Whats The Importance Of Normal Cholesterol Levels
Lowering your blood sugar can help you lower high cholesterol numbers. Not going to get too technical here, but I just wanted to give the actual definition of what Im talking about here.
Cholesterol definition: a compound of the sterol type found in most body tissues. Cholesteroland its derivatives are important constituents of cell membranes and precursors of other steroid compounds, but a high proportion in the blood of low-density lipoprotein is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease.
High Cholesterol In The Body May Lead To Other Serious Health Problems11
Our bodies use cholesterol to make hormones, Vitamin D, and substances that help us digest foods. It’s important to have the right balance of the different types of cholesterol in our bodies.
If there is too much LDL-C or “bad” cholesterol in your arteries, it can be called high cholesterol. If you have too much “bad” cholesterol, it’s important to work with your doctor to lower these levels to reach your target goal.
Controlling your level of “bad” cholesterol is important. High levels of “bad” cholesterol may cause heart disease. “Bad” cholesterol builds up on the walls of the blood vessels over time. The blood vessels then become narrow. This may happen to the blood vessels going to the heart and brain. The result may be a heart attack, angina, stroke, or other diseases.
Welchol has not been shown to prevent heart disease, heart attacks, or any other of the above conditions.
Your diet and lifestyle changes may help you manage your cholesterol12
If your “bad” cholesterol levels are too high, diet and lifestyle changes may help you manage your cholesterol and keep it lower. The following may help you promote low cholesterol12:
- Make sure to stick to a heart-healthy diet
- Stay physically active
- Quit smoking
- If you have been prescribed cholesterol medicine, take it as prescribed
- Follow any other recommendations your healthcare provider may have
Remember to talk to your healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet or exercise plan.
Managing Gout And Diabetes
Dr. Edgerton says he always informs his gout patients about the link between gout and diabetes. Theyre both lifestyle-influenced conditions, meaning the changes that have to be made have to be incorporated into a daily activity. Its not as easy as just taking a pill for either disease, he notes.
So besides being diligent about getting medical care and following a treatment plan from your primary care doctor and other specialists , heres what else may help:
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What Is The Connection Between Ldl
In a person with diabetes, there is a condition called, diabetic dyslipidemia.
It is characterized by a triad that includes:
- low HDL-C
- high LDL-C
- high triglycerides
In research, they have found that there is a link between the insulin resistance in Type 2 diabetes and diabetic dyslipidemia that tends to cause people with Type 2 diabetes to get heart disease or a stroke at a younger age than people without Type 2 diabetes. Due to the size of LDL-C molecules and other factors in people with diabetes, there exists ability for diabetes to effect the lowering of the good cholesterol in the blood, all while promoting an increase in the bad cholesterol. This premature risk is all the more reason to work with your primary care provider to manage cholesterol when you have diabetes. Lifestyle habits likely play a role in the increased risk, with some people developing dyslipidemia prior to a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. Therefore, it is important to manage cholesterol for general health throughout life.
Who Is At Risk For Metabolic Syndrome
Knowing your risk factors for any disease can help guide you to take the appropriate actions. This includes changing behaviors and being monitored by your healthcare provider for the disease.
Risk factors most closely tied to metabolic syndrome include:
- Age. You are more likely to have metabolic syndrome the older you are.
- Ethnicity. African Americans and Mexican Americans are more likely to get metabolic syndrome. African-American women are about 60% more likely than African-American men to have the syndrome.
- Body mass index greater than 25. The BMI is a measure of body fat compared with height and weight.
- Personal or family history of diabetes. Women who have had diabetes during pregnancy or people who have a family member with type 2 diabetes are at greater risk for metabolic syndrome.
- Smoking
Here are the types of treatment that may be recommended for metabolic syndrome.
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Do I Need Tablets For High Cholesterol
NICE generally recommends that people, with a 10% or greater risk of developing heart disease within the next 10 years, take statins.
This likelihood is worked out by the QRISK2 calculator that doctors use.
For people with diabetes NICE recommends :
- Consider statin treatment for all adults with type 1 diabetes
- Offer statins to anyone with type 2 diabetes with a 10% or greater risk of developing heart disease in the next 10 years
The starting dose of statins should be atorvastatin 20 mg, unless this is not tolerated by the patient.
Statins have been shown to prevent a major heart event in around 1 in 100 people that take the tablets for 3 years. Statins may cause side effects, such as aching muscles, headaches or memory trouble, in some people.
If sides effects occur speak to your doctor. If you have side effects from statins, they should disappear once you stop taking them.
Whether you take statins should be an agreement between you and your doctor and you have the right to accept or turn down the offer to take statins.
Lipid Changes In Diabetes
Most studies show that patients with type 2 diabetes have more triglyceride and less HDL cholesterol than non-diabetics.2,3 These lipid abnormalities are also seen in non-diabetic individuals with increased obesity , hypertension and insulin resistance, hence leading to the recognition of the `metabolic syndrome’ or `syndrome X’. Although the dyslipidaemia in diabetics appears to be greater, the non-diabetic people with the `metabolic syndrome’ are also at an increased risk of CHD.
