An antihypertensive medication is usually the first-line treatment for high blood pressure. However, you may be able to achieve similar blood pressure-lowering results with a simple change in your diet, according to a small study published online recently by JAMA. Study par­ticipants included 213 people, ages 50 to 75, with normal blood pressure, controlled high blood pressure, uncontrolled high blood pressure, or untreated high blood pressure. They were asked to try two different diets. Half of the group was randomly assigned to eat a high­salt diet for one week that included 2,200 milligrams (mg) of salt per day. The other half of the group was randomly assigned to eat a low-salt diet for a week that allowed just 500 mg of salt per day. Study participants then switched diets for one week. Their blood pressure measure­ments and urine samples (to measure salt intake) were collected periodically throughout the study. Researchers found that when participants followed the low-salt diet, most of them experienced an eight-point drop in their systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure measurement), compared with when they ate a high-salt diet; and a six-point drop, compared with when they ate their usual diets. The low-salt diet reduced sodium intake by about a teaspoon of salt per day, compared with participants’ usual diet. Since most sodium in the diet is found in pre-packaged foods, take a careful look at the ingredients list of various products, and, when possible, opt for sodium-free or low-sodium options that you can enhance with seasonings that boost flavor but won’t boost your blood pressure.

Harvard Study: Smaller Hippocampus Associated with Cognitive Decline Researchers continue to seek a better understanding of memory loss and thinking skills changes that occur in people who develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Are those cognitive changes due to the buildup of two toxic proteins in the brain—tau and amyloid-beta—or perhaps other neu­rodegenerative conditions? One of the early consequences of AD is a loss of volume in the hip­pocampus, a region of the brain primarily involved with learning and memory. Abnormal levels of tau and amyloid-beta damage neurons, in turn causing brain atrophy, particularly in the hip­pocampus. But in a study published recently in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, researchers from Harvard Medical School found that loss of volume in the hippocampus was associated with cognitive decline irrespective of amyloid and tau levels. Hippocampus atrophy on its own accounted for about 10 percent of the difference in cognitive decline experienced by study participants between the start of the study and its conclusion about

seven years later. Researchers noted that dementia is a complex condition with many underlying causes, and that other disorders besides AD may contribute to shrinkage of the hippocampus and cognitive decline. The researchers added that monitoring hippocampal volume may help doctors determine which individuals may best respond to the new drugs being developed to halt or reverse the buildup of toxic proteins in the brain.

Reading and Writing Poetry May Help with Loneliness

Various COVID-19 pandemic coping behaviors continue to produce interesting findings for researchers trying to understand why certain people thrived and others struggled during that time. In a study published recently in the Journal of Poetry Therapy, researchers found that reading, writing, and sharing poetry can help people cope with loneliness or isolation and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. A team of British researchers found that many people who started writing poetry and discussing poetry with others experienced “demon­strable positive impacts on their well-being.” Study participants told researchers that reading and writing poetry helped them deal with challenging feelings of anxiety and depression. The findings were based on interviews with users of the former poetryandcovid.com website, which has since been archived as poetryandcovidarchive.com. Users who submitted original poems and offered reactions to the poems of others found a supportive community, as well as a way to give some structure to complicated emotions and experiences. Both of these benefits appear to help people endure difficult experiences by providing outlets that allow them to make sense of those experiences.

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The Facts. Despite its name, the sweet potato, a member of the morning glory family of plants, is not related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum). There are about 400 varieties in different skin and flesh colors (white, purple, yellow, orange), some round or oblong, like a potato, others long and slender with tapered ends. Common varieties like Garnet or Japanese Purple have different textures (firm and dry or soft and moist) and degrees of sweetness. One medium sweet potato has just 103 calories, yet packs 438% DV (DV=Daily Value, based on 2,000 calories/day) of vision-protecting vitamin A, 37% DV of antioxidant vitamin C, and the powerful, health-promoting plant compounds, beta carotene and anthocyanins, that give the yellow/orange and purple varieties respectively, their color.

