Heart disease is genetic. If your father, mother,
grandparents, or siblings had the disease chances are you will too. Certain
factors will increase your odds. I am certain you have heard all of these
before: smoking, diabetes, a diet high in saturated and trans fats, lack of
exercise, excessive alcohol consumption, high stress careers, and high blood
pressure to name a few. However, do you realize how important genetics and
advanced lipid testing are in the treatment and diagnosis of heart
disease?
Genetics plays such a large part that you can be perfectly healthy, a good weight, good diet, exercise every day and you could still have a heart attack. So if genetics can fight against even the healthiest people than what is the motivation for living a healthy lifestyle?
The simple fact is that if you carry the genes that lead to heart disease and you don't follow healthy practices you will have a heart attack and your likelihood of that heart attack being fatal is largely increased.
Currently, my family members are being checked for the factors that cause heart disease. The results aren’t good and they now have to face several decisions. They already show signs of early heart disease, one of these key factors is inflammation in the artery walls. This is a relatively new predictor of heart disease. Health Diagnostic Laboratories is a laboratory that believes in testing all facets of heart disease and diabetes. Since diabetes and heart disease go hand in hand, early prediction of diabetes may also give insight into the prevention of heart disease.
Genetics plays such a large part that you can be perfectly healthy, a good weight, good diet, exercise every day and you could still have a heart attack. So if genetics can fight against even the healthiest people than what is the motivation for living a healthy lifestyle?
The simple fact is that if you carry the genes that lead to heart disease and you don't follow healthy practices you will have a heart attack and your likelihood of that heart attack being fatal is largely increased.
Currently, my family members are being checked for the factors that cause heart disease. The results aren’t good and they now have to face several decisions. They already show signs of early heart disease, one of these key factors is inflammation in the artery walls. This is a relatively new predictor of heart disease. Health Diagnostic Laboratories is a laboratory that believes in testing all facets of heart disease and diabetes. Since diabetes and heart disease go hand in hand, early prediction of diabetes may also give insight into the prevention of heart disease.
Heart disease is no joking matter. It doesn’t just happen to
old people. You may die of a fatal heart attack or you may suffer over many
years with angina, high blood pressure, extreme swelling, high pulse rates and
slowly kill yourself.
Early prediction right now is your best bet. You can find
out if you have genetic markers for heart disease, you can find out if you have
early inflammation you can even find out if your beta cells are pumping out too
much insulin thus leading to diabetes and heart disease. You can start on a
path, today, before too much damage is done and save yourself the worries,
frustration and pain of heart disease.
You may appear to be in perfect health, however, the
different types of lipids that run through your arteries may all be bad. While
there are the ‘good’ (HDL) cholesterol and the ‘bad’ (LD) cholesterol, there is
more detail involved. Just because your good number is good and your bad number
is good doesn’t mean you aren’t at risk of heart disease. Lipoprotein particles
play a key role in determining your heart disease risk.
- Small, dense LDL - these atherogenic particles easily penetrate the arterial endothelium causing plaque
- RLP (Remnant Lipoprotein) - very atherogenic lipoprotein with similar composition and density as plaque
- Lp(a) - builds plaque and causes plaque to rupture
- HDL2b - positively correlates with heart health because it is an indicator of how well excess lipids are removed.
This is a condition in which a patient's cholesterol may be
"normal" but their lipoprotein particle number, and hence their
actual risk, would be much higher than conventional cholesterol tests would
indicate. This is especially common in persons whose triglycerides are high or
HDL is low. In a cholesterol-depleted patient, there can be up to a 40% error
in risk assessment.
I suffer from low HDL (good) cholesterol. This is a genetic
factor. My body doesn’t produce this cholesterol as it should. There is no
medication that will increase this number. Exercise will help it rise, however,
in someone like me with genetic factors exercise cannot help raise it to the
necessary levels needed to protect my heart.
