Today I met my cardiologist at Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC) to let him review my high cholesterol reading related to Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) or genetic high cholesterol.
Before deciding if he should start me on statin, my doctor ordered for me to do a heart scan (coronary calcium scan) using computerized tomography (CT) imaging to take pictures of the heart’s arteries. It can detect calcium deposits in the coronary arteries. Calcium deposits can narrow the arteries and increase the risk of a heart attack. This scan is necessary because of my high cholesterol reading and incidences of random heart flutters for the last few years.
I will have to go back to SJMC this Friday to have the calcium-score screening heart test done.
If the scan shows high calcium deposits, I must start taking a high dose statin everyday.
Even with a healthy diet and regular exercise, things like this still happens. Darn the bad genes. With Familial hypercholesterolemia, no matter how hard I watch what I eat or even starve myself to the brink of death, my cholesterol level will still be high. This is caused by some mutated genes. It will go even higher if I eat as I please and binge on red meats, butter, ice cream and other high cholesterol foods.
Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) can be caused by inherited changes (mutations) in the LDLR, APOB, and PCSK9 genes, which affect how your body regulates and removes cholesterol from your blood. About 60-80% of people with FH have a mutation found in one of these three genes.
The CT scan is going to cost at least a thousand bucks. I pray that I don’t have calcium deposits in my heart arteries as I’m trying to avoid statins. My mum had aches and pains all over her body while taking statin and the same goes with the hubs. Mum recently stopped taking her statin and those aches and pains stopped too.
The accumulated costs spent on self-care tests and scans from February to March this year alone is at least RM2k. This amount includes an annual pap smear, ultrasound scans of my breasts and pelvic, a complete blood work, a 3D mammogram at Sunway Medical Centre and the upcoming CT scan at SJMC. I hope it will stop here with no further tests and medication required 🙏
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