Hyperlipidemia

It is a reality that most people misinterpret or are unable to understand the causes and consequences of specific conditions in their lives, especially when it comes to health. For example, most people equate obesity and high cholesterol with just overeating and are totally unaware of the causes of high cholesterol within the body. (Navar-Boggan and colleagues.) This article attempts to establish a connection between hyperlipidemia, or high cholesterol, and an observation made in daily life.

Couples gaining weight following the birth of their first child is a normal occurrence in the United States and other regions of the world. As my parents adjusted to changes in our lives with the birth of my siblings, mother and father turned to stress coping mechanisms such as smoking and drinking. Their hectic life schedule also compressed time shared between parenting, working and managing our social life and therefore, my parents opted for fast foods and processed meals and with time they added so much weight it became an issue. It became a challenge to run their lives as they experienced frequent cases of lack of breath and fatigue among others. My introduction to Hyperlipidemia, its causes, symptoms, and effects in class helped to make a correlation between the heath status of my parents and Hyperlipidemia. I compelled the subjects of my research to undertake the preventive measures as learned in class and there was a change in the effects until they achieved the desired outcome.

Outside the medical world, the condition of having fats or lipids and excessive triglycerides proteins in the blood is known as having high cholesterol, but for medical scholars, it is called Hyperlipidemia (American Heart Association (AHA) ). The fats deposits reside inside the arteries making the blood vessels narrower thus harder for passage of blood. According to both my observation and research by AHA, junk food and processed meals which normally have cholesterol and saturated salt are the main causes of Hyperlipidemia although the condition can also be inherited. Hyperlipidemia has not symptoms, but detection is done by the screening of a blood sample from a subject. According to Navar-Boggan et al., people with family related issues should be screened on a regular basis while healthy adults should be screened every five years starting at age 20. The prevention and cure of high cholesterol are achieved by a change of lifestyle that involve more physical activity to control body weight, healthy diet to minimize fatty deposits in blood vessels and quitting habits like smoking that strain the respiratory organs and blood circulation (Navar-Boggan et al.).

The findings derived from the case study of my parents deepened my understanding of Hyperlipidemia in several ways. Firstly, it was a confirmation that bad eating habits, lack of physical exercise and life choices are the leading causes of Hyperlipidemia since there were no previous cases of high cholesterol among members of my parent’s family. Secondly, the observation helped to draw the correlation between excessive fats in blood vessels and increased body weight as opposed to the traditional belief that constant intake of food is the only cause for greater weight among adults.

Thirdly, the observation was critical to helping me realize the relationship between Hyperlipidemia and other chronic diseases like stroke and heart attack as well as distinguish high cholesterol from other illnesses regarding cause and effect.

Conclusion

Hyperlipidemia is comparatively not a very popular disease, and even when people know about it, they have misinformation such as the misconception that overeating is the primary cause of high cholesterol (AHA). I was interested in learning about the causes, effects, and prevention to know the facts about Hyperlipidemia with the aim of helping my parents to make better choices so they could lead better lives.

Works cited

American Heart Association (AHA). “Prevention And Treatment Of High Cholesterol (Hyperlipidemia)”. www.heart.org. N.p., 2017. Web. Accessed 8 May 2017.

Navar-Boggan, Ann Marie et al. “Hyperlipidemia In Early Adulthood Increases Long-Term Risk Of Coronary Heart Disease”. Journal of American Heart Association. N.p., 2015. Web. 9 May 2017.