During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in his assesment of the symptom: Cholesterol and lipids. These may include a physical examination or other medical tests. Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information you can share with your doctor may help them with their diagnosis.
Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:
Why: to determine if acute or chronic.
Why: there is a strong association between total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels and coronary heart risk. HDL appears to have a protective effect against coronary heart disease.
Why: e.g. smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, family history of early heart attacks, past personal medical history of heart attack.
Why: heart attack can derange lipid levels for up to 3 months thus should only be measured within 48hrs of a heart attack or 3 months later.
Why: e.g. diabetes, hypothyroidism, cholestasis, renal failure, nephrosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome can cause elevated cholesterol levels; pancreatitis and retinal vein thrombosis in elevated triglycerides.
Why: e.g. estrogen medication, retinoids, thiazide diuretics and corticosteroids can increase cholesterol.
Why: assess intake of saturated fats, calories and fiber.
Why: exercise has been shown to increase HDL levels.
Why: excess alcohol is an important cause of elevated cholesterol.
Why: e.g. heart attack before age 60; primary hyperlipidemia (e.g. familial hypercholesterolemia, familial combined hypercholesterolemia, familial hypertriglyceridemia, lipoprotein lipase deficiency, apo-C11 deficiency); pancreatitis may suggest possible elevated triglycerides.
Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse your condition. These may include:
Why: E.g. severe central abdominal pain radiating to the back, vomiting- can occur with significantly elevated triglycerides.
Why: e.g. sudden vision loss - can occur with significantly elevated triglycerides.
Why: E.g. stroke, heart attack, intermittent claudication, gangrene of lower extremities.
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