The Findings. Antioxidant capacity of sweet potatoes is mainly due to anthocyanin and carotenoid content, consumption of which is associated with lower risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and cognitive performance (Antioxidants, 2022). Orange-fleshed sweet potato ranked number one among all vegetables from a dietary point of view and nutritional perspective, according to a review of studies in different countries (Food Science & Nutrition, 2019), due in part to its significant vitamin A content, especially needed in countries with vitamin A deficiencies.

The Finer Points. Peak season for sweet potatoes is October through December, but they are available all year. Select small and medium sweet potatoes for a sweeter, moister flesh. Choose those with smooth, firm, and blemish-free skin.  Store in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place, but never refrigerate them. Sweet or savory, these taters will not disappoint. Bake them whole and top with yogurt, nuts, and maple syrup, mash with regular potatoes, or cut into fries and roast.

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Erythritol has become a favorite of the food and diet industry because it looks like sugar, tastes like sugar, and it is only 30 percent as sweet as sugar. It can be mixed with an artificial sweetener to give it the texture and the look of sugar without the sickly-sweet taste of the artificial versions. Erythritol makes up the bulk of sugar substitutes like Stevia and monk fruit. It is also in many antioxidant drinks, energy drinks, low calorie ice cream, Splenda, Truvia, Keto foods, and many other processed foods. Foods labeled sugar-free, low carbohydrate, diet, or diabetic commonly contain erythritol.

Read Maltitol: What You Should Know About This Common Sweetener

The Dark Side of Erythritol

In a March 2023 study published in the journal Nature Science, researchers who were looking for unknown chemicals in blood samples of people with heart attack or stroke risk – called cardiovascular disease risk – report an unexpected and worrisome discovery. After three years, they were surprised to find a strong link between sugar alcohols, especially erythritol, and a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.  Hoping to find clues to identify cardiovascular risk, they had started with 1,157 blood samples in people with risk factors like high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. Most were between the ages of 60 and 70.

To confirm this link, they looked at another 2,149 blood samples from the U.S. and 833 samples from Europe, all with similar risks for cardiovascular disease. In all the samples, erythritol was associated with a higher risk of stroke, heart attack, and death from cardiovascular disease within three years. People with erythritol levels in the lowest 25 percent had an increased risk of about 20 percent, but people in the highest 25 percent had double that risk, an amount of risk that would be about the same as having diabetes.

To find out how erythritol might increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, the research team looked at the effects of erythritol on blood clotting. Blood clots are a major event leading to a heart attack or stroke. They found that erythritol added to laboratory blood samples increased the activity of blood clotting cells called platelets. When erythritol was added to the blood samples, platelets became more active and made bigger clots.

Read Aspartame Side Effects: Recent Research Confirms Reason for Concern

What’s Next for Artificial Sweeteners?

Based on decades of research, the FDA still classifies sugar alcohols GRAS, generally regarded as safe. We know that real added sugar increases cardiovascular risk factors like diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol. Sugar substitutes may reduce these risks. So, do the benefits still outweigh the risks?

This study and other recent studies have found an association between sugar substitutes and cardiovascular risk, but in research, association may not mean cause. Sugar substitutes have been shown to increase cravings for sweets, so extra calories from sweets may be a cause. People with higher cardiovascular risk factors like obesity or diabetes may use more sugar substitutes, so the risk may already be there. Sugar substitutes are usually added to highly processed foods, which are bad for you, even without the extra sweetness.

Sugar alcohols are naturally found in vegetables and fruits in safe levels, but in processed foods or when used as a sugar substitute in your coffee, you are getting about 1000 times more than the natural sources. According to the researchers and other experts who reviewed this study, people with cardiovascular disease should consider avoiding sugar alcohols like erythritol, and people without risk factors should limit their use until we have more studies.

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The exact type of therapy is different for everyone and depends on what types of disabilities were cause by the stroke. These may include:

• Paralysis or weakness
• Trouble with mental abilities, called cognitive disability
• Trouble speaking or swallowing
• Numbness or pain
• Bowel or bladder incontinence
• Mental health, especially depression

Treating these disabilities takes a team of health care providers that include medical doctors, neurologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and mental health providers.

