Cholesterol medications are used when a patient has not responded well to lifestyle and dietary changes. If you have tried everything you can to keep your cholesterol in check with little or no success then it may be time to look into the option of cholesterol medications. There are different medications that will do different things. All the medications have different possible side effects.

Your cholesterol levels, family history and other risk factors towards developing heart disease will help your doctor decide what medication is best for you. It should be remembered that you should not rely on the medication alone to help you, lifestyle changes are still important.

Statins

Statins are very popular cholesterol medications. They work to reduce your body’s ability to produce LDL cholesterol, or bad cholesterol, as well as triglycerides. This medication may also help to increase good cholesterol slightly. Unfortunately there are side effects to taking the drug. You may experience diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, muscle soreness and it is not advisable to take this medication with grape fruit juice. Some people take this drug with no complaints but you should discuss any side effects you experience with your doctor right away.

Bile Acid Binding Resins

This is one of the cholesterol medications that work to reduce LDL levels but a side effect may be that you experience an increase in triglycerides. Other side effects associated with this drug are bloating, gas, nausea and constipation.

Cholesterol Absorption Inhibitors

This medicine does exactly what the name says. It inhibits your body’s ability to absorb cholesterol from the food you eat. This will decrease LDL levels as well as slightly decrease triglyceride levels. Your HDL levels may also increase slightly though continued exercise and consumption of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats is advised to keep increasing HDL levels.

Fibrates

These drugs do not decrease the level of LDL cholesterol in your body. Instead it will lower the level of triglycerides and increase the level of HDL cholesterol in your body. There is a risk of developing gallstones, nausea and stomach pain in terms of side effects.

Niacin

Niacin is one of the rare cholesterol medications that are available over the counter. It is however advisable to seek prescription niacin to obtain the correct dosage. The benefits of this medication are that you will be able to up your HDL cholesterol while decreasing your LDL and triglyceride levels. Some of the more serious side effects include high blood sugar, peptic ulcers and gout.

If you have high cholesterol and have tried everything you can to get your cholesterol levels down then it may be time for you to consider cholesterol lowering drugs. If dietary changes, increased physical activity and weight loss have not helped you to reduce your cholesterol levels to a desirable level then you should talk to your doctor about cholesterol lowering drugs.

As with any drugs there are pros and cons to using this kind of therapy to reduce cholesterol. You should think about whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Each person is different and you may not respond to the drugs as desired.

What Do The Drugs Do?

Statins are cholesterol lowering drugs that are known by different names. This drug is used to block the production of cholesterol in your body. These drugs can also be used to reabsorb cholesterol that has already accumulated on your artery walls. This can be a big help and will help to prevent further blockages to your arteries.

Candidates

A high cholesterol level will be something that registers around 240 milligrams per deciliter or higher, or a bad cholesterol level of 130 milligrams per deciliter. There are other factors that will be taken into consideration when deciding if you are a candidate for cholesterol lowering drugs.

A family history of high cholesterol or a history of cardiovascular disease is an important factor in deciding if you should be put on this medication. Your blood pressure, present weight, age and gender will also be taken into consideration.

Lifestyle factors such as how active you are and whether you smoke will also help determine if you should take cholesterol lowering drugs. If you do not have other risk factors as mentioned above and your only problem is high cholesterol then you may not need to go on any medication to lower your cholesterol levels.

Dosage

There is no set dosage and the dose of cholesterol lowering drugs given to you will depend on a number of things. Depending on the type of medication you are prescribed you can start with a dose as low as five milligrams. If you need to significantly reduce your bad cholesterol levels then you may need a higher dose of medication.

Always question your doctor if you feel you are taking too much, seek a second opinion if you are not satisfied with the answers given to you. Going on medication like this is serious and you need to be totally sure that this is the right option for you.

There is much greater danger to your health if the amount of cholesterol in your body is higher than recommended. In fact, such a health risk is most noticeable among people that have passed their fiftieth birthdays. It is also possible for cholesterol levels to rise because you happen to be suffering from gastro-intestinal problems, if you have a weight problem or you are diabetic. To be sure, the main reason why your body has too much cholesterol is because your liver has begun to produce more cholesterol than is required by the body.

Some Reasons For High Levels

High cholesterol levels can also be caused by alcohol abuse, poor diet, sedentary way of life and also by smoking. In fact, it is the liver that produces most of the cholesterol found in the body while the remaining amounts are ingested from the foods we eat. So a poor diet can significantly impact cholesterol levels in the body. Eating animal foods, saturated fats as well as trans fats will all send the cholesterol levels higher and so contributes to ill health and heart disease.

In order to control bad cholesterol levels, you would be well advised to substitute cereals, fruits and vegetables for the meats and dairy foods you consume everyday. In addition, you also need to avoid eating too many carbohydrates, which will only contribute to increase your bad cholesterol levels.

