What is Mixed Hyperlipidemia?
Mixed hyperlipidemia is a genetic disorder that gets passed down through the family members.
If you have this disease, it means you have higher-than-normal levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, and other lipids like LDL, VLDL, etc. in your blood.
The disorder may result in heart disease and early heart attacks.
Diabetes, hypothyroidism, obesity, and alcohol abuse are the supporters of this disease and can make the condition worse.
Mixed hyperlipidemia is additionally called Familial Combined Hyperlipidemia.
It affects an estimated of 1 to 2 percent of the population within the Western world.
In fact, it’s the foremost common inherited lipid disorder.
The high lipid levels typically begin in your teenage years i.e. after you enter within the age of 13 years old.
Some evidence Trusted Source shows that hyperlipidemia starts in childhood for a few people.
Causes of Mixed Hyperlipidemia
Scientific research is ongoing into the precise genes that cause this disorder.
The research is complex because the characteristics or features of mixed hyperlipidemia overlap with metabolic syndrome.
This syndrome isn’t genetically determined and is more widespread.
But new statistical and genetic research techniques are helping scientists understand the causes of mixed hyperlipidemia.
If one amongst your parents has mixed hyperlipidemia, you’ve got a 50 percent chance of inheriting the genetic risk of the disorder, consistent with a Kaiser Permanente report.
And if both your parents have it, you would possibly inherit a double dose, which might cause more serious medical problems earlier in life.
Risks and Risk Factors
Since Mixed Hyperlipidemia is inherited and causes high lipid levels.
Your lipid levels are going to be even higher if you’re littered with conditions such as:
- Diabetes
- Hypothyroidism
- Obesity
- Alcohol abuse
These high lipid levels from mixed hyperlipidemia put you at high risk of:
- Coronary heart disease
- Early heart attack
- Peripheral vascular disease
- Stroke
Diagnosing Mixed Hyperlipidemia
Mixed hyperlipidemia is sometimes seen for the primary time when blood tests indicate high lipid levels.
You may not have any physical symptoms.
But knowing your case history, especially of cardiovascular disease or hyperlipidemia, will help your doctor make a diagnosis.
Genetic research is progressing.
Medical professionals may someday develop a genetic test for mixed hyperlipidemia and treatment that targets the genes involved.
Currently, though, your doctor will have to perform a biopsy to form a diagnosis.
The test determines the degree of lipids in your blood.
Your doctor will look for:
- Lower-than-average HDL cholesterol levels
- Higher levels of LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and apolipoprotein B100
These results may indicate mixed hyperlipidemia.
The biopsy or blood test requires fasting for 12 hours before the test.
That means you can’t eat or drink anything except water.
Your doctor will ask you about any drugs and supplements you always take.
They’ll tell you whether or to not take these before the test.
Some doctors may use a carotid ultrasound as a diagnostic tool. It’s not expensive or invasive.
Plus, it can help predict future heart attacks or stroke.
Treatment
Mixed hyperlipidemia is an genetic abnormality with no cure.
The goal of treatment is to scale back your risk of a heart condition and its complications.
Your treatment plan will rely upon your age at diagnosis, how high your lipid levels are, and whether you have got any symptoms, like chest pain.
The first step in treatment is making some lifestyle changes.
You doctor may additionally prescribe medications.
Lifestyle Changes
For many people, lifestyle changes alone can help reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
To help reduce your risk of heart condition, your doctor may suggest a diet, weight loss, and regular exercise.
A low-fat or low-carb diet can lessen your risk of heart condition, in keeping with the American Heart Association.
Evidence also suggests that the surgical process sugar and reducing carbohydrates is effective in lowering both your weight and triglycerides while increasing HDL.
To manage your cholesterol, try these tips:
Stop Smoking
Smoking increases the danger of cardiovascular disease.
Lose Weight
If necessary, see a dietician for help selecting a healthy diet or join a weight-loss group like Weight Watchers.
Get Moving
If you’re not physically active, a start-up with quarter-hour of moderate exercise per day.
A recommended goal is a minimum of half-hour of exercise per day, whether or not it’s split into 10-minute segments.
Find something that you just prefer to do.
It may be walking, swimming, biking, dancing, a gym workout, or something else.
The foremost important thing is to search out a routine that you’ll continue.
Keep a Healthy Diet
Limit fast foods and maximize fresh foods.
Incorporate more fish into your diet. Try a Mediterranean-style diet.
There are many resources that will facilitate your plan healthy menus that job along with your lifestyle.
Medication
If your cholesterol levels remain high after lifestyle changes, your doctor may prescribe medication.
There are several drugs that may help.
Each works differently to alter your cholesterol levels.
They may include:
Statins
Statins are drugs that reduce the amount of cholesterol made in your liver they affect LDL levels more than HDL or triglyceride levels.
Your doctor can also recommend an omega-3 carboxylic acid supplement.
Bile Acid Binding Resins
Bile acid-binding resins are drugs that prevent the reuse of bile after helping to digest your food as a result your liver uses more cholesterol to replace the lost bile which means less cholesterol in your bloodstream.
Cholesterol Absorption Inhibitors
Cholesterol absorption inhibitors reduce the amount of cholesterol absorbed by your intestines from the food you eat.
Injectable Drugs
Certain injectable medications can help the liver lower the cholesterol level in your blood.
You may have side effects from a specific drug or combination of medicine.
For instance, some people can’t tolerate statins.
If this can be the case, your doctor will work with you to search out another drug option.
Your doctor will monitor your treatment progress with regular lab tests.
They may also want to observe the effect of the medications on your liver function.
New information about treatment remains setting out.
If you have got mixed hyperlipidemia, ask your doctor regularly about research updates.
The Bottom Line
It all depends on how early you were diagnosed, how did you respond to the prescribed treatment plan, and the way you stick to the plan.
If left untreated, mixed hyperlipidemia puts you at high risk of an early attack or stroke.
But with lifestyle changes and medicines, your lipid levels should improve.