Stroke Recovery Stages

Stages of stroke recovery are used by physical therapists to decide the best type of therapy for people with paralysis or weakness. These stages do not apply to other stroke disabilities. Not everyone will make it through these stages towards normal movement. The stages of movement recovery are:

• No ability to move part of your body affected by the stroke, called no voluntary movement
• Movement that comes back but is jerky and poorly controlled, called spasticity
• More voluntary control of movement
• Return of more movement and control without spasticity
• Loss of spasticity
• Return to normal movement

Learn the signs of a stroke to receive the help you need when a stroke occurs.

Stroke Recovery Time

The stroke recovery timeline begins as soon as possible, sometimes on the first hospital day. A stroke care team evaluates the effects of the stroke and the type of therapy and therapists that will be needed. Together they develop a stroke rehabilitation plan. Therapy sessions may occur up to six times during an average hospital stay of five to seven days.

During the first few weeks after the stroke, rehabilitation is focused on regaining activities of daily living. Depending on the plan, this time may be spent in a rehabilitation facility or at home with outpatient rehabilitation.

The first three months after a stroke are the most important time, when most of recovery will occur. During this time there can be spontaneous recovery that is independent of physical therapy. This is causes by recovery of brain cells due to return of blood supply, called reperfusion.

After six months, most recovery is complete although there may still be some recovery for a year or more. Mental health disability is common in the year after a stroke. One-third of people will suffer from depression after a stroke. Studies show that depression is 70 percent higher after a stroke than a heart attack.

About 50 percent of people will still be left with significant disability. Stroke is the number one cause of severe disability for Americans. For these people, stroke recovery includes a lifetime of adjusting to their disabilities and learning to make the best of the abilities they still have.

Long Term Recovery for All Stroke Survivors

One of the greatest dangers for all survivors is the risk of a repeat stroke. One in four strokes are recurrent. There are about 800,000 strokes in the U.S. every year and about 200,000 are repeat strokes. The good news is according to the American Stroke Association, up to 90 percent of these can be prevented with medications and lifestyle changes. Medications may include blood thinning medication, blood pressure medication, and statin drugs to reduce bad cholesterol. The CDC, advises these as the most important lifestyle changes:

• Working with health care providers to control blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol
• Not smoking and using alcohol only in moderation
• Eating a heart healthy diet
• Maintaining a healthy weight with diet and exercise appropriate for your ability

For more on strokes, purchase the Cleveland Clinic Annual Report on Strokes.

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How Common Are PVCs?

Isolated PVCs are very common, and they tend to increase with old age. If you record a person’s heartbeat for 48 hours on an electrocardiogram (ECG), about 75 percent of people will have at least one PVC. PVCs usually come as a single PVC. Two PVCs in succession is called a doublet PVC. Three PVCs in succession is called a triplet, and more than three in a row is called ventricular tachycardia. PVCs are considered occasional if they occur less than 30 times per hour and frequent if they occur more than 30 times per hour. A PVC that occurs on every other beat is called bigeminy and a PVC that occurs on every third beat is called trigeminy.

Are PVCs Dangerous?

PVCs are not dangerous to your heart unless you have over 1000 PVCs per day. This amount of PVCs can lead to a type of heart muscle damage called cardiomyopathy, which can lead to heart failure. PVCs can be a sign of danger if they are caused by heart disease, another disease, or any condition that is stressing your heart. These types of PVCs may cause symptoms and they tend to occur frequently. Causes of these PVCs include:

• Many types of heart disease, including decreased blood supply to the heart
• Heart valve abnormalities
• Anemia
• Hypothyroidism
• High blood pressure
• Abnormal levels of blood minerals (electrolytes) including low magnesium or potassium and high calcium

Less dangerous causes of PVC include stress, anxiety, too much caffeine or nicotine, not getting enough sleep, legal or illegal stimulant drugs, and abuse of alcohol.

What Happens During a PVC?

Your heart depends on a regular and coordinated rhythm to pump blood out to your body. Stimulation for a normal heartbeat begins in an area of an upper heart chamber, called the atrium. The area where it starts is called the sinoatrial (SA) node. The signal to beat travels to another area located between the atria and the lower chambers of the heart called the ventricles. This is the atrioventricular (AV) node. The AV node sends signals through fibers in the ventricles called Purkinje fibers. A PVC occurs when Purkinje fibers initiate the ventricular beat before the SA node.