It is also important to exercise regularly as this is a very effective means of keeping cholesterol levels at optimum levels. It also improves circulation of blood as well as helps in eliminating unwanted cholesterol and will also helps to keep body weight under check.

Smoking can cause a rise in cholesterol levels and is also a contributory factor to heart disease. It causes cholesterol to be deposited in the arteries, which in turn causes blockages in the arteries and thus vital organs are not able to get sufficient amount of blood that can cause a heart attack or stroke. Quitting smoking is certainly the best way of keeping cholesterol levels in check and along with proper exercise can make a person feel a lot better while also ensuring not having to worry about suffering from heart disease.

To be sure, cholesterol levels, when they are within acceptable limits actually benefit the body and it is only when the levels rise beyond recommended levels that the body comes under various health threats. Since cholesterol does not dissolve in blood, it begins to accumulate and gets deposited in the arteries where it causes them to narrow and thus blocks the free flow of blood to other parts of the body.

High cholesterol levels are the main reason why people suffer from cardio-vascular ailments and even result in heart attacks. It is necessary for you to take a cholesterol blood test in order to ascertain how much cholesterol is in your body. By knowing that your body has too much cholesterol, you can take remedial action because untreated you might risk suffering from serious heart ailments that can even lead to premature death.

Although our bodies need little amount of cholesterol to stay healthy, too much of this waxy fat-like substance can actually cause a lot of problems in our bodies. Most literature that features cholesterol information points out that too much cholesterol in our system many lead to the hardening of the arteries that lead to our heart. According to these medical articles that feature cholesterol information, once the arteries leading to our heart harden, coronary heart disease may develop. If you do not want to end up with a defective heart, you should learn more about the effects of too much cholesterol in your body.

How can you find good information materials about cholesterol? The best way to learn more about cholesterol is to talk to your doctor. Ask your doctor for some cholesterol information material that you can read. Aside from asking for cholesterol information from your doctor, you can also do some research either online or offline. There is plenty of information about cholesterol on the Internet so all you need to do is launch a search.

Types Of Cholesterol

According to studies, there are at least four known types of cholesterol. The low-density lipoproteins (LDL), also known as the bad cholesterol, are the primary culprit for coronary diseases. Most cholesterol information materials will tell you that this type of cholesterol is potentially dangerous to your heart and you should avoid this type of cholesterol as much as you can. The higher the level of the LDL in your blood, the higher your risk of coronary heart disease. While LDL is bad, high-density lipoproteins (HDL) are good. According to experts, HDL helps the body get rid of the bad cholesterol. To stay healthy and strong, you need to eat more food that contains HDL and less food that contains LDL. Fruits, vegetables and whole grain contain plenty of HDL.

Another type of cholesterol is the very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL). According to many cholesterol information experts, the VLDL is just as bad as the LDL. Like the LDL, the VLDL is composed mostly of fat and have too little protein. The VLDL is also known to carry triglycerides into the blood stream. Triglycerides usually form when there are excess sugars, calories or alcohol in the body. Like the LDL and VLDL, triglycerides can have some negative effects on the body. Triglyceride deposits in the blood can cause hardening of the arteries that may lead to some fatal heart diseases.

In today’s health-conscious world, low cholesterol seems to be one of the most common buzzwords. People instinctively draw connections between cholesterol and poor health, choosing to cut it out of their diets, without ever fully understanding just what it is that they are trying to avoid.

People tend to overlook the fact that cholesterol is a very important substance to the human body, and is only harmful if consumed in unhealthy quantities. Even fewer people understand that cholesterol comes in two types: bad cholesterol (known as low density or LDL) and good cholesterol (known as high density or HDL). As you can see, a cholesterol free diet would actually be a detriment to your health, as HDL cholesterol is actually very important to certain bodily functions such as building and repairing cell walls. New research has even suggested that HDL cholesterol functions as a crude antioxidant.

It is not necessary to adopt a cholesterol free diet if you or your family has a history of heart problems or cardiovascular disease. Rather, learn to avoid bad cholesterol while keeping the good cholesterol in your diet. LDL cholesterol can indeed be problematic, as it has been tied to heart attacks and strokes, but it doesn’t take much effort to systematically cut it out of your diet. Rather than trying to avoid cholesterol altogether, avoid a cholesterol free diet and instead look for foods that are low in LDL cholesterol and high in HDL cholesterol.

Choosing The Right Diet: Is Cholesterol Free The Best Choice?

Finding foods that are conducive to good health can be very simple if you know what you’re looking for. Lean meat and fish are both good meat choices, and are also high in protein. Also choose low-fat dairy products and be sure to keep up with your grains, vegetable and fruit intake. Try to maintain around six servings of grains each day, three to five servings of vegetables and two to four servings of fruits.