I also suffer from Small, Dense LDL particles. So although
my LDL (bad) cholesterol numbers read normal on a traditional test, when the lipoprotein
subgroups were tested it was found that my Small Dense LDL was off the charts,
which explained my second heart attack.
I also carry an Lp(a) LDL particle. This is an LDL (bad) cholesterol
particle with a ‘corkscrew’ protein attached. High levels of this increase the
risk for heart attack and stroke and it is a genetic factor. Diet and exercise
do not lower this; medication only helps in certain patients. The only way to
reduce a heart attack risk from this particle is by trying to keep other risks
well controlled.
These types of tests are not conducted in traditional lipid
panels. There are several laboratories across the United States that will do
these advanced testing but you need see a specialist to have them ordered. This
type of specialist is called a lipidologist.
Lipid specialists reduce deaths related to high cholesterol
and other lipid disorders. It is the goal of lipid specialists to enhance the
practice of lipid management in clinical medicine and to reduce the morbidity
and mortality associated with atherosclerotic disease. The specialty of
“lipidology,” a multidisciplinary branch of medicine focusing on lipid and
lipoprotein metabolism and their associated disorders, is still in its infancy
and continues to evolve with the field of medicine as a whole.
The National Lipid Association defines “clinical lipidology”
as “a multidisciplinary branch of medicine focusing on lipid and lipoprotein
metabolism and their associated disorders.” The field is growing rapidly in
response to demographic trends that place an increasing number of Americans at
risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) and epidemic levels of obesity concurrent
with a surge in new cases of diabetes mellitus. (Information Credit to: The
Foundation of the National Lipid Association.)
If you are in your thirties, overweight, smoke, drink more
than 2 drinks per day, suffer acute angina attacks (chest pain for no reason),
have a sedentary lifestyle and yet have ‘normal’ cholesterol levels it may be
time to take action and seek out a lipid specialist
Heart disease manifests over time and it takes years for
plaque to grow but the body shows signs ten years before a fatal attack. You
can get have these advanced tests done NOW and see what your risks are, you can
evaluate your numbers while you still have a chance to do something about it.
Research shows that people who have these corkscrew proteins and small dense
LDL’s are at higher risk for heart attack. Finding out these numbers now may
save your life. For more information on what the advanced lipid tests mean
follow this link:
EVEN if you have been to a doctor recently for chest pain
and they say your EKG and lipid panel are normal your body may still be
suffering from early signs of heart disease. I had four stents placed in my
heart and a year later, I started having chest pain and trouble breathing.
However, EVERY SINGLE ONE of my heart tests were completely normal. My
traditional lipids were normal. I looked like a great heart patient, one who
had followed the system and was beating heart disease. I felt terrible though
and when my cardiologist wouldn’t do anymore I sought out another doctor at the
University of Chicago. I had another blockage, I needed another stent.
At that
point I was referred to a lipidologist for advanced testing of my lipids.
The advanced testing was necessary to my still being here
today. I would have had fatal heart attack if not for this in depth testing. When
searching for a lipidologist make sure the physician is certified in clinical lipidology,
a certification from the American Board of Clinical Lipidology is essential.
Also, verify when making the appointment the physician practices advanced lipid
testing.
Do not let your current doctor tell you that your heart tests are all normal
or that you suffer from anxiety. If your chest is hurting whether it’s at rest
or upon exercise, seek out a lipidologist. I was perfectly normal. My numbers
were great. I had lost weight, I was eating well, I was exercising and I had
already had one heart attack so I was extremely in tune with my habits, yet I
had another heart attack and more serious heart disease than originally
thought.
YOU are in charge of your health. Your doctor is not going
to seek out all the avenues needed for your care. If the “numbers” look good to
him it’s not going to occur to him to go deeper but if your immediate family
members have heart disease, if you have risk factors and/or you suffer from chest
pains- make an appointment with a lipidologist ASAP or start planning for your death.
It’s that simple and that harsh.
As always, Live, Laugh, Love!
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