Cholesterol is often called the silent killer because it builds up in your arteries without causing any symptoms. By the time the build up (atherosclerosis) has gotten bad enough, you are already at a high risk of a heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases.
Once cholesterol levels get high, a condition called hyperlipidemia, you will feel certain symptoms usually resulting from restricted blood flow. If you experience any of these, it’s important to see a doctor as it means your cholesterol levels are already dangerously high.
1. Chest Pain (Angina)
One of the early signs of high cholesterol is chest pain, also called angina. It occurs when build up of plaque (composed mostly of cholesterol) restricts blood flow to the heart muscle. This reduces the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the heart, causing chest pain.
Angina often strikes when you physically exert yourself such as during a workout or sex, since your heart is working harder than usual. This type of chest pain (called stable angina) typically doesn’t lead to a heart attack and doesn’t cause any permanent damage.
But it is an early warning sign that you are at risk of a heart attack.
However, if you get chest pain even when at rest, that is a sign of an impending heart attack. It is an emergency.
Sudden chest pain without any physical exertion indicates a much more serious artery blockage by cholesterol. The blockage can also be caused by a clot that has formed after one of the cholesterol plaques has ruptured.
2. Leg or Foot Pain
Ischemia – the clinical term for restricted blood flow – doesn’t just cause pain in your chest. Depending on which artery is affected, it can cause pain in other areas of the body.
When you have high cholesterol, you can get peripheral artery disease (PAD). This happens when cholesterol build-up reduces blood flow to your arms and legs.
The most common symptom of PAD is pain or aches in your legs, particularly when walking or doing any kind of exercise. You may also experience cramping and numbness.
3. Unusually Cold Feet
Another common symptom of peripheral artery disease is cold feet. Some people have naturally cold feet. But with PAD, one or both feet may feel unusually cold even when the weather is warm.
This happens because of poor blood circulation.
4. Heart Attack
One of the scariest symptoms of high cholesterol is a heart attack, also called myocardial infarction. A heart attack happens when a cholesterol plaque in one of arteries supplying blood to the heart raptures.
This forms a blood clot which blocks blood supply to the heart muscles. Without quick medical intervention, heart muscles begin to die, causing permanent damage to the heart. It can also lead to death.
Some heart attacks are sudden. But in most cases you’ll get a warning in the form of angina, days, weeks or months before a heart attack happens. That’s why it’s important that you take chest pain seriously.
Here’s a video showing how a heart attack happens.
5. Stroke
A blockage of an artery that supplies blood to the heart causes a heart attack. If the same happens to an artery that supplies blood to the brain, it causes an ischemic stroke.
When part of the brain is starved of blood, brain cells begin to die from lack of oxygen and nutrients. This causes permanent brain damage and can leave one disabled.
How to Check Your Cholesterol Levels
Cholesterol begins to build up from when we are young. But it can take decades before it builds up enough to be dangerous to your health.
Lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, smoking and sleep quality determine how quickly cholesterol builds up in arteries.
Knowing your cholesterol levels can give you an idea of how healthy your arteries are. When you go to a hospital or lab, they will give you a lipid panel, which checks the amounts of different types of cholesterols as well as triglycerides.
You want low levels of bad cholesterol (low density lipoprotein or LDL) and triglycerides, and higher levels of good cholesterol (high density lipoprotein or HDL).
There are also home tests for cholesterol that you can take to monitor cholesterol levels in between proper lab tests.
Most home cholesterol test kits cannot individually measure levels of different types of cholesterols. They’ll only measure total cholesterol and triglycerides. But they can still give you an idea of your risk of heart disease.
In a healthy person, total cholesterol should be less than 5 mmol/L.
