Cholesterol Basics - Treating High Cholesterol

So your healthcare provider has diagnosed you with high cholesterol.  What now?  Here are some ways to lower your cholesterol:

1. Lose weight/eat a healthy diet: your body is capable of producing cholesterol.  Outside, or exogenous, sources of cholesterol increase the amount of cholesterol in your body.
2. Exercise: exercise increases HDL, or good cholesterol.  HDL is the truant officer of cholesterol: it takes bad cholesterol (LDL) back to the liver.
3. If you are diabetic, keep your blood sugar within normal limits.  This minimizes the damage to the inner walls of your body's vessels.  Less damage means fewer areas for cholesterol to easily attach and harden.
4. Don't smoke.  Smoking increases the chance for atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.
5. Medicine: your healthcare provider may prescibe a daily cholesterol-lowering medication.  The most common of these medicine are referred to as "statins".  Examples of these medicines include simvastatin (Zocor) and atorvastatin (Lipitor).  Statins help slow down the liver's production of cholesterol, while improving the liver's ability to remove LDL cholesterol already present in the body.  Liver function tests are performed to make sure your body is tolerating the medicine well.  You should notify your healthcare provider immediately if you have unexplained muscle aches or tenderness, dark-colored urine, or fever/flu-like symptoms.

Open and ongoing communication with your healthcare provider is essential to insure your best health outcome.  Active participation in your own health by eating right, exercising, and taking other steps to improve your overall well-being will contribute to that outcome.