Lowering cholesterol levels with treatment reduces the risk of developing coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke, and other disorders.
A healthy lifestyle is the best defense against high cholesterol. This also helps against other risk factors that increase your risk of heart and blood vessel disease. The following lifestyle changes are an important part of overall treatment in managing high cholesterol:
- follow a diet low in saturated fats and cholesterol
- eat a wide variety of vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts, and seeds
- Adopt a healthy dietary pattern (e.g. Mediterranean diet, Portfolio diet, or DASH diet)
- boost your level of physical activity (at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity)
- maintain a healthy body weightlimit your alcohol consumption to:
- no more than 2 drinks per day (or no more than 3 drinks on special occasions) to a maximum of 10 drinks per week for women
- no more than 3 drinks per day (or no more than 4 drinks on special occasions) to a maximum of 15 drinks per week for men
If you quit smoking and keep your blood pressure down, it will help lower your risk of developing angina, heart attack, and stroke.
For people who are at a high risk for heart and blood vessel disease, drug therapy is started immediately along with lifestyle changes. For those at a moderate or low risk, lifestyle changes may be started first. Medication may be added if the cholesterol targets are not reached within a few months or if there are additional risk factors.
Medications used to treat high cholesterol include the "statins" (e.g., atorvastatin*, rosuvastatin, pravastatin, simvastatin), resins (e.g., cholestyramine, colestipol, colesevelam), fibrates (e.g., fenofibrate, gemfibrozil), cholesterol absorption inhibitors (e.g., ezetimibe), PCSK9 inhibitors (e.g., alirocumab, evolocumab) and niacin. Medications have been shown to lower the chance of further clogging of the arteries and treat cholesterol problems by lowering levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol and raising the levels of HDL (good) cholesterol. These medications must be used in addition to, not as a substitute for, healthy lifestyle changes.
Some people think that it's too late to change your habits if you've already had a heart attack or stroke, but this is not true. It's vital to reduce your cholesterol to help prevent it from happening again. Some patients with heart and blood vessel disease are now treated with a "statin" even if their cholesterol level is normal. Your body is constantly producing cholesterol, so you must take your medication and follow lifestyle changes as recommended by your doctor to prevent cholesterol levels from rising.
*All medications have both common (generic) and brand names. The brand name is what a specific manufacturer calls the product (e.g., Tylenol®). The common name is the medical name for the medication (e.g., acetaminophen). A medication may have many brand names, but only one common name. This article lists medications by their common names. For information on a given medication, check our Drug Information database. For more information on brand names, speak with your doctor or pharmacist.
All material copyright MediResource Inc. 1996 – 2022. Terms and conditions of use. The contents herein are for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Source: www.medbroadcast.com/condition/getcondition/High-Cholesterol
