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General
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that supports normal functionality of a human body. With the help of cholesterol body produces vitamin D, many hormones, and the bile acids that participate in fat digestion. Cholesterol is present in cell walls or membranes in all the parts of the body, including the brain, liver, intestines, nerves, muscles, skin and heart. The excess of cholesterol in the bloodstream gets deposited in arteries, including the coronary (heart) arteries, where it causes the narrowing and blockages, producing the signs and symptoms of heart disease.
Symptoms
No obvious symptoms of high cholesterol are noticed when the person suffers from, it and patients have no idea their cholesterol level is to high. Though, if your cholesterol level is higher than normal, you may notice yellow nodules beneath the skin of eyes, eyebrows or elbows. Causes
Excess weight often becomes the cause of the high cholesterol level. Heredity also influences the possibility of developing high cholesterol – it is often genetically determined how fast cholesterol is made and removed from the blood. Mental stress in most cases provokes the increased consumption of the fatty food and may also become the reason of the blood cholesterol level raise.
Medical Approaches Traditional medicine handles high cholesterol with the help of medications that work by slowing down the cholesterol production and increase the liver's ability to remove it already in the blood. The most commonly used are statins which inhibit an enzyme controlling the rate of cholesterol production in the body. Bile acid sequestrants medications bind with cholesterol-containing bile acids in the intestines and are then eliminated in the stool. Cholesterol absorption inhibitors, nicotinic acid and hormone replacement therapy arealso widely used options. Alternative Approaches Herbal formulas have been successfully applied in treating high cholesterol. One containing garlic, astragalus, polygonum, cratageus, red ganoderma, salvia, angelica and white atractylodes is used to treat and prevent atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia and degenerative disorders of the cardiovascular system.
Garlic is proved to have vasodilatation effects on peripheral blood vessels, anti-atherosclerosis and anti-hypertensive effects;
astragalus has blood-pressure-lowering effect through vasodilatation, and an increase in cardiac output;
polygonum decreases levels of fibrous plaque formations and lowers blood cholesterol levels;
ganoderma possesses immune enhancing effects and treats angina together with other accompanying symptoms of coronary heart disease;
salvia works activating blood and removing blood stasis; angelica acts as a strong blood tonifier, effectively reduces blood pressure and also can protect blood vessel walls against plaque adhesion; and finally,
white atractylodes possesses anticoagulative properties, tonifies spleen and stomach and dries dampness.
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