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PATIENT INFORMATION & EDUCATION
High Lipids:
You cannot see them or feel them. The lipids can only be measured by a blood assay. If they are above desirable levels you can be at high risk to
develop heart disease, stroke and obesity to name a few.
Who is prone to
develop stroke/ heart disease?
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Any one with a
history of coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, stroke, high blood
pressure in the family should get themselves tested for high lipids and
blood sugar at 20 years of age.
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Younger executives
(25 years and older) who have a stressed out lifestyle (irregular working
hours, partying, smoking, drinking, imbibing fast food and leading a
sedentary lifestyle) are highly prone to these diseases.
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Besides obese men
and women, people over 35 years of age, especially with a paunch, are prone
to the above diseases.
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Women during their
menopausal age become equally susceptible to heart disease as men.
Secondary
Prevention:
Besides traditional
lipids it is important before advocating secondary prevention to go into
detailed family history of the patient, to identify familial
hypercholestrolaemia or types of hyperlipidaemia involved.
Also, certain other
assays like Lp(a) LDL subfraction, Homocysteine etc. may be required.
Hyperlipidaemia with coronary artery disease must be also identified for
associated diseases.
To prevent
recurrence in Coronary Artery Disease:
Atherosclerotic
progression must be minimised.
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A patient having
had an angiography, even with minimal amount of blockage should be followed
up for hyperlipidaemia.
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A patient having
had an angioplasty should be followed up for high lipid levels, lifestyle
change and compliance for treatment.
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Patients after
coronary artery bypass surgery should be annually checked for
hyperlipidaemia and other risk factors.
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Coronary artery
disease patients with carotid artery disease, resistant hyperlipidaemia or
deep vein thrombosis should be assessed regularly for high lipids and guided
and treated for hyperlipidaemia to prevent speedy settling of the
atherosclerotic process.
High Lipids and
Associated Disease
High lipids lead to
blockage of arteries at an early stage in life. This is fairly well known in
educated populations. How many know that hyperlipidaemia (high lipids) can be an
underlying pathology in surgical diseases?
Hyperlipidaemia with
atherosclerotic lesions can cause organ involvement like in pancreatitis, renal
failure or gall stones. The interesting fact is that many gall stones are made
up of cholesterol.
Carotid artery
occlusion manifests itself by transient ischaemic attacks i.e. temporary
weakness of limb or loss of speech for a few brief seconds etc. The main
pathology again is atherosclerosis or blockage of artery due to narrowing of
carotid artery by plaques rich in cholesterol deposits.
The problem of high
lipids, never gets addressed in these cases unless they are fully blown and
under the surgical knife. Why is this? It is because very few people during
their younger age or middle age get a lipid profile done. They only get it done
when they run into trouble.
As there is no
baseline for lipids so even when one gets it done one does not realise that
there has been an increase in the parameters. The normal profile according to
National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) should be:
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Total cholesterol
<200 mg/d/l
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Triglycerides
<150 mg/d/l
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HDL-Cholestrol
>40 mg/d/l (Men) >50 mg/dl (Women)
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LDL-C <140
mg/d/l
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VLDL-C <29
mg/d/l
If moderately
increased consult your doctor or lipid clinic for change in lifestyle and
medication if required. To avoid surgical diseases like pancreatitis, carotid
occlusion or deep vein thrombosis it is important we narrow the disease gap by
primary prevention.
Books Published 
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5 steps to
Understand Cholesterol - Is your cholesterol level rising?
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5 steps to detect
and manage a heart attack - Have you been taking care of your heart?
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5 steps to control
high blood sugar - Is high blood sugar affecting your life?
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5 steps to
counteract stress - Is stress affecting your life?
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5 steps to manage
obesity - Are you tired of being overweight?
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5 steps to control
high blood pressure - Is high blood pressure affecting your health?
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5 steps to healthy
nutrition - Is your diet healthy?
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5 steps to
maintain good health and beauty - Do you want to be healthy and beautiful?
  
  
  
Books in
International languages:
 
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