Bad news on the cholesterol front
I went for my lipogram on Saturday morning, and it was not good news.
On 31 December, I had a cholesterol level of 6.33mmol/litre. On Saturday, it was 6.56mmol. Worse still, my LDL (bad cholesterol) was at about 5.5 while my HDL (good cholesterol) was only about 0.6.
We took the results to our doctor, who agrees that the problem is genetic (familial hypercholesterolaemia). Since our diet is very healthy (particularly now) and given the high rate of heart attacks on my mother's side of the family, my body is overproducing cholesterol.
He had blood taken and sent to the lab for tests, the results of which should be available this afternoon. He also wants to stress-test my heart and do an EKG to see how it is holding up at the moment.
The reason is that he wants to build an accurate risk profile, because my medical aid won't pay for cholesterol-reducing medication unless the risk is very high. Preliminarily, though, I have a 25% chance of having a cardiac arrest in the next 10 years. I'd say that's high!
The doc also says I need to get my weight down to 82kg (180.8 pounds) from its current 85.7kg (188.9 pounds) - a 3.7kg (8.2 pound) reduction.
I'll blog tomorrow about the results of the blood test.
Given my mother's high cholesterol level (8mmol) and the family history, I am alarmed at my brother and sister's complacency about the issue. Neither will have their blood tested. I cannot understand how parents are willing to risk an early death resulting in other people raising their children. How can anyone lack such common sense?
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