Diagnosis and Treatment of PVCs

Most PVCs are never diagnosed or treated because they are not noticed or occur infrequently. PVCs usually occur without causing palpitations. In the vast majority of cases, the cause of these PVCs is unknown. PVCs may be diagnosed when they are frequent and cause frequent symptoms. You should let your health care provider know if you have frequent palpitations or palpitations that cause:

• Lightheadedness or dizziness
• Brief shortness of breath or a sensation of almost passing out (syncope)
• A feeling of pounding pulse in your chest or neck

Your healthcare provider may diagnose PVCs based on your symptoms and physical exam. Testing may include:

• An ECG
• A 24-to-48-hour ECG, also called a Holter monitor
• Blood testing for anemia and electrolytes
• An imaging study of the heart

Treatment of PVCs depends on the cause. This might include avoiding causes like stress or lack of sleep, avoiding stimulants like caffeine or nicotine, treating an underlying disease like high blood pressure or hyperthyroidism, or treating heart disease. PVCs without a known cause rarely need to be treated.

You may be able to reduce your risk of PVCs by maintaining a healthy weight, getting regular physical activity, eating a heart healthy diet, getting at least eight hours of sleep, and avoiding nicotine or too much caffeine or alcohol.

When to Get Help Right Away

An occasional PVC is not an emergency, but if you have palpitations along with persistent dizziness, confusion, passing out, chest pain, or difficulty breathing, call 911.

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You may be able to improve your numbers a bit faster with medications called statins. With these meds you could see changes in six to eight weeks, but in many cases, diet and lifestyle are tried before resorting to drugs. If you take a statin drug, you are not off the hook for diet and lifestyle changes, you need to do all three.

Statins do not come without side effects, learn more about the potential side effects of statins.

Total Cholesterol: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Your total cholesterol number is a combination of good cholesterol, bad cholesterol, and some ugly fats. Although it is a fatty substance, cholesterol itself is not harmful. Your liver makes cholesterol because it is important for building cells, vitamins, and chemical messengers called hormones. Cholesterol is also found in animal foods like meat and dairy products. Eating foods with cholesterol is not the problem, because they only account for a small amount of cholesterol in your blood. The real problem is eating foods with unhealthy fats. These fats cause your liver to make more bad cholesterol.

Bad cholesterol from your liver – called LDL cholesterol – can get deposited inside arteries where it forms plaques with other fats called arteriosclerosis. These plaques can block blood flow that supply blood and oxygen to your brain and heart. A plaque can then rupture, form a clot, and completely cut off blood supply causing a stroke or heart attack.

The ugly fat is triglyceride. Triglycerides are the most common fats in the body. They come from saturated and trans fat in your diet and they are part of the fatty buildup that forms plaques inside arteries. The good cholesterol – called HDL – removes bad cholesterol from your blood before it can form arterial plaques and returns it to the liver where it is broken down and eliminated. The purpose of diet, lifestyle changes, and medications is to increase good cholesterol and decrease bad cholesterol and triglycerides.

Lifestyle and Diet and Statins

The best diet to increase HDL and lower LDL and triglycerides is to avoid trans fats and saturated fats. Trans fats were banned by the FDA but they may still be in some processed foods like crackers, microwave popcorn, pies, shortening, coffee creamers, margarine, packaged frosting, and frozen pizza. Saturated fats are much more common and are found in animal products, especially dairy foods and red meat. A cholesterol healthy diet is one that features fruits, vegetables, whole grains, poultry, fish, unsweetened foods and beverages, and vegetable oils.

Lifestyle changes include not smoking, using alcohol only in moderation, and getting about 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise every week. Exercise along with diet will help you maintain a healthy weight. Your doctor may recommend a statin drug if you still have high LDL cholesterol after a good trial of diet and lifestyle changes.

For more information about preventing and treating high cholesterol, purchase Managing Your Cholesterol. 

