Heart disease risk cholesterol
Common Questions and Answers about Heart disease risk cholesterol
heart
Physical Signs of Heart Disease
Swelling of Your Feet and Lower Legs Retention of fluid in the feet and legs is known as peripheral edema. Edema may appear as "sock marks" at the end of the day. Mild peripheral edema is common. Your doctor may check for this sign by pressing a finger against your ankle or shin bone to see if a depression is left behind. This is called "pitting edema.
The accuracy of this test still has room for improvement, as it can vary depending on the time of day and other factors, but it is a much better indication of heart disease risk than a cholesterol test (which is practically useless for determining heart disease risk).
Another more important test than cholesterol levels for heart disease risk is a test for serum homocysteine levels. The next time your doctor wants you to get blood cholesterol tests, request CRP and homocysteine tests instead.
There are parameters that indicates if you are reducing your risk of another HA (like cholesterol), and others that can be used to detect failures in kidneys and liver due to medication and others to check that you are not loosing critical mineral for your heart to work (Sodium and Potassium).
Those are about the minimum assuming that you have not suffered major damage in your heart.
There must be some risk factors you have that lead to a heart attack, high BP or high cholesterol. Perhaps there was no damage but your heart was weakened and you now have a reduced EF%.
In any case, as Ed says it would be helpful to know what you're taking to answer intelligently.
A high LDL cholesterol level in combination with a low HDL cholesterol level significantly increases your risk of heart disease. My uderstanding is that trans fats are converted mostly to LDL cholesterol which binds to your HDL cholesterol and is eliminated though the liver. Unfortunately, in addition to placing more LDL cholesterol into your system it also lowers your good HDL cholesterol, less HDL means less capacity to eliminate LD cholesterol from your blood.
First off, no need for so many posts on the same subject, one will do. As far as cholesterol goes, here's some basics;
LDL Cholesterol
A high level of LDL cholesterol, also known as "bad" cholesterol, increases your risk of heart attacks and stroke.
Your cholesterol looks good, but you do realise that cholesterol levels are not the only concern with heart disease? Blood pressure, exercise, stress levels are just some of the other risk factors. But, having good cholesterol levels is a great start.
Without a clear history of familial hypercholesterolemia and cardiovascular disease at early age (stroke or heart attacks) in 1st degree relatives, indication of cholesterol testing is not usually recommended. The interventions are more oriented to risk factors modification like decreasing weight; aerobic exercise; decreasing foods w/ high content of cholesterol and carbohydrates; and increasing fish, nuts, olive oil, cereal, vegetables and fruits intake.
I received my blood test last week to find out that all of my cholesterol levels were high risk. Specifically, my cholesterol count was 249. I am 33 years old, don't smoke, and weigh 155. I have a history of high cholesterol in my family. I haven't gone to the doctor in fear that he may prescribe Lipitor or other drugs I don't care to take. Are there other remedies? I have a friend in her 20's that takes Policosinal and it seems to work for her. What should I do?
No one test can diagnose heart disease. Tests to help diagnose heart disease include: electrocardiogram, stress testing, echocardiography, chest x-ray, blood tests*, electron-beam computed tomography, coronary angiography and cardiac catheterization.
* Blood tests can include total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, Lp(a), Apo A1, ApoB, CRP, homocysteine, BNP, fibrinogen, blood glucose/insulin, vitamin D, testosterone, estrogen.
No it doesn't mean you have heart disease , the only way to deternine that is to get a angiogram or CT scan of your heart. A low fat/low cholesterol diet will lower your HDL but will also lower your LDL big time..its the ratio of HDL to LDL that's most important. My LDL before I started the niaspan and diet was over 100 and my total was 185 or so. In 6 weeks I have went down to the numbers you see in my first post. My trigs were at 144 and are now in the low 80's.
m guessing that the slightly high cholesterol level is a risk factor, hypertension is indeed a risk factor, family history of heart disease is very much a risk factor. You didn't mention, but your exercise pattern, smoking history, BMI, diabetes, dietary habits and stress levels all factor in as well. However, you have three definite risk factors.
I'd suggest you read up on risk factors for heart disease, and work to correct any obvious risks. For example, if you smoke, stop.
These include the presence of coronary artery disease, symptomatic carotid artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, or an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Then one determines the major risk factors other than LDL: These include a high blood pressure, smoking, low HDL levels (<40 mg/dl), family history of premature heart attack, older age. Also, it turns out that a high HDL above 60, which you have actually takes away a point which is good.
AND, since many have become westernised, they have certainly started to see the real effects of heart disease. Erijon is correct in that these individual cases are often used to try and disprove the benefits of medications, but they never use the full story. It's the same with the French paradox for the English. Our neighbours consume tons of dairy products yet have very little instance of heart disease compared to us.
A very convenient way of expressing your risk of heart disease which takes into account both the total (bad) and HDL (good) cholesterol is the ratio between the two. If this is under 4.5, you don't need to worry, although a 'perfect' score would be under 3.5. So if your total cholesterol is 200 mg/dl and your HDL 50 mg/dl, your ratio is 4, and you're OK. But if your total is 200 and your HDL 35, your ratio is 5.7, and you may have a problem.
t have a history of heart disease in my family, but high blood pressure and diabetes run rampant. Many people in my family have died from diabetic complications. My father is a non-insulin dependent diabetic, with high blood pressure. My mother is 67 and has no health problems. My grand parents lived with diabetes and high blood pressure and died in their early to mid 80's. I just want to understand my risk. I am about 50 lbs over weight and I am currently working on it.
Women on average have 300% lower rates of heart disease than men, despite higher average cholesterol levels. The rate of heart disease in 65 year-old men is 10 times that of 45-year old men. Yet high cholesterol is not a risk factor in men over 65. (In fact, men over 65 with low cholesterol (<150 mg/dL) are twice as likely to die from heart disease as those with normal or even "high" cholesterol.
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