body.

What should my cholesterol level be?

There is no specific target cholesterol level because your md is looking at your overall take a chance of developing centre and circulatory diseases. Our nurse talks near cholesterol numbers in our beneath video:

What causes high cholesterol?

Anyone can get high cholesterol, and information technology tin exist caused by many different things. Some things you can command similar lifestyle habits, others yous can't. As long as you take care of the things you can command, you lot'll aid lower your risk.

Things that crusade loftier cholesterol you can control:

• eating too much saturated fat
• non being active enough
• having besides much body fatty, peculiarly around your heart.

Smoking tin can atomic number 82 to high cholesterol levels, and the build-upwardly of tar it causes in your arteries makes it easier for cholesterol to stick to your artery walls.

If you are overweight or have diabetes, yous are at greater risk of having high cholesterol.

Things that cause high cholesterol you can't command:

• getting older
• if you are male or female
• ethnic groundwork
• Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH), a grade of loftier cholesterol y'all are born with
• kidney or liver illness
• an underactive thyroid gland

Signs and symptoms of high cholesterol

There aren't usually any typical signs you have high cholesterol which is why it'due south then of import to go it checked out. Information technology's a hidden risk factor which means information technology happens without us knowing until it'south besides late.

How is cholesterol measured?

Claret cholesterol levels are measured using a unproblematic blood exam. Your GP or do nurse will take a claret sample, usually by pricking your finger or you lot might exist asked to go for a blood examination at your local hospital.

Your claret is then checked for levels of expert (HDL) cholesterol, bad (non-HDL) cholesterol and triglycerides, also equally getting a total cholesterol result.

Cholesterol and triglycerides are measured in units called millimoles per litre of claret, usually shortened to 'mmol/Litre' or 'mmol/L'. Mostly speaking, for a healthy heart the aim is to take a low non-HDL level and a college HDL level.

If yous have been told you have a high cholesterol level, you have besides much 'bad' cholesterol in your bloodstream which increases your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. But a high level of 'proficient' (HDL) cholesterol can help keep that 'bad' (non-HDL) cholesterol in check.

What does having high cholesterol mean for my health?

Your risk of center and circulatory disease is increased if you have loftier cholesterol as well as other adventure factors, such equally:

• smoking
• high blood pressure
• being physically inactive
• being overweight
• having diabetes
• family history of premature coronary middle illness (before 55 for men and before 65 for women)
• beingness of South Asian origin

The more than run a risk factors you accept, the higher your chance of developing a heart or circulatory affliction such as a middle set on, stroke or vascular dementia.

How can I lower my cholesterol levels?

• Eat a salubrious balanced diet, low in saturated fat
• Get active
• Quit smoking

Discover out more about living a healthy lifestyle and unproblematic swaps yous tin make to assistance reduce your cholesterol.

OUR 5 TOP WAYS TO LOWER CHOLESTEROL

Medications and treatments for loftier cholesterol

If your cholesterol is very high and if lifestyle changes are not enough, your doc might suggest controlling it with medication.

Statins are the main type of medicine used to reduce cholesterol. Your physician will permit yous know if you demand to take any other drugs which help control your cholesterol levels. They may also refer yous to a specialist called a lipidologist.

If you lot have questions well-nigh your medicines, speak with your doctor or call our Eye Helpline on 0300 330 3311. You can as well look at our publications for more information.

Assistance and support

If you are anile twoscore-74 you lot can ask for an NHS health bank check in England only, but similar schemes are available in other parts of the UK. Your doctor should write to you every 5 years about this, but you tin can also just make an appointment to bank check your blood force per unit area.

If yous have high cholesterol, it's of import to know that you're not alone. Find back up from healthcare professionals and the people around  y'all.

Call our Heart Helpline at 0300 330 3311 to speak to ane of our Cardiac Nurses. They can give you information and support about middle and circulatory diseases, and their risk factors.

Bring together our HealthUnlocked community.

Manage your cholesterol

Our cholesterol hub answers all your questions about cholesterol, including how to manage it, when to get checks and more nearly statins.

More nigh cholesterol

Want to know more?

Order or download our publications:

campanelliforelut.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/risk-factors/high-cholesterol

Bagikan Artikel ini