This fall, my annual cholesterol screening showed an alarming increase in all the cholesterol markers: Total Cholesterol, HDL (‘good’) cholesterol and LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol.
Both my Primary Care Doctor and I whipped out our phones and opened the ASCVD risk calculator app. I was relieved to find that although my 10-year risk of heart disease had increased versus last year, it still showed a low enough risk that statin medication was not required.
BUT THEN she told me about someone who eats well and exercises and also had a low 10-year risk of heart disease according to the calculator –
February is ‘American Heart Month’ — the perfect time to consider your heart health and the steps you can take to minimize heart disease risk.
One of the easiest and most important things you can do if you have high cholesterol and/or high blood pressure (two key heart disease risk factors) is to ASK FOR YOUR ‘NUMBERS.’
Information is power! If you have your blood pressure numbers AND your full lipid (cholesterol) panel results, you can easily calculate your own ’10-year risk of heart disease!’
In the past 6 months, two of my close friends were diagnosed with high cholesterol and their doctors started discussing statins.