If you instinctively keep these simple guidelines in mind when you shop for food, then you will actively be avoiding harmful LDL cholesterol. Keep your fat intake to a minimum, as saturated fat naturally tends to raise blood cholesterol levels. Try to avoid fried foods as well, choosing grilled, broiled and baked foods as a healthy alternative.

As you can see, a cholesterol free diet may not be the wisest choice if you’re trying to keep your heart and body strong. Simply choosing a balanced diet will help you to weed out the bad cholesterol and keep the good cholesterol.

If you are like many Americans, then you may have some trouble keeping your cholesterol levels down. This could be due to heredity or just poor dietary choices that are catching up with you at last. If choosing a balanced diet still hasn’t helped you to get your cholesterol levels down, there is still help out there for you. There are a number of cholesterol drugs that can help to lower your blood cholesterol levels back down to healthy levels.

There are quite a few different cholesterol drugs currently available in the United States. They can be individually prescribed by your healthcare professional, or coupled with other medication to create a personalized treatment. Keep in mind that it’s important to inform your doctor about any other medications that you may be taking, before you let him prescribe a new medication.

Statins

One of the most common types of cholesterol drug is called statins (also known as HMG CoA reductase inhibitors). Statins go to work in the liver and help to prevent cholesterol from forming. What makes statins so effective is the fact that they don’t simply lower your total cholesterol level, though it is true that they lower bad cholesterol (LDL), but they can also lower your levels of triglycerides (blood fats) in addition to also raising good cholesterol (HDL). HDL cholesterol is highly beneficial to the body. The side effects associated with statins are usually mild and often tend to go away entirely as your body adjusts to the new medication. The most common statins currently available in the United States include Atorvastatin, Fluvastatin, Lovastatin, Pravastatin, Rosuvastatin, and Simvastatin.

Selective Cholesterol Absorption Inhibitors

In addition to statins, there is also a fairly new type of cholesterol drugs available. They are called selective cholesterol absorption inhibitors, and work in the intestine by preventing the absorption of cholesterol. Although they work in different ways, they are like statins in that they help to lower LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and also help to raise HDL cholesterol.

Fibrates

A third type of cholesterol drugs is known as fibrates. While they are not particularly effective at lowering LDL cholesterol, they are effective at increasing HDL cholesterol levels and lowering triglyceride levels. To remedy this shortcoming, they are often prescribed in addition to statins. Common fibrates include Gemfibrozil and Fenofibrate.

Niacin

Yet another type of cholesterol-controlling drug is called niacin. It works in the liver to affect the production of blood fats.

It’s likely that you’ve heard the word cholesterol coupled with descriptions of hip new diets and prescription medications. The truth is, many people don’t truly understand what it is or what its role is in the functions of the human body. Controlling your cholesterol is an important thing to do, but you first need to understand what it is, and the ways that different kinds of cholesterol affect you differently.

Cholesterol is a lipid (fatty acid) that resides in the cell membranes of the human body. Most cholesterol is actually synthesized in the body, but a good percentage of it is ingested as a component of food.

There are two different kinds of cholesterol that must be differentiated between: good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. Bad cholesterol, or LDL, has been linked to cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke if ingested at unhealthy levels. Good cholesterol, HDL, on the other hand, is responsible for important bodily functions. HDL cholesterol helps to build and maintain cell walls and perform other cell maintenance.

Cholesterol Control: What Can You Do About It?

There are quite a few ways to control your blood cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is not soluble in blood, so it sometimes takes a helping hand. Most of these are simply lifestyle changes that can have a huge and beneficial effect on your cholesterol levels.

The most obvious ways are to choose your diet carefully. Foods that are high in fat have a tendency to raise cholesterol. That said it’s important not to cut out fats completely from your diet. Be sure to choose foods that are low in saturated fat but have a reasonable amount of unsaturated fat. The body naturally requires a small amount of fat for important body functions.

Lean red meat and fish are both good choices and should be incorporated liberally into your diet. They are high in protein, which helps to build muscle, and relatively low in fat content. It’s also easy to choose dairy products that are low in fat, and such a change will make controlling your cholesterol much easier.

There are also a number of drugs used to control cholesterol currently available. Your doctor can prescribe them individually or in combination with other medications. As with any new drug, it’s important to inform your healthcare professional about any other medications that you are taking at the time.

The side effects of cholesterol controlling drugs tend to be relatively mild, and will generally cease after your body adjusts to the new medication.

Most of us think that we are too young to get sick and die. Unfortunately, being young doesn’t mean that you are immune to health problems and so it is very important that we monitor our health closely most of the time. If you are one of those people who have a long family history of hypertension, diabetes and heart disease, consider getting a cholesterol calculator and start monitoring your cholesterol levels.

