Your liver makes cholesterol, and your body needs it to function, which might seem confusing if your doctor has told you your cholesterol is dangerously high. Blood cholesterol and dietary cholesterol are different, and too much dietary cholesterol can endanger your health.
At Heart & Vascular Institute, with five Michigan locations, we often see patients confused about cholesterol. Our experts can help you understand why high cholesterol creates health risks and how to keep your cholesterol levels in a healthy range.
In this post, we touch on those topics but also recommend you get advice tailored to your specific situation from one of our highly trained providers.
When you have a blood test, you see several results related to cholesterol, all in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL). Here are the typical measurements doctors look at:
Optimally, your total cholesterol is around 150 mg/dL, LDL around 100 mg/dL, triglycerides less than 150 mg/dL, and HDL at least 40 mg/dL. If your total cholesterol is over 200 mg/dL, it’s too high, and your doctor may diagnose hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol).
Hyperlipidemia can increase your risk of certain health conditions. Here are five dangers of high cholesterol:
Atherosclerosis is the medical name for hardening of the arteries, which increases your risk of problems like heart attack and stroke. Healthy blood vessels are flexible, but excess cholesterol can build up on artery walls, causing them to become less flexible and narrower.
One result of narrow, inflexible blood vessels is your heart must work harder to push the blood through them. The pressure of the blood against the walls of your blood vessels can cause hypertension in addition to the damage caused by the cholesterol buildup (plaque).
When your blood vessels are too narrow and damaged to allow blood to flow to the muscles in your legs, peripheral artery disease results. The main symptom of peripheral artery disease is pain in your calves (claudication) when you’re active.
Your muscles need blood to work properly. If your legs hurt, feel tired or heavy, or feel weak when you walk or climb stairs, it could be peripheral artery disease.
As plaque thickens, it can block blood from flowing freely through your arteries. Sometimes, a buildup ruptures and results in a blood clot, which can cause a heart attack.
A blood clot that breaks loose and goes to your brain could cause a stroke instead of a heart attack.
Lowering cholesterol could mean making fundamental lifestyle changes, taking medications, or combining the two.
Changing your diet is one way to help reach a healthy cholesterol profile. Focus on fiber, work to reduce saturated fats such as the fat in red meat, and eliminate trans fats, often used in the production of crackers, cookies, and cakes.
If you’re concerned about your cholesterol levels, we can discuss your risk factors and the healthy actions you can take. Schedule an appointment by phone or online today at the Heart & Vascular Institute location near you.