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Some people have a higher increase in morning blood pressure, called a morning blood pressure surge (MBPS). It is known that most strokes, heart attacks, and sudden deaths occur in the early morning, so for several years researchers have been trying to find out if MBPS is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (strokes and heart disease). The research has not been conclusive, but it seems to suggest that there is a slightly higher risk, especially for stroke, that increases as MBPS increases.

What Causes Morning Blood Pressure Surge?

A small rise in blood pressure, up to a 10-point increase in the upper (systolic) number occurs as a reaction to you waking up and getting up and moving. This bump in blood pressure is caused by your sympathetic nervous system. Also called your autonomic nervous system. It controls body functions you don’t think about, like your heart rate and blood pressure.

Even though there are lots of studies on MBPS, there are no firm guidelines on how to diagnose it. Most studies consider MBPS as a rise in blood pressure that occurs within 2 hours of waking and increases blood pressure more than 10 points. Some studies define it as increasing blood pressure by 20 or more points.

For someone who has already been diagnosed with high blood pressure, a common cause is blood pressure medication wearing off during the night, causing a spike in the morning. Most people with high blood pressure take their medication in the morning. For these people, the treatment for MBPS may just be to switch to a night time or longer-acting medication.

For people without a diagnosis of hypertension, the cause of MBPS is unclear but may be due to several risk factors that include:

• Old age
• Obstructive sleep apnea
• Kidney disease
• Diabetes
• Thyroid disease
• Night shift work
• Smoking
• Drinking alcohol
• Obesity
• Physical or emotional stress

Best Time of Day to Take Blood Pressure

If you are taking your blood pressure at home, the American Heart Association does not recommend any best time to take your blood pressure, but they do say you should take it at about the same time each day. If you take it in the morning, take it before you eat, drink coffee, take any medication, or do any exercise.

If your doctor wants you to check your blood pressure at home, you will probably be asked to take your blood pressure twice each day and record the readings in a blood pressure journal. Let your doctor know if you have a morning blood pressure that is 10 points above your daytime blood pressure. Let your doctor know right away if you have any blood pressure of more than 180/120. This is a dangerous level of hypertension.

Is Morning Hypertension Dangerous?

Although the normal increase in morning blood pressure is not dangerous, studies seem to suggest that if you have a significant rise in blood pressure during the night and morning, you could be at higher risk for cardiovascular disease.

If your doctor is concerned about the amount your blood pressure goes up in the morning, you may need to have 24-hour blood pressure monitoring, since it is also important to know what your blood pressure is doing during sleep and the rest of the day. Treatment may include controlling other risk factors like smoking, stress, or obesity, or starting medication to control your blood pressure safely.

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What Is Cognitive Impairment?

Cognitive impairment is any loss of high-level intelligence that includes brain functions like memory, attention, language, judgment, reasoning, and understanding. Cognitive impairment can be severe, like Alzheimer’s disease and or mild cognitive impairment that comes with aging. There are many causes of cognitive impairment, but all the causes result from damage to brain cells called neurons.

Cognitive Impairment and Heart Attack?

A heart attack is decreased blood flow through the arteries that supply your heart muscles. When your heart is not getting enough blood, it is not getting enough oxygen carried by your blood, so heart muscle cells become damaged and may die. Also, when you are having a heart attack, your heart is not pumping out blood to the rest of your body very well.

A heart attack deprives your body of oxygen, explaining heart attack symptoms like shortness of breath and dizziness. Another type of body cell that needs a constant supply of blood and oxygen are your brain cells, called neurons. Damage to neurons starts to occur quickly if blood flow is decreased, which can happen during a heart attack. Recent studies find that about half the people who have a heart attack have enough decreased blood flow to the brain to cause some cognitive impairment.

What Does the Research Show About Memory Loss After Heart Attack?

Back in 2011, a study reported in the American Heart Journal found that out of 772 patients who had a heart attack and were tested for cognitive function one month later, only about 45 percent had normal cognitive test results. About 30 percent had mild cognitive impairment and 25 percent had moderate to severe impairment. The authors of the study concluded that cognitive impairment after a heart attack could be a common problem and suggested that patients have support and assistance after coming home from a heart attack and that they participate in a cardiac rehabilitation program.

