A significant part of illnesses and health problems for a long time does not give itself any symptoms. Instead, the “sores” accumulate and get worse, and when they are discovered, it will be too late (however, if they are not found in time, it will be even worse). This is the situation with cholesterol: the person did not seem to complain about either the heart or the pressure, but here it is! —and died. Dmitry Napalkov, professor at the Department of Faculty Therapy at Sechenov University, explained how to avoid such a fate.
According to the expert, cholesterol, which clogs our blood vessels, does not cause pain or other unpleasant symptoms. And yet, his off-scale level can kill.
“An analysis for total cholesterol is a screening test, it is advisable to do it once a year for everyone from the age of 50. If you already suffer from any diseases of the heart and blood vessels, then the determination of cholesterol levels should also be regular. An earlier diagnosis is needed if a person (even if he does not complain about his health) has relatives with cardiovascular diseases, ”the expert explained.
Those who have already been diagnosed with heart disease need a more detailed analysis of cholesterol. In such cases, the doctor necessarily analyzes many different indicators – in addition to the level of total cholesterol, they monitor low-density lipoproteins, which can “stick” to the vascular wall and clog them.
If a patient with no visible heart problems has LDL values above the norm, he should be properly examined and seriously take care of the health of the heart and blood vessels.
“The problem with atherosclerosis is that there are practically no external manifestations. Most have high cholesterol and even advanced stages of atherosclerosis, when the vessels are already fairly "clogged", do not show themselves. And first "messenger" the fact that a person turns out to be seriously ill can already become a heart attack or a stroke, ”explained Napalkov.
Monitoring cholesterol levels is necessary not only for people with obesity, diabetes and other diseases at risk, but also for those who are in a certain age range.
As The Secret wrote earlier, some symptoms can be alarming bells and harbingers of serious illnesses. For example, pain in the legs may indicate high cholesterol. After all, because of it, plaques form in the arteries, which clog them and block the blood flow. And a lack of blood flowing to the legs can lead to peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which causes severe muscle pain and lameness.
