Ways to deal with bad cholesterol
Does it also occur in young people?
In normal individuals, the incidence of hypercholesterolemia increases with age. However, if there is high cholesterol in the family, then high cholesterol can be detected even at a very young age. This unfortunately increases the risk of heart attack or stroke at a young age. Therefore, if there is a family history of heart attack at a young age, it should be borne in mind that there may be familial hypercholesterolemia and cholesterol levels should be checked.
How should patients be fed?
As is known, the main source of dietary cholesterol is animal foods. We don’t completely limit animal foods to our patients with high cholesterol, but recommend fish or low-fat chicken, low-fat milk and dairy products rather than foods high in cholesterol, such as liver, eggs, red meat, and steak. We also recommend using olive oil for cooking in place of sunflower oil or animal fats. We do not want to consume fructose, that is, simple sugars containing fructose, excessively.
When and for how long should the drug be used?
These cholesterol medications are not for one-time use. So it is not right to use a box and leave it. Because when you stop taking your cholesterol medication, if you don’t pay attention to your diet, it will rise again in a short time. We also recommend that patients who have started treatment carefully follow our dietary recommendations. Of course, physical activity is also very important. It can provide high cuts of cholesterol.
Do medications have side effects?
Although rare, cholesterol medications can cause elevations in muscle enzymes or elevations in liver enzymes. We also inform our patients about possible side effects and, if necessary, we can reduce the doses of these medicines or use other medicines.
How to lower the level of LDL?
This may not be easy for every patient. First of all, we recommend making lifestyle changes for high-risk patients. These are in the form of physical activity and nutritional recommendations. If we cannot reach these target cholesterol levels, drug therapy may be required. Here, patient compliance with treatment is very important.
