High Blood Cholesterol

Written by: Muhammad Nasir Sirat

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that our body needs for good health but in the right amounts. Unhealthy  levels of cholesterol can lead to a condition called high blood cholesterol and it might cause some other health problems.

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some patients and physicians about this disease.

Nasira Mosavi, a resident of Bamiyan province says, “I am suffering from high blood cholesterol. I feel dizzy and have pain in my shoulders and chest and it caused me heart disease.”

Dilbaro, a resident of Herat province says, “I am suffering from high blood cholesterol. I am suffering from vertigo and headaches. At the beginning, I did not care about my illness and now I could not eat enough food nor do my home chores due to lethargy.”

Doctor Zamanuddin Sediqi, an internist at Jamhoriat Hospital, Kabul city says, “Shoulders pain, lethargy, and headaches are the important symptoms of this disease. In some cases, specific symptoms may not appear in patients, but with the progress of this disease and the patient's incautiousness and fat deposition in the coronary arteries causes chest pain, heart attack, and cardiac arrest, and sometimes fat deposition in the cerebral arteries, reduces blood flow to the brain and causes Stroke.”

What do some people think about the causes of this disease?

Waisuddin, a resident of Logar province says, “The lack of physical activities and laziness, as well as those who use more fatty foods outside homes instead of vegetables, might face this problem.”

Anisa, a resident of Dehsabz district, Kabul province says, “I live in a poor family and faced with economic problems. I always think about my future and this caused me obesity and high blood cholesterol.”

Doctor Sediqi says, “There are many causes of high blood cholesterol including obesity and overweight; uncontrolled diabetes, carbonated beverages, and eating high-fat foods instead of vegetables and fresh fruits. Smoking and not having physical activities and exercise, and not having a proper diet, can cause to get this disease.”

How do some people treat this disease at home?

A mother, Zarmena says, “When the doctor diagnosed that I am suffering from high blood cholesterol, I avoided eating fatty foods and I eat vegetables and fresh fruits and have daily physical exercises.”

Asif, a resident of Nangarhar province has the same opinion about the treatment of this disease at home.

Doctor Sediqi says, “patients should control their diet at home and try not to eat fatty foods and they should eat vegetables, and fresh fruits. This condition requires a blood test to measure the amount of cholesterol in the blood. When it is diagnosed high blood cholesterol, the doctors will treat their disease by medication and the patients should take their medicines according to the prescription of the physician.”