According to experts, genes play a big role when it comes to certain types of diseases so you should get a cholesterol calculator as soon as possible and start monitoring your cholesterol level. No, being young does not make you exempt from this regimen. Although most experts recommend that people who are in their forties should start using a cholesterol calculator, that does not mean that you can’t start monitoring your cholesterol level early on. Always remember that prevention is the best cure.

Buying A Cholesterol Calculator

There are many models of cholesterol calculators sold in the market today. Most of these devices are reliable and easy to use. However, you should not just get any cholesterol calculator without taking to your doctor about it first. There are things that you need to understand about cholesterol before you start monitoring your cholesterol level. Note that not all types of cholesterol are bad so you should know which ones are good and which ones you should avoid. Your doctor knows about these things making it very important that you ask for your doctor’s opinion before you buy your own cholesterol calculator and start monitoring your cholesterol level at home.

Aside from talking to your doctor about the different types of cholesterol, you should also do some research on your own. Find some reliable medical books and journals that talk about cholesterol. The best places to find these reading materials are your local library and online. Go to your local library and check out some of the medical books. Ask the assistance of the librarian in finding what you need. On the other hand, if you do not have time to go to the library and do some research, you can always access some online libraries and find what you need. The good thing about these online libraries is that they are open 24 hours a day seven days a week so you can do your research anytime and anywhere you want.

The trouble with elevated cholesterol levels is that they put you at risk of developing heart disease. They can also be a warning that your arteries have begun to harden and thus heart disease and strokes are more likely to occur. What’s worse is that there are no early symptoms that can warn you that your level of cholesterol has begun to rise above normal.

Testing Regularly Is In Your Best Interests

In order to learn about your cholesterol levels you would need to undergo a cholesterol blood test. The sooner you are able to know about your cholesterol levels the better it is for you since it can help you take remedial action and thus be in a better position to thwart an impending heart attack. Getting a cholesterol blood test done regularly is in your best interests, especially as it will help you determine the levels of HDL and LDL cholesterol in your blood.

If the results of your cholesterol blood test show that your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels are around the two hundred mg/dl mark and the HDL (good) cholesterol levels are at least forty mg/dl, then you need not be worried. You can get your cholesterol blood test done at a hospital though if you wish to do it at home, and then you can make use of home test kits.

It is better for you to get the cholesterol blood test done in a hospital since the results will be quicker. In case the results of your cholesterol blood test indicate that your LDL cholesterol is high, then you will need to consult a doctor about how best to lower the levels.

Mostly, you may only need to change your diet in order to control LDL cholesterol and also do some exercises and in case you also suffer from diabetes, and then you may need to take certain medications that help in lowering LDL cholesterol. In any case, doctors do recommend that a person more than twenty years old must get a cholesterol blood test done once every five years.

You can do subsequent cholesterol blood tests at home by using home cholesterol test kits though to be on the safe side, you should also get a test done at the doctor’s lab to be doubly certain that your home test readings are accurate and that you are not basing your treatment methods on inaccurate readings.

Most people may think of ominous things whenever the word cholesterol is mentioned though they need not because once they understand what it is and how it threatens their health they will learn to adjust so that they can continue maintaining sound health. To be sure, cholesterol is steroids and alcohol combined and this combination is referred to as sterol, in addition it is also a fat that is called a lipid. What’s more, most of the cholesterol that we have in our bodies is produced by the liver while the remaining quantities are actually ingested from the foods we that we eat.

Saturated Fats And Trans Fats

The main culprit as far as suffering from elevated cholesterol levels is saturated fat that causes the liver to produce excessive amounts of cholesterol, and trans fats also have the same kind of effect. Though cholesterol is also contained in animal foods, there is none of it in vegetables and other plant foods, and when in fat form it does not dissolve in blood. Thus, you need to use some other substance in order to get the fatty cholesterol to dissolve and that is where lipoproteins enter into the picture. Lipoproteins are special kind of carriers that can either be low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or high-density lipoprotein (HDL) with the former being bad for the body while the latter is good for the body.

It is LDL cholesterol that is the main carrier of bad cholesterol and when its level rises, the walls of your arteries may fill with plaque that will cause a narrowing of the arteries. This in turn will impair free flow of blood to necessary parts of the body. And when blood does not reach vital organs including the heart, you can be at risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke. You will need to keep the levels of it at under 100 mg/dl to enjoy good health.

On the other hand, HDL or high-density lipoproteins will return cholesterol to the liver where it can be excreted and thus there is less chance of plaque build-up in the arteries, which means lower health risks. It follows then that in order to enjoy good health you need more HDL and less LDL. The best way to increase HDL is through exercise as well as by eliminating or drastically lowering intake of fats, more specifically saturated fats and trans fats.

Thus, the correct assessment of cholesterol is that if it is in the form of HDL then its level should be high while if it is LDL then its level should be kept as low as possible.