While LDL cholesterol concentrations are usually similar in diabetic and non-diabetic populations, qualitative changes have been described. LDL particles have been shown to be smaller and denser in diabetics, which may enhance their atherogenicity.4 In non-diabetic populations, small dense LDL particles and apolipoprotein B have been shown to be independent risk factors for CHD.
In type 1 diabetics, raised triglycerides are commonly seen when there is poor glycaemic control. In well-controlled patients, the overall lipid profile is often `normal’, although there is evidence for an increase in small dense LDL and intermediate density lipoprotein. These findings explain in part why type 1 diabetics also have an excess of cardiovascular complications.
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What Should You Do If You Notice Persistent Tingling
Though pins and needles might not be a direct symptom of high cholesterol, it shouldn’t be ignored, says Dr. Greenfield. When someone has paresthesia, they may lose sensation in their feet, and this loss of sensation can lead to instability and falling spells, as well as the inability to respond to hot or cold.
For immediate relief, Dr. Pingel suggests simply moving the body. Try taking a walk , or move the tingling areas in any other way to relieve the sensation.
Hypericum, which is St. John’s Wort, has also shown some success in certain individuals with nerve pain and tingling, adds Dr. Pingel. Make sure to check with your doctor before taking any medicationseven these herbal therapies.
Paresthesia can be caused by a number of differentand often seriousissues. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, these can range from multiple sclerosis and transient ischemic attacks , to encephalitis and tumors. Getting checked out by a medical professional for persistent tingling is so important, high cholesterol or not.
Testing For Heart Disease
Your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and weight will help your doctor understand your overall risk for heart disease. Your doctor may also recommend other tests to check your heart health, which could include:
- An electrocardiogram to measure your hearts electrical activity. Your heartbeat is the result of an electrical impulse traveling through your heart.
- An echocardiogram to examine how thick your heart muscle is and how well your heart pumps.
- An exercise stress test to see how well your heart functions when its working hard.
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Symptoms Of High Cholesterol And Diabetes
There are no symptoms of high cholesterol, whether or not you have diabetes along with it. The only way that you can know that you have high cholesterol numbers, is to have your doctor perform a laboratory test once a year. The test is called a Cholesterol Panel, or a Lipid Panel, and it shows your total cholesterol number, along with values for your LDL-C, HDL-C, and Triglycerides. Some tests further break down cholesterol to VLDL , but some tests do not. Generally, keeping triglycerides down will control VLDL-C, as it is composed of fifty percent triglycerides.
Symptoms Of Eruptive Xanthomatosis
EX causes groups of round little bumps. Theyre usually found on the back of your arms such as around your elbows and on the back of your thighs, buttocks, and legs. They can also show up around your eyes and on your:
- stomach
1 to 4 millimeters across, sometimes resembling chickenpox or measles. The bumps may also grow bigger.
EX bumps range in color. They may be skin-toned, pink, red, brown, yellow, or a mixture of colors. The fat inside the bumps can give them a yellowish color. They might also look shiny or waxy or have a yellow or red crust around them.
EX bumps may not cause any symptoms at all. Some people may have:
- itching
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When To See Your Heathcare Provider
If you haven’t gone in yet for your yearly health check-up, or if you are experiencing potential symptoms of high blood sugar , it’s important to make an appointment with your internist or family physician.
Most people with high blood sugar and insulin resistance have no symptoms, which is why regular screening with your healthcare provider is important.
Your healthcare provider can perform blood tests, such as a fasting blood sugar test or a hemoglobin A1C test, to check for pre-diabetes and diabetes. He can also order a lipid panel to check your blood cholesterol levels, in addition to checking your blood pressure and weight.
Based on your healthcare provider’s assessment and laboratory results, together you can come up with a plan to ultimately reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
Cholesterol Is Fat That Is Found In Our Blood Sometimes Its Called Lipids When We Hear This Word We Think Of It Building Up In Our Arteries And Contributing To Long
Healthy levels of cholesterol are vital for our cells to function and to make vitamin D and some hormones.
There are two main types HDL or high-density lipoprotein and LDL or low-density lipoprotein . If the levels of your bad cholesterol become too high and the good cholesterol too low, you are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular complications .
There are also triglycerides . These can have bad effects on your health if levels are high, too.
For many people, eating a healthy, balanced diet and being physically active is enough to keep cholesterol levels healthy. But if your bad cholesterol is high, most people need medication to lower it. And for people with diabetes, it is important that you have your levels checked every year. You can find out why it’s important in our video.
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How Can I Lower My Cholesterol Level
The first step in reducing your cholesterol is to maintain a healthy, balanced diet. It’s important to keep your diet low in fatty food.
You can swap food containing saturated fat for fruit, vegetables and wholegrain cereals. This will also help prevent high cholesterol returning.
Other lifestyle changes, such as taking regular exercise and giving up smoking, can also make a big difference in helping to lower your cholesterol.