In 2019, one of the largest studies on cognitive impairment after a diagnosis of coronary heart disease was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. It included close to 8000 patients. These patients did not have dementia before their heart disease diagnosis. Over a period of 12 years, they were tested for memory, language, and knowledge of present circumstances. Patients with a diagnosis of heart attack had significant impairment in all three tests over the 12 years. The authors of this study conclude that cognitive impairment after a heart attack is common and probably due to decreased blood flow. They suggested that the best way to prevent this type of impairment is to prevent heart disease, called primary prevention.

Most recently, in a study presented at the 2022 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, researchers pointed out the accumulating evidence of the link between heart attack and cognitive impairment. This study found a high rate of cognitive impairment in patients after a heart attack who had no diagnosis of cognitive impairment before their heart attack.

The researchers tested 220 patients with a cognitive test called the Mini-Mental State Examination. They tested at the beginning of the study and six months later.  According to the mini-mental exam, 40 to 41 percent of the patients had cognitive impairment right after the heart attack. At six months, the rate of cognitive impairment went down to between 33 and 34 percent. The authors of this study concluded that cognitive impairment after a heart attack may be both temporary and permanent and that patients after a heart attack should be checked regularly for any signs of cognitive impairment.

What Are the Symptoms of Cognitive Impairment?

You may notice symptoms of cognitive impairment yourself, but more often a friend or loved one will notice warning signs. These signs and symptoms may come and go at first, so it is important to tell your health care provider about them:

• Trouble remembering
• Asking the same questions over and over
• Telling the same stories over and over
• Difficulty learning new information
• Missing appointments
• Trouble concentrating enough to follow a conversation, book, or movie
• Trouble finding the right words when speaking, or losing your train of thought while talking
• Becoming easily confused and agitated
• Trouble doing simple tasks

Prevention and Treatment

All the things you do for heart health will also help protect your brain before or after a heart attack. Lifestyle changes that reduce your risk of heart disease and cognitive impairment include:

• Regular physical activity
• Proper sleep, at least seven hours every night
• Relaxation techniques to reduce stress
• The Mediterranean diet, which is low in saturated fat and features whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and fish
• Limiting your use of alcohol
• Not smoking
• Maintaining a healthy weight

Work with your doctor to control your blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol. If you have sleep apnea, get that under control. You can also protect your brain by building up cognitive resilience. The more exercise you give your brain by doing brain-teasing puzzles or learning new activities that require thought and memory, the more you can lose some brain cells and still have enough reserve to avoid cognitive impairment.

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What Are Cholesterol Bumps?

The Greek words xanthelasma means yellow plate. XP eyelid bumps are raised, plate-like cholesterol deposits. Cholesterol gives them a yellow color and they feel soft to touch.  Although the bumps are cholesterol deposits, they don’t always mean high cholesterol. Cholesterol bumps on eyelids are also are seen in people with:

• High levels of triglyceride blood fats
• Low levels of good HDL cholesterol
• A high-fat diet
• Diabetes
• Thyroid disease (hypothyroidism)
• Herat and blood vessel disease (cardiovascular disease)
• Pancreatitis
• Obesity
• Alcohol abuse

XP eyelid bumps occur in about one out of 100 people. They are more common in women and they usually occur between the ages of 30 and 50. People who smoke may be at higher risk.

Diagnosis and Treatment of XP Eyelid Bumps

XP eyelid bumps don’t need any diagnostic tests or a biopsy. They can be diagnosed by their appearance and location. It is important to find the cause, so you may have blood tests to rule out high cholesterol and other blood fat conditions. Other blood tests may include testing for diabetes and thyroid disease.

Once XP eyelid bumps appear, they rarely go away. They either stay the same or increase in number or size. They are not dangerous, but they can become unsightly, so some people have them removed. A plastic surgeon or eye surgeon may remove the bumps with surgery or other techniques like laser, freezing, electrocoagulation, or chemical peel.

