- Tests to measure cholesterol
- What to do to ensure the correct exam result
- What to do when your cholesterol is high
To find out if your cholesterol is high, you need to do a blood test in the laboratory, and if the result is high, greater than 200 mg / dl, it is important to see a doctor to see if you need to take medicine, make changes to your diet and / or increase the practice of physical exercise. However, if there is a history of high cholesterol in the family, it is necessary to have a blood test once a year from the age of 20 to diagnose the problem early.
Generally, high cholesterol does not cause symptoms, however, high cholesterol symptoms can appear when the values are very high, through small elevations in the skin, called xanthomas.
Tests to measure cholesterol
The best way to identify high cholesterol is through a 12-hour fasting blood test, which indicates the amount of total cholesterol and all types of fat in the blood such as LDL (bad cholesterol), HDL (good cholesterol) and triglycerides.
However, another quicker way to know if your cholesterol is high is to do a quick test with just a drop of blood from your finger, which can be done in some pharmacies, such as the blood glucose test for diabetics, where the result comes out in a few minutes however, there is still no such test in Brazil.
However, this test is not a substitute for laboratory testing, but its result can be an alert to see a doctor and should only be used for screening or monitoring people who already know they have a diagnosis of high cholesterol, but who wish to have a routine monitoring more frequently.
Therefore, see what are the ideal cholesterol values in: Reference values for cholesterol. However, people with diabetes should keep their cholesterol levels even lower than these reference values to avoid heart complications.
What to do to ensure the correct exam result
Before taking the blood test, you should:
- Fast for 12 hours. Therefore, to take the exam at 8:00 in the morning it is important to have the last meal no later than 8 at night. Avoid drinking alcoholic beverages in the 3 days prior to the blood test; Avoid intense physical activities such as running or training. extended over the previous 24 hours.
In addition, in the two weeks prior to the exam, it is important to continue eating normally without dieting or overeating, so that the result reflects your actual cholesterol levels.
These precautions must also be respected in the case of the rapid test at the pharmacy, so that the result is closer to the real one.
What to do when your cholesterol is high
When the blood test results show that cholesterol is high, the doctor will assess the need to start medication according to research for other associated risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, family history of dyslipidemia. If these are not present, initially, the patient is instructed about the diet and the practice of physical activity and, after 3 months, it should be reevaluated, where it will be decided on whether or not to start medications. See some examples of cholesterol remedies.
To help control cholesterol, you should have a balanced diet and exercise regularly. It is also necessary to avoid eating processed foods, red meats and sausages, such as sausage, sausage and ham, which are rich in trans and saturated fats.
Another strategy to lower high cholesterol is to eat more fiber by eating more fruits, raw vegetables, leafy vegetables like lettuce and cabbage, whole products and grains like oats, flaxseed and chia.
See how your diet should be at: Diet to lower cholesterol.