If these measures don’t reduce your cholesterol and you continue to have a high risk of developing heart disease, your GP may prescribe a cholesterol-lowering medication, such as statins.
Your GP will take into account the risk of any side effects from statins. The benefit of lowering your cholesterol must outweigh any risks.
Read more about how high cholesterol is treated
National And International Recommendations For The Management Of Hyperlipidemia
The role of diabetes in risk assessment processes is more controversial than the simple statement often applied in guidelines that diabetes is a cardiovascular disease-risk equivalent. Risk in type 1 diabetes is strongly related to glycemic control, nephropathy, and hypertension and can be significantly increased compared with normoglycemic subjects . Risk in type 2 diabetes is still widely considered to be increased two- to fourfold . While features such as the presence of nephropathy or retinopathy identify higher risk groups, the use of other biomarkers of risk and likely need for enhanced treatment are often not appreciated. The presence of microalbuminuria for example is a risk factor for CHD even at low levels and its severity is also predictive of future events .
Most clinical guidelines recommend tight control of dyslipidemia, especially in high risk patients . Importantly, lipid targets are easier to achieve than blood pressure or glycemia targets and target LDL cholesterol levels as low as 1.8 mmol/L are increasingly recommended in patients with established CHD .
In conclusion, statin treatment should effectively be considered for all people with diabetes aged over 40 years or younger if additional cardiovascular risk factors are present, a position recently supported by the Joint British Societies .
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Treatment Of Dyslipidemia In Diabetes
Glycemic control may not always normalize lipid and lipoprotein levels, particularly in type 2 diabetes. Although there is some evidence that glycemic control may affect atherogenesis, trials of intensive glycemic control have not shown a significant reduction in coronary events despite significant decreases in microvascular complications . A number of clinical trials have shown promising results in lowering the risk of coronary artery disease by lipid control. In the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study , simvastatin significantly reduced CHD incidence and total mortality in diabetic subjects with high LDL cholesterol and with previous clinical CHD. In the Cholesterol and Recurrent Events trial, pravastatin reduced CHD incidence significantly in diabetic subjects with average LDL levels and with previous clinical CHD by 27%. In the Helsinki Heart Study, gemfibrozil was found to produce reductions of 8.1% in total cholesterol, 6.5% in LDL, and 30.7% in triglycerides and an increase of 11% in HDL in 135 patients with type 2 diabetes. However, the 68% decrease in CHD risk in the diabetic population did not achieve statistical significance owing to the small number of diabetic patients enrolled .
Table. Summary of drugs available for treatment of dyslipidemia and their mechanism of action
Ive Heard About Ginger But Does It Work To Lower Cholesterol
Ginger has been used in traditional medicine for years to help with stomach issues, arthritic joints, as well as heart conditions. It works for motion sickness, morning sickness in pregnancy, and it may lower cholesterol. There has only been one rather small study that looked at the cholesterol lowering effects of ginger. Subjects took 3,000 mg per day for 45 days. They had an average drop in total cholesterol by 13 mg/dl. Triglycerides also dropped by 9.5. Even so, larger studies need to be done to validate this finding. As a spice, ginger is tasty in recipes.
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More Connections Between High Cholesterol And Diabetes
Smaller, denser LDL-C molecules
LDL-C cholesterol levels in people with diabetes can underestimate the cardiac risk that is posed. Borderline high LDL-C levels, along with Type 2 diabetes pose a 2 to 3 times greater risk for CVD than for people without diabetes. The LDL-C particles are proportionally smaller and are denser in people with diabetes. These particles are more likely to invade the walls of arteries and cause a significant cardiovascular problem. This typically leads to more hardening of the arteries in people with diabetes due to the small and dense LDL-C particles.
There is also a relationship between the smaller, denser, LDL-C molecules and an increase in triglycerides. It is the insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity that is the metabolic syndrome of diabetes that causes elevated triglycerides. Insulin resistance in muscles converts carbohydrate energy into triglycerides that are generated in the liver. This tends to make VLDL-C, which means that the LDL is loaded down with triglycerides. It is in persons with greater than 100 mg/dl triglycerides that we see the smallest and densest VLDL-C particles forming. This in turn increases cardiovascular disease since these small particles of bad cholesterol are predominant in the bloodstream.
Is it correct to focus on LDL-C lowering therapy for those with diabetes?
Intensive therapy to lower LDL-C
Higher insulin levels raise LDL-C levels, lower HDL-C levels, and raise triglyceride levels
Cholesterol Targets For People With Diabetes
NICE no longer specifies target cholesterol levels for people with diabetes. Your doctors will use a calculator, called QRISK2, to work out your risk of heart disease using a number of factors such as age, BMI, gender, blood pressure levels, cholesterol levels and which type of diabetes you have.
If you want a general guide of how healthy your cholesterol levels are, find out your total cholesterol-to-HDL ratio
To find this, take your total cholesterol figure and divide it by your HDL figure. A result of less than four is healthy.
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