Other causes of XP eyelid bumps like thyroid disease, diabetes, pancreatitis, or alcohol abuse should be treated. If your XP eyelid bumps are caused by high cholesterol, you may be started on a statin drug to lower your bad cholesterol and increase your good cholesterol. Lifestyle changes that improve cholesterol and lower your risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease are also recommended. These include:

• Losing weight
• Exercising regularly
• Eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole gain
• Avoiding added sugar and saturated fats in your diet
• Drinking alcohol only in moderation
• Not smoking

Cholesterol Deposits vs Milia

© Vchalup | Dreamstime.com
Milia is different from cholesterol deposits. They are more similar to small pimples.

XP eyelid bumps may be mistaken for another type of eyelid bumps called milia. Milia are tiny, white pumps, more like tiny cysts than raised plaques. They are more likely to be white than yellow. These bumps appear around the eyes, nose, or cheeks. They are caused by dead skin cells that get trapped under the skin.

XP eyelid bumps are not dangerous and don’t need treatment, but they could be a warning for an underlying condition that is dangerous and does need treatment. If you see one of these raised, soft, yellow bumps in your eyelid, let your doctor know.

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What Are the Warning Signs of a Clogged Artery?

You may have a clogged artery from atherosclerosis without any warning signs until the plaque becomes large enough to slow down blood supply. In that case, the warning signs would depend on where the plaque is. Some examples include:

• A plaque in a coronary artery that supplies your heart may cause chest pain called angina. Angina may be an early warning for a heart attack.
• A plaque in an artery that supplies your brain may cause sudden but temporary symptoms like numbness, weakness, trouble speaking, changes in vision, or drooping face muscles. This is called a transient ischemic attack (TIA). TIA may be an early warning of a stroke.
• A plaque in an artery the supplies the muscles of your leg may cause pain when you walk, called claudication.
• A plaque in the artery that supplies your kidney may cause high blood pressure.

Atherosclerosis Treatment

You may be diagnosed with atherosclerosis if you have an imaging test of an artery that shows plaque. Warning symptoms of atherosclerosis, your physical exam, blood testing, electrocardiogram, and other tests may also lead to a diagnosis of atherosclerosis. Treatment may start with lifestyle changes. These include:

• Not smoking
• Eating a heart healthy diet
• Getting exercise for at least 30 minutes on most days of the week
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Working with your doctor to control your blood pressure and blood sugar if needed

If your doctor thinks that lifestyle changes are not enough, you may be started on a medication to lower your bad cholesterol called a statin drug. Statins are used for people with signs of atherosclerosis or people at higher risk for atherosclerosis due to diabetes or high levels of bad cholesterol, called LDL cholesterol.

Along with a statin drug, other drugs may be used to lower the risk of atherosclerosis such as medications to lower blood pressure or blood sugar or medication to thin the blood and prevent blood clots. In some cases, lifestyle changes and medications are not enough to control atherosclerosis. In these cases, surgeries can be done to open clogged arteries. These surgeries include:

• Percutaneous coronary intervention, which may include threading a catheter into the clogged artery, opening the artery with a tiny balloon, and placing a stent in the artery to keep it open
• Doing open surgery to bypass a clogged artery with a graft, called bypass surgery
• Removing a blood clot from an artery, called an atherectomy.

Can Atherosclerosis Be Reversed or Prevented?

It is much easier to prevent atherosclerosis than to reverse it. The best way to prevent atherosclerosis is to start the same lifestyle changes used to treat it. If you have atherosclerosis, the main goal of treatment is to keep it from getting worse and prevent complications like a heart attack or stroke.

Research shows that treating LDL cholesterol very aggressively with a statin drug may reduce plaque buildup. The normal level for LDL is between 100 and 130 mg/dl. To reverse plaque buildup, you may need to drop your LDL below 70 mg/dL. Studies show that a very low level of LDL may stop a plaque from growing and shrink a plaque by about one-fourth. The best statins for getting to a very low LDL are atorvastatin (Lipitor) and rosuvastatin (Crestor).

Early research suggests a future way to reverse plaque buildup is a procedure called focused ultrasound therapy. During this procedure, ultrasound sound waves are used to target a plaque and break it up. This procedure shows promise but is still in the testing stage of research and not yet available for patients.

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