ARTERIES

[Red18]

Hellooooo is there anybody out there who has heart disease. Who is following a healthy diet with exercise seeing improvements with their heart health and plaque in their arteries getting better?

[arty_sax]

I had attack 3 years ago. 1 stent fitted. I changed my diet and exercise every day. My cholesterol is less than 1!! I got my blood pressure down to 110/80 through skipping. But I have no idea if my arteries are getting better... Plaque etc. How could this be determined???

I take Aspirin everyday, smallest xose of ramipril 125mg and 80mg statin.

[Red18 in reply to arty_sax]

Hellooooo arty_sax. I think maybe a andiogram test. This is how they picked up my plaque?? Also your blood lipids. If your HDL is increasing nicely and your TRIGLYCERIDES is lowering this is a good way to see an improvement in your overall health. Please do not quote me on this

[sandybrown in reply to arty_sax]

If your total cholesterol is 1,it may be low, please check this number with your specialist.

[arty_sax in reply to sandybrown]

It is low!! As I eat little fat and on maximum dose of statin... The figure is low!! Im thinking it would be nice to know if the damage to my other coronary arteries had healed/ improved and how this could be measured. I was told that the statin cleans out the arterial wall of plaque with ramipril increasing flexibility of the artery.???

[sandybrown in reply to arty_sax]

Thank you.

There to a formula, total cholesterol = HDL +LDL + Triglyceride / x.

If total cholesterol is 1, then the other lipid numbers are decimal numbers but the recommendation calls for whole number.

Please double check with your specialist.

80% of cholesterol is made on demand by human body and 20% is by food and drinks intake.

WE need cholesterol for our body to function.

As you have a stent statin is secondary medication to help with blood flow, you may need a lower dosage?

Take care.

[sandybrown in reply to arty_sax]

Hello,

I found a question and answer in the copy of The Mail on Sunday, this may help to understand from a doctor's view point.

“I had a cholesterol blood test and my results were:

6 total cholesterol.

4 good cholesterol.

2.1 for the bad type.

What does this mean? Should I consider statins? I am a 67-year-old woman.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance that accumulates in the arteries, and some types have been linked to heart disease.

Years ago, doctors used to consider only total levels of cholesterol when thinking about what was healthy.

Now we know that levels of both types – LDL and HDL – are important, and looking at the specific amounts of the two types gives us a more accurate picture of how cholesterol may affect the heart.

This week a 67-year-old woman has written to Dr Ellie and is worried about her cholesterol levels and wonders whether she requires statins.

The good type of cholesterol is called HDL and the bad LDL.

For a woman, an HDL level of above 1.2 is considered healthy. For a man, it’s above 1.

Healthy levels of LDL are below 3 for both men and women. In order to work out the level of risk, doctors compute the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL. In your case, this works out as 1.5, which is a very good, low result. Less than 4 is healthy.

When it comes to recommending statins, levels of HDL and total cholesterol are assessed alongside a host of other risk factors to calculate what’s known as your QRisk score. They include age, blood pressure, blood sugar and many others.

You could first consider non-drug treatments such as exercise and diet, including eating more cholesterol-lowering foods like oats and soya.

Knowing your cholesterol level is just as important as knowledge of other risks such as blood pressure and weight. Working to improve all of these risk factors can help to prevent heart disease.”