High Blood Cholesterol: What It Is, How It Affects You, and What You Can Do
When doctors talk about high blood cholesterol, a condition where fatty substances build up in your bloodstream, increasing heart disease risk. Also known as hyperlipidemia, it doesn't cause symptoms—but it quietly damages your arteries over time. This isn't about being overweight or eating too much butter. It's about how your body makes, uses, and clears cholesterol—and sometimes, it just doesn't work right.
Two types matter most: LDL cholesterol, the "bad" kind that sticks to artery walls, and HDL cholesterol, the "good" kind that sweeps it away. Then there's triglycerides, another fat in your blood that spikes with sugar and alcohol. High levels of any of these raise your risk of heart attack or stroke. You might be on a statin like rosuvastatin (the generic in Crestor), or maybe your doctor’s looking at alternatives because of side effects. Either way, it’s not just about popping a pill—it’s about understanding why it’s needed.
What you’ll find here isn’t generic advice. These posts dig into real drug interactions—like how rifampin can mess with cholesterol meds—or how natural options like turmeric might help reduce inflammation tied to artery damage. Some articles compare statins head-to-head. Others look at how lifestyle changes actually work in practice, not just in studies. You’ll see what works for people who’ve been there—not theories, but what’s been tried, tested, and sometimes abandoned.
This isn’t a one-size-fits-all topic. Your cholesterol numbers mean different things depending on your age, family history, and other conditions. That’s why the guides here focus on practical choices: when to switch meds, how to spot dangerous side effects, what supplements actually have evidence behind them, and when to skip the hype. You don’t need to be a scientist to understand this. You just need to know what to ask—and what to ignore.
